>>5250953
>>”Then we go around. Let the pirates posture themselves here.”

>>5250953
>"Those asteroids are mostly stationary, and we can move. Rain fire on them from afar- we'll win the artillery duel handily."

>>5250953
>>(Write in)

have alpizar take an asteroid of about equal size to the defensive asteroids from somewhere close by, and speed it up against the asteroid(s), specifically such that they will act like a buckshot to the smaller ships behind em when they crack each other.

and if that isn't accepted, then i vote
>"Those asteroids are mostly stationary, and we can move. Rain fire on them from afar. we'll win the artillery duel handily."

>>5250980
I'll change and support your write-in

>>5250953
>"Those asteroids are mostly stationary, and we can move. Rain fire on them from afar- we'll win the artillery duel handily."
Once we get a gap it's game over for them.

>>5250967
Second this but also
> have our missile ships ripple fire their missiles in waves so that they arrive just behind the first mass wave of rail gun and MAG fire, however when the escorts comes out to intercept them before they can hit the asteroids the target will change to the ships so we can board the asteroids in hopes of taking prisoners and intel

>>5250980
+1

>>5250953
>>"Those asteroids are mostly stationary, and we can move. Rain fire on them from afar. we'll win the artillery duel handily."

>>5250953
>>”We attack, let our cannons split them apart. Asteroids included.”

>>5251053
Also giving support to this one.

>>5250980
+1

Hopefully we don't take too much damage

what type of ships would the pirates have?

>>5250953
>>"Those asteroids are mostly stationary, and we can move. Rain fire on them from afar. we'll win the artillery duel handily."
>(Write in)
can we shoot the asteroids in a way they start spinning? from a "save" distance if possible?

>>5250980
+1

>>5250980
Support. Newton's laws of motion are fun.

Artillery duel 5

>>5250980 write in 6

Charge 1

A swinging you go.

3d100 best of 3

Rolled 29 (1d100)

>>5252249

Rolled 74, 36, 61 = 171 (3d100)

>>5252249

Rolled 85, 67, 29 = 181 (3d100)

>>5252249

Rolled 55, 21, 78 = 154 (3d100)

>>5252249
rollan

Rolls are 85 67 78

I am also posting this, just incase new anons stumbled across this.

Useful links:

Military/Noble rankings https://pastebin.com/gLcTWzXE

Archive Links https://pastebin.com/uWJ38wnz

Timeline of the setting https://pastebin.com/bzhWWDkj

Ships https://pastebin.com/8LxdVHfm

Dramatis Personae https://pastebin.com/epJfFJd7

“Not necessarily.” Hand under your chin you say with a predatory smile. “Tell me. Would it be possible to drag an asteroid ? Let us say, one of a similar size of the ones that the pirates had fortified.”

“It would be, possible. It would require almost a full power divertion to the primary thrusters by our cruisers. It would leave our force terribly exposed to any counter attack, should the pirates realize what we are doing. To ensure a precise strike we would have to come close before flinging the asteroid.”

“If we fail ?”

“Presuming that the pirates break through our escorts, they could try to cut the cables. With their current force, that would be the most likely course of action.”

“And if we succeed, we crack the asteroids, the debris becomes the equivalent of buckshot and it annihilates everything behind it.” You play out the plan in your head, thinking off potential losses and potential gains.

If the enemy rallies, your cruisers would be of no help with the initial engagement, even if you reroute the power, your ships would have a hard time manoeuvring. However, it also means that you will not have to sit out a nuking match with the asteroids, meters worth of rock would work just as well as any more in the absorption of your blows.

“Prepare the fleet. We’re taking the risk.” You eventually make up your mind.

-
(POV shift: You are Isma'il Bronstein, just one of the rank-and-file under command of the “Ghoul”.)

You hated every moment of this. As you drilled deep a hole into an asteroid. Your reinforced suit allowing for easy and graceful mobility. Unfortunately, you had to orient yourself via a jetpack, no metal here to magnetize yourself to.

Why were you doing this ? Well, your brilliant captain had decided to play the celestial equivalent of bowling, and now it came down to you and others to do this crazy task.

Unlike the officership core, the everyday enlisted men and women had no pick of where they were assigned to, you were commoners after all.

You can already see it at the back of your head. This plan will go in one of three ways. Somehow, some-fucking-how, your captain’s plan will work, as if guided by some greater power. Alternatively, you will get bogged down, and through sheer gritted teeth eventually manage a breakthrough that will leave you just as beaten as your opponent. Finally, said creative interpretations of reality will bite the captain in the ass, and maybe this time, he will lose something else other than a leg. Not that it seems to have stopped him any.

“Bronstein ! Get your head out of your ass and stop daydreaming.” A voice sharply cuts in.

Looking around, you see Warrant officer Radu, a good man, and unlike most of the officers of the ghoul, has a sense of self-preservation.

“I am on it, sir.” You respond. “But, sir. Can I ask, why are we doing this ?”

“Cause captain said so.” Oh, brilliant.

>>5252440

“I know how some of you feel, I can sympathize, hell, I spent the longest with the madman, no one report me to the XO, got it ?” He quickly interjects. “But let me ask you, had the captain ever abandoned any of you ? When the Vigilance was collapsing all around us, did he tell us to keep to our posts, to ensure his success ?” He waits in silence.

“No, sir.” Eventually another voice responds.

“If the captain risks something, he puts himself in the harm’s way. Look at this, swinging an asteroid with the forces and engines we have, insanity, most of you think.” You lower your head as Radu looks over you specifically. “However, it is a plan that guarantees survival to the maximum, should it succeed. The captain is one of us, someone who came from the grassroots, he cares, he has to make harsh decisions as his command demands, but he cares.”

A few agreements are given in return. “Besides, men, don’t you want to swing an asteroid and see what happens when it hits up close ?” He says with a clear smile on his face.

“I’d rather not be on the asteroid when that happens, sir.” You say, earning chuckles from the people around you.

“Then you better make sure those cables are dug in deep, and they are dug in fast.” The warrant officer states.

-
(End of POV shift.)

“Captain, the cables are attached and the crews are once more onboard.” Reports Tetrault.

“Good. Sensors, comms, any movement from the pirates ?”

“Nothing on my end, captain.” Says the sensors officer.

“I am detecting an uptick in comms chatter between the pirate frigates, sir.” Finishes the comms officer.

“Helmsman.” You say, purposefully holding your words for a moment. “Full. Burn.”

You crash back to your seat, overclocked thrusters enforcing their Gs upon you, the artificial gravity struggling to compensate for it.

“More power !” You command.

Four light cruisers in total firing their engines at full burn, what a sight to behold, especially Rasia’s face when she heard of your plan. You are quite certain that she plans to hit you when she meets you, since you were unable to keep in your laughter. But that is a crisis to deal with another time.

Upon your tactical display, you watch with fascination as the asteroid, slowly, ponderously, begins to move. The sheer amount of energy you are outputting must be confusing the ever living shit out of the pirates right about now. Wonder how their faces are looking right about now. You cannot help but smile at that thought.

The asteroid chosen for the task was taken from one of the outer asteroid belts, to ensure that you can build up as much momentum as possible. Still, accelerating the rock is not that hard, the issue will come trying to land a hit.

In order to ensure that you are not interfered with, your destroyers and frigates had been placed around you in a screening formation, they will have to hold ground without the assistance of your cannons.

>>5252441

“Sir, report from Lady-Commander Datz, his scanners had picked up incoming pirate forces on intercept, they appear to be flanking from the sides, trying to avoid coming directly in front of the light cruisers.” Reports the comms officer, as you had to scale back power on your sensors.

“Understood, inform him that the pirates cannot break the cables or destroy our thrusters, no matter the cost.”
.
.
.
-
(POV shift: You are Lady-Commander Ioanna Datz, in command of the screening force.)

“Sir, the enemy seems to have divided their forces equally. A Reaver-class destroyer escorted by seven or eight Wolf-classes assisted by four or five Defender-classes, on port and starboard.” Reports your sensors officer.

“Understood, relay my orders, divide our forces equally, have our missile destroyer and missile frigates concentrate on the side with the smallest number of Defenders. Ensure overlapping arcs of fire from out Raider-classes. Keep the frigate forces in reserve, have them prepared to sally out once our distanced is closed. Form a tight formation directly around the exposed cables. Catch stray rounds upon our hulls if we have to.”

A flurry of commands later, the pirates strike viciously. Willingly diving towards you. As you had ordered, your destroyers unleash a storm of railgun and M.A.G. rounds, frigates are destroyed left and right, but the charge continues on regardless.

Missile vessel fire sees your port attackers almost entirely crippled, yet they charge.

A brilliant flash informs you that something important was hit on the port destroyer, with that, you had crippled one side, before even having to unleash your frigates, your own destroyers taking the brunt of fire, hold. They will have to spend weeks in drydock after this, but not a single ship is lost.

That is, until your tactical display screams as you see the final destroyer, before it completely collapses, fire something off. Missiles ? No, too large, too fast for ships their side. Suddenly, it dawns on you. Boarding ships. You are reminded of the reports of when the captain’s marines had encountered those cybernetic soldiers.

The quartet of boarding ships activate their own engines, emitting enough Gs to cripple an unaugmented human.

“Concentrate fire on those boarding vessels.” You command as their distance draws ever closer.

One explodes in a shower of brilliant red as a missile impacts it successfully, another is cleanly cut in half, its hull horrifically deformed as the M.A.G. round passed through it. The third is annihilated by railgun fire, torn to literal shreds. But the last one, the last one manages to get through.

You could fire off your thrusters, your destroyer is speedy enough to get out of the way, but that means that the torpedo will impact the Captain’s ship.

>>5252444

Smiling wearily, you do not order the ship to dodge, after all, you are on probation, it would not do you good to abandon your orders once more.

I better get a medal and a promotion after this, captain.

-
(End of POV shift.)

Inaccurate fire greets you as you finally enter the range and you can guarantee a hit.

Cutting the cables, your overpowered engines quickly allow you to dodge to the side.

Panic must have overtaken the pirates, as the M.A.G. fire had almost entirely stopped, and for good reason.

The asteroid impacts, crumbling its kin and unleashing debris on all sides, ripping apart nearby asteroids in a cascading reaction, utterly obliterating the nearby asteroid grouping, leaving a gap in the ring where no large asteroid exists. All this in the backdrop the system’s start invokes the feeling of a classical painting. Of a vengeful deity venting its anger upon unsuspecting men.

However, you cannot enjoy your victory for too long, a fine victory that resulted in no ships lost. The fact that Lady-Commander Ioanna Datz is not responding to any hailing requests, her destroyer being dead in space.

>Gather every man you can, retake the destroyer and ensure the safety of its crew.

>You cannot risk it, have the vessel destroyed.

>Just sit and watch, await any message.

>(Write in)

>>5252446
>Gather every man you can, retake the destroyer and ensure the safety of its crew.

>>5252446
>>Gather every man you can, retake the destroyer and ensure the safety of its crew.
No man left behind

>>5252446
>Gather every man you can, retake the destroyer and ensure the safety of its crew.
Specifically request the intelligence officer helps.

>>5252446
>Gather every man you can, retake the destroyer and ensure the safety of its crew.

>>5252444
>Lady-Commander Datz, his scanners, inform him,
her erm i mean his prefered pronouns?

>>5252446
>Gather every man you can, retake the destroyer and ensure the safety of its crew.

dont retake it or at least dont absolutly force it, just get our crew out, if our marines say they can retake, do so, else just slag it.

>>5252446
>>Gather every man you can, retake the destroyer and ensure the safety of its crew.

>>5252446
>Gather every man you can, retake the destroyer and ensure the safety of its crew.

>>5252446
>Gather every man you can, retake the destroyer and ensure the safety of its crew.

just passing through, closed eyes fingers crossed

Alright, retaking the destroyer it is.

3d100 best of 3

>>5252580

>her erm i mean his prefered pronouns?

Shush, you. Sleep deprivation makes by brain write funny things. Like putting Taigon in charge of the battle only for later to realize that he is sitting his ass on a cruiser.

Rolled 81 (1d100)

>>5255207

Rolled 74 (1d100)

>>5255207

Rolled 36, 35, 97 = 168 (3d100)

>>5255207

Rolled 39, 50, 22 = 111 (3d100)

>>5255207

Rolled 64, 20, 11 = 95 (3d100)

>>5255207

rolls are 64 50 97(crit)

Writing.

“Comms, patch me through the fleet.” You command. Once connected, you begin. “Ladies and gentlemen. You know me as the “ghoul”, because of my reputation of leaving a trail of bodies wherever I walk. Because that reputation is deserved, I will not deny that my tactics can be excessive. However, know this, Fergus Proenza does not abandon his own. I am not issuing a direct order for any and all boarder forces to prepare for immediate deployment. Lady-Commander Ioanna Datz is most likely currently under siege by cybernetically enhanced soldiers who are closer to a tank than a marine. The boarders will be repelled, their back will be broken. Let it be known, that those that serve under me are – never – left behind, if I have anything to say about it. That is all, return to your posts, and prepare for battle.”

You nod towards the comms officer, commanding him to cut the signal. “Warwick, prepare your marines, the order applies to you as well.” Turning your good eye towards the man, whom you had ordered up here as soon as you heard the news.

“As you command, captain.” With a quick nod, he responds and walks out of the bridge to organize the men for battle, unable to join them as he himself is missing an arm.

Your eyes ache, your leg feels like it is being pinpricked with needles. You wish to go as well, but you know damn well that with your injuries, you will be a liability and nothing more.

-
(POV shift: You are Lady-Commander Ioanna Datz, and you are bleeding.)

A single breach, that’s all it took. Four men, no, not men, warmachines, had butchered everyone in their way. Ten of your household troops remain, the other forty had died buying time, trying to hold the breach and prevent the enemy from spreading. You had fought alongside them, earning yourself a wound horrific wound upon your stomach as a round pierced your armour. Were it not for your genetic enhancements and the sacrifice of your men, you would have joined them in their bloody graves.

God, it fucking hurts ! You cannot help but wince and cough up more blood. You had removed your helmet, it did its job by stopping a piece of shrapnel that would have seen you decapitated, but now it is a useless piece of junk blocking your vision.

The remainder of your marines had been equally split between the bridge and engineering, with explosive charges set on both. You’d rather die than let the bastards take control of the vessel.

You slowly creep your way towards one of the intersections. Corpses, puddles of blood and gore, really, cover your path. You cannot even recognize the dead.

>>5255311

Why are you risking yourself and sneaking about ? Well, when one of the explosive satchels had blown upon the body of one of the shits, you saw tubes, injectors. Mixtures of drugs constantly pumped into something. It either keeps the brain going, or it is a potent mixture of hallucinogens. You doubt that anyone who underwent such a procedure would be of a sound mind. And they way these things act, they are closer to animals acting on instinct that proper humans. They should have seized the most important sections of the ship, but instead they roam the corridors like berserkers obsessed with nothing but killing and slaughter.

You hear it, how can you not ? The booming noise of an AT cannon, the noise of the round meant to tear apart light vehicles impacting flesh. Another one of your crew dead. Poking your head out, as little as possible, you see it. The handcannon still smoking, is raised towards what could be described as an innovative piece of contemporary art. Luckily, you recognise the bastard, he’s the one missing a chunk of his armour.

Hefting your blade, you prepare to charge. You are going to need a deep cut, a guaranteed hit. Firing your rifle here will not cut it, so you will have to take the risk.

Your prepared plunge is interrupted as breaching charges detonate across the ship.

Shit ! What now ?

Sounds of fire quickly start filling the vessel as you feel yourself pulled forwards. A hull breach directly into space.

Snarling, you hold the blade tighter. It is the best opportunity you will get, and you are going to damn well use it.

You breakout into a sprint, rapidly closing the distance.

The thing hears you, his chest turns 180 degrees, feet still firmly planted forwards.

“Sick scum !” You shout, for no other reason than to relieve your stress.

Its shot goes wild, impacting the wall behind you, but just barely.

You are in melee range now, thrusting your blade at the exposed chest, you suddenly feel vertigo. Unnaturally rotating its body, it slams against your chest, aggravating your wound. Smashing at the wall, you throw up, the disgusting mess is coloured red by your vitae.

Your ribcage is broken, you think one of your lungs had been punctured. I’m dying. The thought goes through your head, as you struggle to breathe.

Laughter, cold, mocking laughter. Distorted to such an extent that it takes you a moment to register it.

“How does it feel, to die ? Is it scary, is it horrible ? Tell me, how does it feel, bitch.” The thing begins to speak.

His left, actually resembling a proper hand, clasps around your neck and he begins to squeeze it.

You can feel pressure build up around your wind pipe, your ruined lungs already make it hard to breathe, you can feel light-headedness begin to settle in, the pressure upon your spine builds up. Before it loosens.

>>5255314

“Those markings, you are in command of this ship.” It states. “Noble scum, I will not let you die, we will have some fun before I end you. I do wonder how will your household guard react when they see your mangled body.”

A shot rings. You cannot help but scream in pain as your left leg is blown off.

“Come on, more ! Scream some more !” The beast, for there is no humanity left in it, continues to laugh maniacally.

“Perhaps I will not kill you. Your body is needed to get the ship going after all. My other comrades are far too lost to realize this, but not I, my mind remained, despite the procedures. And I get to fully enjoy being a God of War !” It almost entirely screams. Reason and sanity long lost.

Explosives rock the ship. The sound of gunfire had grown quiet, either because the atmosphere is almost gone, or whomever was fighting is now dead.

“Shall we go for a stroll in the wondrous gardens, my fair lady ?” It laughs again.

“Why had you grown so silent ? Are you not struggling more ? Are you not going to entertain me ?” It questions, almost pleadingly. “Why ? Why ? Why ? Why won’t you talk !?” It slams you against the wall with each question, ever faster, ever harder.

You think your back is broken, you cannot feel your legs, but there is something that you can feel.

Struggling to speak, you open your mouth. “Wh- Why.” He leans in closer as you finally answer it. “Don- don’t you, go, and have, a nice, walk.”

“What ?” It seems confused as you smile.

It looks down, to find that you had stuck your hand into its exposed armour, a hand clutching an explosive charge.

“Go, to hell.” You utter as the hand upon your neck tightens, but before it can be snapped, the charge goes off.

Ah, it doesn’t hurt anymore. Wonder how everyone will react when they learn that rowdy is the first to go. Tears begin to flow down your face, as you feel a chill, your consciousness slowly drifting away.

As you mind goes, you swear you can hear something, something like a whisper. “-ʷᵉ ᶠᵒᵘnᵈ ʰᵉʳ, ʳᵉ-”

Ahhh, this sucks. Just as I was on probation. Is your last thought before everything goes dark.
.
.
.
-
(End of POV shift.)

“How is she ?” You ask with concern.

“Still critical, but the worst had passed. It’s a miracle that she was found so quickly, the applied first aid is what saved her life.” Responds the medical officer aboard your Timur-class.

“Good, I want to see her in action as soon as possible, doc. She’s a damned tough woman and I’d rather she stays that way.”

“I cannot promise you anything, captain. But thanks to her genetic modifications, and with the first aid, and now with my own facilities, I can give you a good chance, but nothing more.” The doctor says.

“She’ll live, I’m sure of it. And my gut’s never been wrong before.”

>>5255317

“What a wonderful gut you have, captain. Unfortunately, I am the one tasked with putting them back in after every engagement, so I’d suggest to rely on it less.”

You laugh at the doctor’s remark as you begin to leave the room. “I’m not dead yet, doc. And far more logical of my colleagues are.”

The situation upon Datz’s ship was pretty bad, and it is till pretty bad. The vessel will have to be retired from frontline duty. It is still usable, once repaired and rearmed it will work just fine, but it is out of action for the moment.

And you cannot wait for Datz’s recovery. According to your plan, the next system you are to jump to held an outpost, meaning that the terrain there was favourable for it.

Another thing is also of concern – those cybered up pirates. The operations were extensive, you had thrown them to Iron to investigate, and now you are just waiting for his response.

Suddenly, your comm rings, and the comms officer informs you. “Captain, a frigate bearing house Roy IFF has arrived. They are reporting that our own outpost are being attacked.”

“Which ones ?” You ask.

“All of them, sir.”

Seems like we pissed off the pirates enough for them to actually attack us.

>Continue on with your plan.

>Turnabout, rally at each and every outpost in the shortest about of time.

>>5255318
How much time would it take us to reach the nearest friendly outpost?

>>5255318
>Turnabout, rally at each and every outpost in the shortest about of time.

also +1 for waifu Datz the Zombie

>>5255318
>Turnabout, rally at each and every outpost in the shortest about of time.
reinforcements on the way.
Can't have the supply line be cut at this critical moment.

>>5255318
>Turnabout, rally at each and every outpost in the shortest about of time.

>>5255318
>Turnabout, rally at each and every outpost in the shortest about of time.

Give datz a hug as soon as possible, Because damn if she aint a trooper.

>>5255318
>Turnabout, rally at each and every outpost in the shortest about of time.
if they are attacking it means we are working
Also, Datz waifu route?

>>5255318
>Turnabout, rally at each and every outpost in the shortest about of time.
Warn our main Roy territory bases that they may be attacked soon and should be on the lookout.

>>5255318
+1 for defending outposts and waifu datz
Tell her somthing like "you got one wish i cant refuse"
Girls dig that

>>5255318
>>Turnabout, rally at each and every outpost in the shortest about of time.
Anon thirsty about our subordinate all of a sudden

>>5255331
>>5255359
>>5255383
>>5255405

3 out 4 first post simp for Datz, sus i might say

>>5255529
The waifu force is strong, Alpizar withdrawals.

>>5255718
Don’t you dare, Alpi is still #1!

Bloodthirsty Countess will probably be our bae though. Tet can remain as our sexy secretary.

>>5255724
not wanting to nurse tet into a meticioules enigma to crush our enemys with, shes gonna be a splendid captain if we get her to divert from her textbook fetish

>>5255718
Your not making it any less sus, first time poster

>>5255939
i mean she just displayed a ridicules amount of disregard for her own life in order to defeat the enemy.
yknow what they say about birds and feathers.

>>5255939
New bread.

>>5256105
She did her duty, but this 180 towards her is weird.

She our direct subordinate and military does not like the idea for obvious reasons.

As she still most likely officer to go "AWOL" with our ships if we dont count pirates.

Most likely officer to ignore our commands.

Officer whos actions have lead lost of OUR ships.

And if last thread is any indicator most likely officer to get court-martial.

She did took down one "cyberpsycho", this good start but all should not be given.

>>5256112
No food for trolls, not even bread.

>>5255318
>>Continue on with your plan.

>>5255529
Nope I am real
I mean my other vote is for the Countess but we don't have the prestige for that yet.

>>5256302
Then we have 2 out 4. Will the other comment

>>5256161
she literally did one (1) singular mistake and your painting her shes commit mutiny? also she just followed our order to the letter even intercepting a bording barge fully knowing what was onboard?
I do agree she aint got the cleanest record but dam youre painting her as a straight up pirate. Also isnt she a niche of some bigshot (longserved captain at least?) in the countess fleet?

And oh boy dont get me started on lost ships
lmao we lead that margin by fucking lightyears.

>>5256316
>your painting her shes commit mutiny?

No anon, really you dont remember. As she is Old timer’s descendant, this is/was genuine worry.

And not commit mutiny just leaving with our ships

>>5256400
>our ships
That are our her command

>>5255529
>>>5255331 #
>>>5255359 #
>>>5255383 #
>>>5255405 (You) #
>3 out 4 first post simp for Datz, sus i might say

Not me boi, i just want get some more social depth into the quest :)

>>5256522
>Not me boi, i just want get some more social depth into the quest :)
I can get this, but not id

>>5256527
It’s a mystery

>>5256579
But dont you want that we all have one vote, i mean were is the fun otherwise

I just wanted to give her a hug since she might need one after this, and so she feels appriciated. Romance is a little up in the air for me, But a hig is desiresble.

Sorry for the lack of updates. I've been bed ridden yesterday and today. Managed to catch something. Once my brain isn't frying I'll see if I cannot get an update out tomorrow.

>>5257293
Get well soon.

>>5257293
ey man just take it slow, recuperate and dont stress it.
get well alright

You rush onto the bridge and take your seat. “Tetrault, status report on the outposts.”

“The first runner ship to arrive had come from the outpost set up around the waterworld. They had reported sightings of a dozen frigates, and a couple of destroyer signatures, however, they state that an unknown massive signature had also appeared but stayed out of visual range by the time the runner ship departed. Current status of the outpost is unknown.

The second runner ship arrived from the outpost set up close to proper systems under ducal influence, specifically next to the system of Jed. They report that signatures for half a dozen frigates had entered the system. Originally, that would not be enough to send a runner ship, but they also reported a large power signature. Current status of the outpost is unknown.

Finally, the last outpost. It is but a jump away from us. They report the largest pirate force seen so far. Three dozen frigates and six destroyers. It is an overwhelming force compared to the local garrison.”

“All of the ships arrived at the same time ?”

“Hours apart, but yes, sir.”

“So it is possible that the other outposts already fell ?”

“Yes, sir.’

You sigh. “Rally the fleet, we’re going to swing by all of the outposts as a single force, shortest route possible.”

“Understood, sir.” Tetreault responds and begins to carry out your command.

[blue]A massive and a large signature. Seems like the pirates are throwing everything they have at me.[/blue]

“Comms, get me Commander Desmond. Send him Tetrault’s report, tell him to read it [b]before[/b] he contacts me.” You command.

“Right away, sir.” He responds.

Minutes pass, until eventually Desmond’s voice is heard in your ears.

“Boss looked over the reports you sent me.”

“Do you know to whom those larger signatures belong to ?”

“Nope. No idea, but I can tell you this much. From what I recall, I think you killed enough of us- erm. Killed enough of the pirates where this is all of their remaining forces.”

“You sure ?”

“Ehhhh, more or less. Otherwise, launching an assault like this would be stupid. And Tristan ain’t stupid.”

“He is seemingly throwing enough men at it to break each and every of my outposts, how is it foolish.”

“Pirate’s mentality, boss. That’s why it’s dumb. Sure, you can overwhelm the outposts, but tell me, boss, what would you do, what would the Unbroken Empire do ?”

“Respond with overwhelming force for the insult.”

“Exactly ! That’s why you don’t do it unless you plan to burn and run. Cause confusion, cut off possible supply lines to delay pursuers. That’s how you plan for a retreat.”

“And once the outposts are burnt, what then ?”

“Then you either scatter, but seeing how Tristan likes to keep everything under direct command, you set a rally point, from which you then prepare to scram to edges of the galaxy, or to a place you had set up prior.”

>>5259587

“Thank you for the information, commander. You are dismissed.” You say before signalling for the comms officer to cut off the connection.

Seems it will now be a race against time.

Swinging around the star, your fleet shifts and disappears from reality.
.
.
.
“And if I poke here.” The left leg shoots up. “The neural pathway system is well developed.”

“Okay. What does that tell me ?” You ask with a little bit of disgust as Iron pokes a brain in a jar.

“That whomever made this is experienced when it comes to cybernetics, especially full-blown enhancements.” He responds.

“The reports said that every single one of these, “men”, were off their rockers.”

“Indeed, procedures like these are, intrusive, psychologically damaging. Careful periods of acclimatization are needed afterwards. That is of course with the prerequisite that those cybered up are individuals of extremely strong will.”

“And if you lack these you go batshit.”

“Not how I would put it, but yes. I also noticed, bypasses, missing parts or ones simply installed as makeshift replacements when it comes to the suits themselves. The work, whilst efficient and effective, is cheap. The brain and the nervous system incorporated in the cybernetics would have naturally expired in mere years, perhaps even months if you look at this.” Iron raises a concoction inside of vial. “Combat drugs, alongside nutritional mixtures and recreational drugs. Most of these men were rather almost entirely unaware of what was happening when they were affected by the drugs.”

“Nothing more than expendable fodder. But why bother with such expensive enhancements ?” You question.

“I do not know, perhaps it is a mean of saving those destined to die, a punishment, a reward even. It may very well be nothing more than a desire to experiment and to see what sticks.”

“I hope I won’t have to see such things on my side. They look far too unpredictable to be trustworthy and reliable allies.”

“No, they are not, that is probably why the pirates do not deploy regulars with their cybernetic allies. However, with materials on hand, I could easily concoct the drugs andn the cybernetics presented here. Though it may be disdainful, their application as a terror weapon would be quite potent.”

“We’ll see if the situation calls for it.” You say uncommittedly, but not outright denying the idea. Who knows what the future holds ? And you are running awfully low on marines.

“That all ?” You question.

“For the moment, yes, captain. I shall not tire your eye anymore.”

[blue]Prick.[/blue] You think, not rising to the bait.
.
.
.

>>5259588

Shifting back to reality, you are immediately greeted by the sight of your outpost, broken and shattered, falling into the nearby gravity well, slowly burning up as it falls. The local garrison, nothing but a handful of frigates, had been swept away by the overwhelming force of the pirates. From the reported three dozen frigates and six destroyers, all of the destroyers remain unscathed and untouched, whilst the frigates had only suffered a few losses.

Unlike what you’d expect to see usually, the pirates dividing themselves in individual groups, you see that they have formed a proper battleline. A column formation, a formation meant exactly to counter your own forces, if they can wither the storm you are about to unleash upon them. Should they be able to however, their frigates will begin to act like jackals, diving in and out and all about your heavier ships. Daring you to open fire, risking the destruction of whichever ship they are currently busy pinpricking to death, or risking the attacked ship’s shots missing and impacting other friendly ships.

The pirates seem to have learnt about your weakness when it comes to frigates and they intend to exploit it to hell and back.

>Form a line, this will give the pirates what they want, but it will allow you to maximize your firepower.

>Spread out with gaps in your formation, mitigating possible friendly fire incidents and hopefully containing the attackers until you can outlast them.

>Rally your frigates and destroyers in a counter column, supported by your light cruisers.

>>5259590
ITS BACK yay, hope you recovered well
>Form a line, this will give the pirates what they want, but it will allow you to maximize your firepower.
it all boils down to us alpha striking as hard as we can on the destroyers and then breaking the frigs, also i guess keep our frigs out of the opening moments/ in the backline to counter the first (p)frigs trying to punch trough

>>5259590
>>Spread out with gaps in your formation, mitigating possible friendly fire incidents and hopefully containing the attackers until you can outlast them.

>>5259590
>Form a line, this will give the pirates what they want, but it will allow you to maximize your firepower.

Can’t wait for this to go wrong.

File: Tired Pepe.jpg (61 KB, 820x783)

61 KB JPG

>>5259627
>Can’t wait for this to go wrong.

Then why do you vote for it?

>>5259590
>Form a line, this will give the pirates what they want, but it will allow you to maximize your firepower.

>>5259630
Because I feel the Ghoul would take the most aggressive plan he could, and because I think it’s better to risk it for the biscuit rather than get bogged down trading with pirates when we know we’ll have to deal with bigger forces later on.

Also, Tristan was probably a covert op to weaken House Roy in this sector, because clearly there would be no other way for him to get ‘larger vessels’ than a destroyer.

>>5259590
>Form a line, this will give the pirates what they want, but it will allow you to maximize your firepower.

>>5259590
Can i write in?
Ask iron to send a message that would be mend for a "flanking force" and our "insider" in the pirate force and the pirate sensorships, to get ready to strike.
Maybe tristan will think that the senorships are compromised and he has to position a rearguard to not be flanked.

>>5259821

Write ins are always encouraged and appreciated. As long as they win majority vote they will be the one used. Though if it is really good or got at least half of the votes and isn't mutually exclusive I will also include it.

>>5259590
>>Spread out with gaps in your formation, mitigating possible friendly fire incidents and hopefully containing the attackers until you can outlast them.

>>5259590
>Form a line, this will give the pirates what they want, but it will allow you to maximize your firepower.
Our guns are bigger and more numerous than theirs, ergo, they will be the ones with burning hulks by the end of this.

Also, we should capture as many ships as we can and see if Iron can't rig them up to be autonomously controlled, and use them as giant missiles.

Line it is 3d100 best of 3

Rolled 21, 40, 56 = 117 (3d100)

>>5261232

Rolled 20, 62, 94 = 176 (3d100)

>>5261232
1, 1, 1

Rolled 6, 51, 40 = 97 (3d100)

>>5261232

>>5261278
damn, forgot my name

21 62 94

Writing.

>>5261328
so close and yet so far ...

File: Updated fleet post battle2.png (316 KB, 5586x1770)

316 KB PNG

“Have the fleet spread out and form a line. Crush the column before it reaches us and leave nothing of the pirates.” You command.

Swiftly shifting and changing, you watch as the distance between you and the pirates closes. By the time sporadic fire becomes a unified wall of fire, the pirates had almost entirely closed the distance.

With a literal wall of rounds, you watch as some frigates are caught and obliterated, torn asunder and shred to bits, but it they are too few.

Like a swarm of mice around an elephant, the frigates begin to manoeuvre around your ships, gunnery crews changing up their targets allow for further pirate forces to close the distance, to such an extent that all of the destroyers had reached you battle line.

Your own frigates begin to harry and chase the foe, your larger vessels becoming impromptu battlefields upon which lives of hundreds are snuffed out in moments. The new generation frigates, though overwhelmed by superior numbers score a fair share of kills, before one is simply overwhelmed. Ironically caught in between the broadsides of two Vigilances, whom did not open fire to support, out of fear of hitting their own side.

With a concentrated force, you watch as Desmond duels against the other destroyers, Mikel and Giacomo rushing to his aid whilst Datz if busying shaking her destroyers in a desperate attempt to throw off the biting frigates.

Turrets rotate like crazy; flashes look like showers of fireworks as each and every vessel is giving its damndedst to survive.

Spraying debris like shotgun shots, obliterated frigates, both friendly and hostile, scatter across the cold space, large swathes of it imbedding itself into the tick plates of your heavier vessels, others bouncing off and spiralling out of control, become permanent markers of the battle waged here as they begin to spread out across the star system. You watch as the last wolf-class hurls itself into a particularly daring pirate captain, whom tried to ram the bridge of your own Timur. Unfortunately, Teigon had not been so lucky, as one frigate rams itself entirely into primary command bridge. Tense moments later, did you feel relief wash over you as reports come in indicating that the command staff managed to successfully evacuate and relocate to the secondary command bridge before the impact. The Ever Vigilant will continue to fight on.

What will not continue however, will be Mikel’s command ship for “Ironclad courage” as it suffers catastrophic engine failure, finding itself faced with four Reavers to its rear. As the ship breaks under the weight of sustained fire, escape pods are launched. Luckily, the pirates do not have the time to finish off survivors, as Giacomo had won his two on one duel, and Desmond, the crazy bastard, had now launched two separate boarding actions, mid combat, against two of the four destroyers that finished off Mikel’s command.

>>5261438

Such recklessness is saved by Taigon, no doubt eager for revenge, coordinating with Marc, each Vigilance delivering a deadly volley, each scoring a destroyer kill.

Alpizar’s fighters manoeuvre overhead, delivering surprisingly accurate missile volleys upon frigate critical locations, crippling attackers long enough to allow bombers to deliver killing blows. At the end of it, no less than nine frigates are turned to dust by the brave spacecraft pilots, but such a victory had come at a cost of Alpizar’s own frigates who had to fight off the pirates whom realized the threat these nimble spacecraft posed.

Your own Timur had proven equally deadly however, thanks to your accurate commands, even a single volley of the double-linked railgun fire annihilated frigate after frigate, showing the pirates that you are not easy prey for them to harass.

Through the entire battle, your missile ships had sat rather comfortably in the rear waiting for the precise moment that the pirates would break, and that moment had finally come. Having lost their destroyers, a.k.a. their leadership, their cohesion and discipline fell apart. No doubt had the pirates pressed further they may have scored a light cruiser kill, but today is not that day. With only about a third of their total starting force left, they broke and ran. Only for nuclear missile fire to wash them over. With prepared targeting solutions and coordinates, that they had the entire battle’s worth of time to set up, they deliver the final killing blow, utterly obliterating the pirates.

You had won the day, and you had, going by Desmond’s words, annihilated a third of the pirates in the sector.

To your surprise, Desmond also reported that after some “aggressive negotiation tactics”, that he had personally himself employed. The crews of the two Reavers he had boarded had seen the light of the Unbroken Empire. That is, he took a blowtorch to their leadership, as you came to learn after the battle.

Finally, through the course of the battle, you had also come to learn that the last wolf-class of the merchant volunteers had died heroically in battle. With structural collapse imminent due to sustained fire, they chose to ram themselves into the enemy, rather than allow their ship to simply break apart.
.
.
.
“Casualties ?” You ask.

“Over five hundred dead or missing, hundreds more injured.” Reports Tetreault.

“And of the pirates ?”

“Close to four thousand men, if not more.”

“Almost ten to one, then.”

“Correct, sir.”

“And of Lord-Commander Mikel Leiser ?”

“Injured, but alive and ready to go again, if needed.”

“Captain, Commander Desmond wants your attention.” Interjects the comms officer.

“Put him through.”

“Boss ! Got some info !” he excitedly proclaims. You cast a quick glance at your XO. Whom is surprisingly holding up pretty well…Ah, she nearly grabbed her sidearm.

File: Pirate hunt map5.png (325 KB, 3776x2812)

325 KB PNG

>>5261440

Ignoring the immediate threat besides you, you address Desmond. “What sort of information ? I hope this something good Commander, as we can’t afford any delays.”

“Oh, it is boss. After I had done some interrogating, I came to learn that I was right ! Tristan had set a rally point ! I say we go there, be all sneaky like, and smash him in the face !”

“If we do that, we risk the utter destruction of our outposts.” Rebukes Tetrault.

“Oh, those things are dead already. By the time we get there not even scrap will be left.” Responds Desmond.

“I cannot deny that he has a point, captain. Your orders ?”

>The rally point. Catch the pirates, leave nothing.

>No, we will continue our move, if we can save even a single life, so be it.

>(Write in)

>>5261443
>The rally point. Catch the pirates, leave nothing.

>>5261443
>>The rally point. Catch the pirates, leave nothing.

>>5261443
>The rally point. Catch the pirates, leave nothing.
Can we ask Iron to make missiles out of captured frigates?

>>5261443
>The rally point. Catch the pirates, leave nothing.
showtime, again, this time hopefully the one leading up to the epilogue.

>>5261510
frigate sized missiles? sign me the fuck up right now

>>5261443
> Rally Point

>>5261510

>Can we ask Iron to make missiles out of captured frigates?

His expertise here would be pointless. To make a frigate into a missile is to stuff it full of explosives. And least quarter crew will be required to pilot them. You do have the materials to insulate A.I.s, but they are not processed and as such, useless in this situation.

>>5261443
>>The rally point. Catch the pirates, leave nothing.

>>5261443
>The rally point. Catch the pirates, leave nothing.

>>5261805
Pooh! What are we paying him for? I'm only asking him to make ai advanced enough that it can autonomously pilot one ship into another. 800 year old super genius my foot.

“The outposts are probably long gone. Going there would be nothing more than playing into the pirate’s hands. We’ll avenge the fallen, prepare the fleet to move onwards to the rally point.” You command.
.
.
.
“Could you turn a frigate into a missile ? Without my crew dying, that is.” You once more bother Iron at his lab.

“How intelligent ?”

“Give me the options.”

“I could make either an A.I. or a V.I. driven intellect. An A.I. intellect would be far more advanced, but it would require the usage of rare materials, I’d recommend against it as it would be a horrific waste of resources. The V.I. intellect is no more than some advanced script reacting to situation, not as advanced, nor as adaptable, but if you would use any intellect, I would recommend that one.”

“When can you have it prepared ?”

“Here ? In the middle of lands that the empire considers nearly worthless ? No, I would need proper facilities for the rework, entire rewiring of internal control system to allow for V.I. interference with the frigate. With such facilities, I’d say it would take me a week per frigate, if I were to do it myself, half as long if I had some skilled helpers.” He surmises.

“So you can’t do it here ? What am I even paying you for ?”

“You are paying me for my expertise, and the fact that I can even do this in the first place. Unlike most people you would even encounter.” With a hint of threat Iron responds.

“Yea, yea. All that matters is the fact that you cannot do it when I need it.” You sigh. “I suppose I shall have to make do with what I have, with the things crafted by lesser men, yet those are the only things present.” With overexaggerated tone you say quickly departing, not risking it any further.
.
.
.
It takes you nearly twenty days, nearly twenty days of ever-increasing tension, you can feel your crew grow on edge. Reports indicate an overall increase of confrontations between crewmen, increase in petty fights. Everyone knows what awaits you at the end of this particular journey. The last of the pirates. You deal with them, you secure the area, you avenge the fallen.

Finally, you arrive at your destination. A lone red giant. Nothing more than a few comets, an asteroid here and there, fill the system. And of course, the thing that stands out the most, an actual functioning outpost. Its silhouette clearly visible upon the background of the star.

“Sir !” Calls out sensors officer. “Breaking from the station, moving at full burn is a heavy cruiser signature. I am detecting something else behind it, but it moves slowly and I cannot tell what it is, I am reading dozens of signatures coming on and off at once, irregular power outputs as well. There are also accompanying frigate signatures, dozen and a half, as well as two destroyer signatures on approach.”

>>5263438

“Gather all ships, form a battleline. It seems that the pirates are tired of running, let us give them a greeting that they will never forget for the rest of their lives.” You call out.

“Yes, sir.” Enthusiastically responds the bridge crew, also tired of the endless chase.

“Captain, hostile forces coming into view now. Identifying the heavy cruiser as House Scorpio make Aggressor-class. And…something else…” The man seems utterly confused.

Suddenly, the large shape behind the pirate fleet become visible, as lights illuminate it, lights seemingly directed towards the purpose of showing off the “vessel”. And what vessel it is, a mockery of the term, a damnation on everything ship design related. A curse on your eyes.

“What in the name of-“ Mutters Tetrault.

Suddenly, you jump in your seat as turning around you spot Iron’s body, he seems to have, out of sheer anger, smashed the wall, bending the thick metal.

“I REFUSE TO TOLERATE SUCH, SUCH ABOMINATION ! MANKIND HAS A NATURAL SENSE OF AESTHETICS, THE PERFECTION OF FOUND IN ART AND OUR OWN CREATION ! THIS IS A MOCKERY TO EVERYONE WITH EYES !” Ranting and raving Iron screams.

You cannot help but agree with him, as you look over the ship.

Habitation blocks, welded together in a rough manner, destroyer and frigate grade railguns and laser turrets have been haphazardly thrown around its hull. Engines, from perhaps half a dozen ships, have also been crudely slapped onto it with rough welds, you are certain that some parts are open to space, for reasons unknown to you. The monstrosity, whose length reaches to perhaps 2 kilometres, struggles to move onwards, its engines misfiring, making the thing misalign, only to fire up other thrusters to stabilize itself. And to top it all off, the piece that perhaps makes your eyes twitch the most. A battleship grade M.A.G. cannon. At least two generations out of date, but its calibre is still impressive. Were it not for the fact that actual cables are currently used to tie it down, men in spacesuits are still busying themselves welding it to the superstructure.

Are they ? No, they cannot be. Those crazy bastards are manually trying to insert a shell into the cannon ! You cannot help but internally scream as you watch the baffling performance.

“Captain.” Silently says your comms officer. “The, the “vessel”, sir. It has turned on its IFF. It is identified as…”The innovation.””

“Captain, I believe I know where the pirates used the stolen materials when they attacked our convoys.” Says your XO.

“How many heavy cruisers could have been built instead of this ?”

File: Spoiler Image (647 KB, 5459x3662)

647 KB PNG

>>5263440

“A total of 4.2 Crusaders or 2 Aggressors, or 7 Hammers.” Responds Iron. “I- I must excuse myself.” He, almost drunkenly, wanders off the bridge. His reason of coming here in the first place now forgotten.

The battlelines now drawn, the final confrontation has come.

>Your flanks are stronger than the pirate’s, send your faster ships to overwhelm the sides whilst your cruisers try to tie down the heavy cruiser and “The Innovation.”

>Keep distance, you are faster than the enemy and the terrain favours you, run circles around the pirates.

>Test your mettle, simply charge at them.

>(Write in)

File: Spoiler Image (386 KB, 4088x2651)

386 KB PNG

>Aggressor-class heavy cruiser. 1000 meters in length. A crew complement of 700. 12 turret railguns capable of near full 360-degree arcs of fire, 20 laser turrets with ten mounted on top and then mounted on the bottom, 2 frontal mounted light cruiser calibre M.A.G. cannons and two heavy cruiser calibre M.A.G. cannons make this class one of the most powerful heavy cruisers of the era. Designed exclusively for and by house Scorpio, it was made to embody its namesake, as well as the fighting style of house Scorpio – a good defence, is a good offence. With thick armour plating to boot, it gives the cruiser exceptional staying power in any conflict. All of these advantages come at a cost of a need for powerful rearwards facing engine block, which is installed, at an expensive cost. Retro thrusters however, are not afforded the same grace, making the ship exceptionally slow when it comes to its ability to turn. It should be noted, that for every Aggressor, house Roy could produce two Crusader-class heavy cruisers, as such, these cruisers are a relative rarity on the battlefield, usually held in reserve for the most important battles.

Rolled 34 (1d100)

Drawfagging takes a lot of time.

>>5263445

>34

:(

>>5263441
>Your flanks are stronger than the pirate’s, send your faster ships to overwhelm the sides whilst your cruisers try to tie down the heavy cruiser and “The Innovation.”
Once we get red of their escorts start boarding, bring Iron and the intelligence officer along. Personally lead the charge during boarding.

>>5263445
Drawing indeed takes a lot of time when drawing "the Abomination"

>>5263441
>Keep distance, you are faster than the enemy and the terrain favours you, run circles around the pirates.

>>5263441
>Keep distance, you are faster than the enemy and the terrain favours you, run circles around the pirates.
did someone say engine shooting? 'cuz it awfully sounded like it

also i like the drawing, it looks adequatly clunky

also iron having an heartattack seems a lot like hes more human than he lets on,

speaking of can we inquire as to what alcoholics or tabacco or otherwise recreational substances Iron prefers? we might be fucking around alot with him but we should stay at least mannered about it, so we should earmark some of the "good stuff" to gift for iron and his services.

>>5263441
>>Test your mettle, simply charge at them.

Our signature tactic.

>>5263441
>Your flanks are stronger than the pirate’s, send your faster ships to overwhelm the sides whilst your cruisers try to tie down the heavy cruiser and “The Innovation.”

Taking that heavy cruiser alone would make this excursion worth it, even at the cost of our light cruisers. Tell Ox and our marines to prepare to board it, Marc and the others can focus on boarding the abomination. I want the Countess to see for herself the Unimaginable Horror that we’ve slain here.

>>5263441
>Your flanks are stronger than the pirate’s, send your faster ships to overwhelm the sides whilst your cruisers try to tie down the heavy cruiser and “The Innovation.”
This abomination can never ever see the light of the stars ever again
Blow it the FUCK UP

Rolled 4 (1d100)

>>5263441
>Keep distance, you are faster than the enemy and the terrain favours you, run circles around the pirates.
There's only so quickly they'll be able to turn. We flank them hard on one side and the battle's ours.

Rolling for luck too because we are dead if we roll a crit in this fight.

>>5263668
I don't want to risk our marines until we confirm that there's no more of those cybermen types still around. They need reinforcements as is, and we don't want them getting killed when a good old railgun shot will do the job.

File: Again and again.jpg (68 KB, 1022x731)

68 KB JPG

>>5263738

>>5263738
what this anon said, no electric boogaloo: cybermen uprising 2
while this ships looks way too juicy to pass up on, its way too big for our tiny jaws right now.

>>5263740
what do you mean? this anon got a negative crit out of the way

>>5263738
This heavy cruiser is worth double House Roy’s heavy cruisers, and practically the only one who has these heavies in these boonies may very well be the Countess herself. It is worth the risk.

You can ask Iron if he can whip up some grenadines, ordnance, and equipment to help take the cruiser, but the priority should be the heavy cruiser.

>>5263738
>>5263740
Also, QM didn’t call for rolls lad.

>>5263441
>Aggressor-class heavy cruiser
I want that, said avatar to beam tank

>Your flanks are stronger than the pirate’s, send your faster ships to overwhelm the sides whilst your cruisers try to tie down the heavy cruiser and “The Innovation.”
Also we should on look out for enemies fighter wing out that block mountain

>>5263441
>>Your flanks are stronger than the pirate’s, send your faster ships to overwhelm the sides whilst your cruisers try to tie down the heavy cruiser and “The Innovation.”
Let's try to sink The Innovation and board that heavy cruiser. Daddy needs a new flagship.

>>5263794
>700 crew
I doubt we even have that many marines in the entire fleet. Granted, the ship isn't crewed with marines, but they have cybermen at their disposal and we have absolutely shit luck when it comes to boarding actions.

>>5263894
Yeah, yeah they have cybermen but you do realize that they arent most stable weapon meaning they might not care about friendly fire turning enemy crew to hamburgers

>>5264204
it all boils down to just how many cybers are left, also i wonder just how motivated we can get our marines. they after all have already fought them twice already, and i doubt they are all this eager to go for a third time.
In favor of our marines who are left im all for slaggin all of those ships. Sometimes you pass on a good meal knowing you'll only hurt yourself eating it.

>>5264219
Yeah I second this, passing on this ship is the smart play especially when we should be looking to escape this battle intact with our fleet. So taking out this and the abomination asap instead of birding should be out modus operandi

Flank 5

Distance 3

Mettle 1

Flanking wins 3d100 best of 3

Rolled 71, 70, 67 = 208 (3d100)

>>5264501

Rolled 28, 6, 84 = 118 (3d100)

>>5264501

Rolled 10, 76, 18 = 104 (3d100)

>>5264501

70,76, 84 not bad at all. That’s actually damn good. For us especially. Now let’s just hope that the rest of our rolls go as good

71 76 84 are the rolls. Writing.

Also considering the options available I say we try and just slag these ships and recycle them into a shit ton of mechs, new escorts and a personal shipyard…maybe even a mobile repair and refit yard we ‘gift’ to iron for as long as he’s working for us. After all I’m sure pointing him at the remnants (as long as they aren’t vaporized by reactor overloads) and telling him that he can have our valuable money to build a set of labs and mobile construction yard to his standard, after we get the money from destroying the pirates and securing this region of space of course, would get us at least his grudging acceptance

File: Pirate hunt15.png (876 KB, 5459x3662)

876 KB PNG

“Send the destroyers and frigates on the flanks, overwhelm them and bring down that monstrosity. Comms, get Marc and Teigon. Have them spread out and prepare to hold that heavy cruiser back.”

You yourself move towards the helm and move the helmsman away. “Ladies and gentlemen, hold onto to your socks.” You say with a grin over the internal comm.

The first action you take is to bank hard port, side of the Timur is cut clean off, the plating torn off by the M.A.G. round barely missing you. The railgun fire however, is not something that you can dodge alongside the M.A.G. cannon fire. Your forward plates begin to buckle under the pressure, but the Timur was made to take such pounding.

Whilst you draw the attention of the heavy cruiser, you watch as the M.A.G. rounds fired from your Vigilances bounce off the thick plate, failing to penetrate. Another thing to add on to it is the fact that your missile ships are currently firing everything they can at the heavy cruiser. It lacks the sheer amount of AS needed to stop all of the missiles, those that do manage to impact the hull, fail to penetrate, leaving nothing more than scorch marks. A lot of firepower will be needed to bring this thing, but enough will hopefully drown it. A death by a thousand cuts.

Your starboard assault seems to be successful, if slow. They lack the numbers needed to chew through the flank, but they seem to not have suffered any excessive damages from their exchange of fire.

The most interesting thing comes from the port. “Captain !” Your comms officer calls out. “IFFs on our port had changed at about half of the frigates, they seem to have begun firing upon the other pirates alongside our own forces. The lead ship seems to identify itself as “Lashawn’s Revenge.” and is transmitting this.” He says turning on a transmission.

“To imperial forces, this is auxiliary recruit Lashawn Urtz offering my assistance !” A cheerful, perhaps mocking tone says.

Damn glad that payed off.

With the port disrupted to such an extent, you are about to break through there, with only a single Reaver between you and the ultimate goal.

“Ca-captain !” A shocked voice of your sensors officer calls out. “I am detecting twe-, no fo-, no, over a hundred fighters spewing forth from the Innovation !”

“What the hell do you mean there’s over a hundred fighters ?”

>>5264809

“There’s, there’s one-hundred and forty-four fighter signatures, alongside thirty-six bomber signatures, sir.”

That’s a lot of spacecraft.

You watch, as behind the Aggressor, the Innovation’s battleship M.A.G. cannon had been loaded.

With shock and horror, you see as the cannon, momentarily, lifts up slightly from the hull. The Innovation itself shifts sideways, ever so slightly. To your relief, the round flies wide and inaccurately. Upon the monstrosity, the running lights that had ever so brightly illuminated it dim as a general brownout spreads across the ship. The crew around the cannon begin running around in a panic, rapidly reloading the cannon, whilst still continuing their work in trying to finish welding it onto the ship.

>Pull your forces back. Those spacecrafts are a sizeable threat to your now exposed wings.

>Hold it as is and command Desmond to board the heavy cruiser as his flank is the safest one.

>Continue with the assault as it is, you will weather the storm yet.

>>5264810
>>Hold it as is and command Desmond to board the heavy cruiser as his flank is the safest one.
Send one guardian to act as anti fighter

>>5264810
>Hold it as is and command Desmond to board the heavy cruiser as his flank is the safest one.
>When the heavy cruiser is neutralized, bring up our AA ships and order the missile ships to fire upon the Monstrosity instead.

>>5264810
>>Hold it as is and command Desmond to board the heavy cruiser as his flank is the safest one.

>>5264810
Also we should call for pirates surrender on open channel saying that:

You will not be killed if you surrender or are you really willing to die in crude box and for what? Empires inner politics. Or do you think you will reward when you leave this borderland for house scorpios space. No, everyone of you killed so no-one will know the truth about this operation because its TREASON againts empire and house scorpio has history of not caring what happens to it loyal soldier. Even if some of you were just loyal to your house and doing your duty as sailors and soldier of empire but in end of the day it those not matter if are pirates or house guard everylast one of you will killed to hide the truth, to cover your masters ass. But it does not have to be, surrender and bring your leaders to me. You have Captain Ghoul word.

And put it on repeating loop

If nothing else we will mayde get reaction out of Aggressor

>>5264810
How difficult would it be to remove the manoeuvring thrusters on the Aggressor? Essentially pulling a bismarck on it so it can only point one way.

Until then, my vote is:
>>5264810
>Continue with the assault as it is, you will weather the storm yet.
Push all the guardians up to the flanks.

>>5264810
>>Hold it as is and command Desmond to board the heavy cruiser as his flank is the safest one.

As others have said, order our Guardians to the front of our flanks to focus on shooting down the enemy spacecraft. Send the Defenders as well for the same purpose.

> have our missiles aim for MAG Cannons and Railguns, try and damage or destroy the barrels. If they can’t fire then that ship is no threat

>>5264810
>Hold it as is and command Desmond to board the heavy cruiser as his flank is the safest one.
>When the heavy cruiser is neutralized, bring up our AA ships and order the missile ships to fire upon the Monstrosity instead.

Rolled 25 (1d100)

Okay boarding attempt wins.

Give me 3d100 best of 3 for the combat

and 3d100 best of 3 for attempted boarding.

Rolled 79, 28, 43 = 150 (3d100)

>>5267178

Rolled 2, 1, 22 = 25 (3d100)

>>5267178
And for boarding

>>5267185
Jesus

Rolled 10, 76, 88 = 174 (3d100)

>>5267178
>>5267187
Jezus

>>5267185
May the good Lord make us thankful for what we are about to receive...

Rolled 9, 56, 65 = 130 (3d100)

>>5267178

Rolled 73, 100, 35 = 208 (3d100)

>>5267178
Boarding, let’s save us from >>5267185

Rolled 53, 54, 85 = 192 (3d100)

>>5267178
Looks like we are getting our shit kicked in again

Rolled 38, 78, 10 = 126 (3d100)

>>5267178
second set

Battle 79 76 88

Boarding 2 100 35

Rolls locked in.

Sorry for being touch and go as of late, as you know was sick, and it is exam time for me right now, so I am preparing for those. You can expect an update in perhaps ten or so hours, as I am heading of to bed right now.

>>5267399
all right, space battle looking good while boarding seems to be a clusterfuck

It’s looking like our boarding actions first waves gonna be Merced, second waves manages a breakthrough and secure all vital elements or most then get HEAVILY engaged by enemy QRF leading to a second round of rolls or a hard fought victory with the ship unable to be operated immediately due to enemy damage

>>5267185
THIS IS WHY WE DON'T BOARD WHEN WILL YOU LEARN

>>5267772
but anon, 100 (one hunnid)

>>5267399

2 78 35 for boarding

My bad since the 100 counteracts the 1 thus resulting in the 78.

I apologize for my sleepy brain.

Writing.

File: Pirate hunt16.png (933 KB, 5459x3662)

933 KB PNG

“Comms, get Commander Desmond to start boarding the heavy cruiser.” You command, sweat flowing down your face as you bring the Timur to the side, dodging yet another M.A.G. round.

The frontal plate of your armour is beginning to slowly collapse, as more and more railgun fire finds purchase. In exchange, your own weaponry had finally begun to strip away a few plates here and there on the frontal plating of the heavy cruiser. But that armour blown away is depressingly tiny compared to the damage you are taking.

Your missile ships find much easier time targeting the abomination. Missiles flying free and unperturbed. What AS the ship has is tiny compared to its size, and even then, it primarily concentrates on keeping the battleship grade M.A.G. cannon safe, allowing for damage to keep mounting on the hull itself. Though the ship is large, its armour is only as strong as it is thick. Overall, the hull appears civilian issue, meaning that the missiles easily pierce and detonate.

And speaking of the cannon. The Innovation once more shifts by a few degrees as it fires its M.A.G. cannon. The round flying entirely of the mark, but you cannot help but feel trepidation, as all it would take is for it to hit once to cleave apart one of your cruisers or a destroyer.

The rest of the engagement goes indecisively.

The last enemy ship on your port is finished off by your Raider-class, just as squadrons of spacecraft close in and begin delivering their payloads. Lashawn takes the brunt of the attack, two of his frigates quickly overwhelmed by bombing runs combined with missile volleys of the fighters, in exchange losing some of their own. A grouping breaks and begins delivering strikes upon the Raider, blowing apart a chunk of its armour, the nearby Defenders open up their AS weaponry and inflict a score of casualties in exchange. You had ordered a guardian to break off and rush to their aid, hopefully it will be enough.

On your starboard. Two more frigates are finished off by the Raiders, taking some fire in return, their frontal plating absorbing most of the return fire. Unfortunately, the last of your Fenrir’s is not so lucky, a concentrated run upon it by the spacecraft cripple and destroy it. Perhaps expecting this loss, the intelligence officer had transferred their command to one of the Pummelers in your backlines. Another run begins harassing the Vigilance to your starboard, delivering blows upon its plating. In response, Alpizar had sent forth her own spacecraft to tie the enemy down, as the entire formation begins to move onwards to support them and to hopefully push the pirates back.

Meanwhile, Desmond and his trio of Reavers begin to close distance with the Aggressor and they start launching their shuttles. To carry out your orders.

>>5268336

-
(POV shift: You are Sedgely Vigier, and you’ve been thrown at hell.)

You had finished off that greedy, oh ever so downtrodden Pietro bastard. Even captured a VIP, that crazy bitch. Everything was looking up for you, hell, you even managed to get yourself command of one of the Reavers that Ox captured. And now you’ve been ordered to try and seize a heavy cruiser.

A heavy cruiser ! They would have more marines than you have men aboard your ship ! That dumbass of a Ghoul had sent you all to die, that, or he is just as vicious as any other pirate you had met, throwing you all away so as to get rid of potential threats.

You rock as the shuttle disengages from your ship, you are going to move as a swarm, the only way to overwhelm the oversized AS turrets in front of you. Naturally, you had waited for your shuttle to be the last in the formation, and what a fine choice it was.

Looking at the readouts shown in front of you by your power armour, you watch as your shuttle begin dropping like flies. Superheated by lasers the shuttles begin to literally melt, the comms are filled with the screams of men being cooked alive by the heat. The wails of the damned do not seem to be particularly inspiring for your men, but it does not have to be, you just have to make sure they fear you more than the fate that awaits them. To further reinforce your point, you heft “greatbone”. So may disparage it as a pipe, but this is a fine killing weapon as any. Thick enough so that a high-frequency blade will not be able to cut through it too quickly, it had allowed you to bring down more than one over haughty noble. You heard that the Ghoul had been a commoner, maybe I could smash his head in and also become a knight ?

Your ambitious thoughts are interrupted by the impact of your shuttle hitting the hull.

“Move you dogs ! Lest I myself turn you into a part of the hull !” You “encourage” the men. They do not grumble, nor raise complaints, knowing full well to what happens to those that draw your wrath.

Your magboots locking onto the hull allow you to take in the sight of the battle happening all around you. Ox is still crippled upon his ship. Maybe there could be a firing accident upon the heavy cruiser, targeting his ship. The Ghoul clearly appreciates those that follow his orders and know what they are doing, it wouldn’t be too hard for you to ingratiate yourself with him.

“Hostiles !” Calls out one of your men, before he is ripped apart by rifle fire.

“Shit ! Fight them off and beat them back ! Get cutting !” You command, firing off your pistol.

>>5268339

Accurate shots rip apart your former comrades apart, all whom seem to only be in protections suits, allowing your rounds to easily destroy them. Whilst their own bullets bounce of your armour, your men are not so lucky, surprisingly however, only a few are actually caught. Only now do you realize that in order to shoot you, they have to face the star, even if their visors are compensating for it, their vision is still strongly impaired.

“How close are we to breaching ?!”

“The torch is overheating !”

“What the hell do you mean it is overheating !?”

“The plate is too thick, we need stronger torches in order to cut through !”

“You useless cunt ! Why didn’t you pack any !”

“That’s cause we don’t got any, boss !”

Growling with annoyance, you look the sallying defenders.

“Then we will simply find a way in. Everyone, charge ! Secure the hatches these worms came from !” You shout, holstering your pistol and drawing greatbone, you charge.

Bullets bounce, lowering you head you ensure that no bullet pierces your visor, you’ve seen what happens when it breaks.

Reaching your first target, you swing your weapon. The impact without any noise is the reason why you hate fighting in space, nevertheless, your work looks mighty fine. The helmet had been caved in, the visor broke from which a single eye popped out, still attached to the skull which is currently bleeding brain matter. Despite the hit, the man continues to stand in place, his magnetized boots keeping him attached to the hull and the lack of gravity keep the body standing, crumbled and all wrong, but standing still.

Your core, the handpicked elite, all whom have PW like you also begin their slaughter, followed shortly after by your more expendable crewmen.

“There ! A hatch ! Plant charges and get us in !” You say smashing the chest of one of your foes. His entire body hitting and the hull and staining it red, his legs break as the boots keep themselves attached even though his body gets twisted in a disturbing manner.

Following your order, once of your men approaches the hatch, only for it to open, and a single metal hand to grab him by the head. The electronics sparkle, stained by bubbles of red as his head is crushed. Stepping through, you see a cyborg in perfectly maintained, shining even, augmentations. Raising his left arm, which is now an HMG, he begins to open fire.

There’s no cover for you or your men, the bastard had caught you completely off guard. Your own fire bounces off it. The power armour of your elite is rendered useless as it becomes nothing more than paper in front of his weaponry. Weaponry that is a lot newer than your own.

Realizing that there is no escape, you charge. “Come at me you worthless tincan, let me show what a true man is !” You shout.

>>5268340

And then there’s pain, you realize that you are no longer running, but rather floating. Both of your legs are gone. Your feet are still stuck to the hull, but they quickly lose power and also begin to slowly float away.

The last thing you see is the machine gun levelled at you. As well as a golden lion, upon the man’s chest, painted over by a red laughing skull. And then there is darkness.

-
(End of POV shift.)

You watch as one M.A.G. round cleanly shaves off the side of your portside Vigilance.

“Captain, Lord-Commander Ahsing reports a glancing hit. He can still fight, but it in need of immediate repairs after the battle !” Reports the comms officer.

“Understood, status report from Commander Desmond ?”

“He reports that the first wave of boarders had been repelled. He has already launched the second and third, but he expects heavy casualties and potentially being completely pushed back without further reinforcements.”

The battle is in a precarious balance, a balance that can be overthrown any second.

>Keep going as is.

>Dispatch your Vigilances to the flanks, it will draw full fire of the Aggressor, but it should assist your forces.

>(Write in)

As for Desmond.

>The effort is pointless, have him call off the attack.

>Order what force can move to assist the boarding.

>He will have to deal with it on his own.

>(Write in)

>>5268341
>Dispatch your Vigilances to the flanks, it will draw full fire of the Aggressor, but it should assist your forces.
>Order what force can move to assist the boarding.

We need that heavy cruiser taken care of, and whoever is in charge of this insane blackops plan captured and interrogated. Simple as.

>>5268341
>Dispatch your Vigilances to the flanks, it will draw full fire of the Aggressor, but it should assist your forces.
>Order what force can move to assist the boarding.
It's Ghoul time boys!

>>5268341
>Dispatch your Vigilances to the flanks, it will draw full fire of the Aggressor, but it should assist your forces.

>Order what force can move to assist the boarding.

>>5268341
>Keep going as is.
The Guardian at the bottom-right seems to be doing nothing at the moment. Order it to rush at the nearest enemy spacecraft before they destroy more of our ships.
>Order what force can move to assist the boarding.
Commit every marine we can to board that Aggressor, go all-in.

>>5268341
>Keep going as is.
>Order what force can move to assist the boarding.

>>5268341
>Dispatch your Vigilances to the flanks, it will draw full fire of the Aggressor, but it should assist your forces.
>Order what force can move to assist the boarding.

>Dispatch your Vigilances to the flanks, it will draw full fire of the Aggressor, but it should assist your forces.
>Order what force can to help, but have the marines focus on taking out MAG cannons and Rail cannons with satchel charges

Okay, sending Vigilances to flank and hurling more men at the problem wins.

3d100 best of 3 for the fight

3d100 best of 3 for boarding.

Also, yes, I am alive, just busy.

Rolled 73, 24, 63 = 160 (3d100)

>>5272369
No problem QM.

Rolled 96, 38, 57 = 191 (3d100)

>>5272369

Rolled 28, 90, 34 = 152 (3d100)

>>5272369
No problemo QM, take your time

Rolled 56, 27, 97 = 180 (3d100)

>>5272369

Rolled 37, 90, 30 = 157 (3d100)

Alright, battles looking nice
96, 90, 63

And boarding so far

56, 90, 97

And we got 1 more roll too,

Rolled 24, 11, 1 = 36 (3d100)

>>5272369

>>5272496
The fucking odds. I’m extremely pissed at my RNG now.

>>5272496
There goes my crit sigh

File: 1650163488993.jpg (201 KB, 2560x1440)

201 KB JPG

>>5272496
holy shit nigger what have you brought onto us

>>5272524
A 56, 90, 30 split for boarding. In all honesty, it’s not that bad if you disregard the crit negation.

Rolled 35 (1d100)

Battle 96 90 63

Boarding 56 90 30

Writing.

>>5272584

>35

:(

It keeps missing.

>>5272585
Doomsday cannon misses again. YAY!

>>5272585
Thank god
Either way we are looking quite good out in space boys

File: Pirate hunt17.png (934 KB, 5459x3662)

934 KB PNG

The proceeding exchange of fire shows a rather pathetic performance. The spacecraft wings begin to falter under the sheer amount of fire delivered by your enclosing AS ships. Through the entire engagement, only a single frigate from Lashawn’s side is lost.

The fighting upon your starboard also goes heavily in your favour, with the last of the pirate frigates annihilated, the spacecraft wings dealing pitiful damage, although inflicting casualties on Alpizar’s own spacecraft forces.

The exchange between you and the heavy cruiser continues the same, but your light cruiser begins to creak and groan from the continued barrage.

“Captain. Forward facing armour plating on the verge of collapse. We need to pull back, now.” Calmly, but sternly informs you Tetreault.

Your hands are covered in sweat as another M.A.G. round, barely misses you. With the cruiser’s attention entirely upon you, one more exchange will see your Timur collapse from the sheer frontal assault.

“I am well aware, Tets !” You call out, not caring whether or not she likes the nickname. You are entirely in the zone, so to say. Your mind is entirely honed and dedicated to the task at hand, you exhibit concentration that pushed normal men to their limits, and perhaps beyond.

Meanwhile, through the thick of combat. Payat and Marc both had sent what shuttles they had to assist the pirates in their boarding action. [blue]If only Desmond that crippled Ox could actually lead those boarding actions.[/blue] You think to yourself with a moment of clarity.

-
(POV shift: You are Gassur Lasasso, a marine under command of Lord-Commander Marc Ahsing.)

The shuttle banks hard to the starboard. You can feel your body being thrown to the side. You quickly catch the sight of another shuttle being melted through by a laser turret.

On your peripheral vision, you quickly notice one of your comrades make a sign of a cross, locked in private prayer as you are about to storm something none of you want to. To face cyborgs on their home turf.

A shudder goes through the shuttle, informing you that you had impacted the hull, your destination. The ramp swings downwards, revealing a scene of war in front of your eyes.

The new “recruits” the Captain had acquired are currently locked in a bloody tug of war with the pirate forces. Makeshift cover had been made in the form of boxes and crates. Platoons worth of men are currently engaged in warfare in a miniaturized war upon the Aggressor’s hull. Running down the ramp and looking around, you do not catch the sight of what you had dreaded the most. It seems like the cyborgs only ever come out when the ship’s interior itself is threatened.

>>5272805

Slamming behind some impromptu cover, you quickly peer over your cover. There seems to be a large grouping of men in protection suits, though this time, those in power armour are visible. Power armour of the same quality and make as your own. A never model is being currently rolled out, but you yourself are yet to actually get your hands one.

“Prepare to move onwards !” Calls out the sergeant. “We are the tip of the spear, our allies will provide covering fire, break through their cover and unleash fury upon them !”

“ROY ! ROY ! ROY !” You, and so many of your comrades, shout out.

Rising to your feet, you begin carrying out your orders. The distance is pitiful, as such you close it with ease. With bullets flying all around, you turn a collection of cover, magnetized boxes, reinforced by hardened steel, behind which sits a trio of pirates in protection suits.

You cannot really make out their facial expressions. The body language tells you enough. Panic, surprise, fear. And for a good reason.

The rifle raised, you open fire on full auto. The artificial muscles compensating for it, the short range means that it is nearly impossible for you to miss. Bodies are torn and ripped to shreds, as flash after flash blooms from your rifle’s muzzle.

“Behind !” Calls out the sergeant.

Reacting to his voice, you turn. You had been tricked !

All of those in front had been sacrificed to draw you in. With muted horror, another shuttle is blown to bits as heavy weapons obliterate them, a quartet of men of iron continue to rip and tear, overwhelming what few rear guards you had left.

It seems your journey had just become a one way trip.

>Pull back, mitigate the losses as best you can.

>Onwards ! To glory !

>(Write in)

The battle upon the skies is turning in your favour, but your Timur is close to its breaking point.

>Pull out. The HC will open fire on your now exposed flanks, but you cannot hold it for any longer.

>Keep going. The Ghoul laughs at the razor’s edge.

>(Write in)

>>5272807
>Onwards ! To glory !
>Keep going. The Ghoul laughs at the razor’s edge.

>>5272807
>Onwards ! To glory !
>Keep going. The Ghoul laughs at the razor’s edge.
It ends here!

>>5272807
>>Onwards ! To glory !
>Keep going. The Ghoul laughs at the razor’s edge.
Have our missile ship fire salvos to aggerssor`s M.A.Gs crippling it firepower

>>5272807
>Onwards ! To glory !
>(Write in)
Rush at the Aggressor's port side and order every marine on the ship to board it. Grab all our combat gear and go with them.

Order all our missile ships to aim for The Innovation's M.A.G cannon, we have to destroy it before it actually lands a hit.

>>5272846
+1
It's time to ghoul boys.

File: Seriously.png (208 KB, 394x523)

208 KB PNG

>>5272496
>roll 1's several times
>and yet never a 100
Have we even had a 100 yet this quest? Maybe when we captured that exosuit in one of our early battles, but never since I don't think.

Rolled 99 (1d100)

>>5272807
>Onwards ! To glory !
>Keep going. The Ghoul laughs at the razor’s edge.
It's do or die now boys. inb4 a critfail or the deathgun gets a crit success

Rolling for luck

>>5272846
Using our missile ships to target the gun is probably a good idea too.

>>5272988
>>5272991
>99
You just robbed us of our crit success this round. I-I need to take a minute…

>>5272807
Anons never chose the smart decision so why start now?
>Onwards ! To glory !
>Keep going. The Ghoul laughs at the razor’s edge.
>>5272991
Why

>>5272991
I really hope the QM let’s us use this cause holly shit our luck lately a been abysmal. Like at least let us use this to cancel out the nat 1 we are going to roll for this next turn

>>5272991
Why did feel the need to hurt us anon

>>5272995
>>5273005
>>5273030
>>5273474
I rolled for luck, I got a 99. The dice gods smile on us and we will surely get good rolls next round. Please

Rolled 49 (1d100)

Boarding action:

Charge 7

Space battle:

Keep at it 5

>>5272846 write in 2

Alright, you will try to tie down the HC as long as possible, whilst the boarders will try to overwhelm the cyborgs.

3d100 best of 3 for space battle

3d100 best of 3 for boarding action.

>>5272846

>Order all our missile ships to aim for The Innovation's M.A.G cannon, we have to destroy it before it actually lands a hit.

You are already trying that, what AS the innovation has is entirely concentrated on defending it.

Rolled 11, 49, 9 = 69 (3d100)

>>5274564

Rolled 47, 15, 7 = 69 (3d100)

>>5274564

Rolled 91, 70, 3 = 164 (3d100)

>>5274564

Rolled 33, 46, 59 = 138 (3d100)

>>5274564

Rolled 61, 65, 70 = 196 (3d100)

>>5274564
i wonder if we'll get court marshalled if we lose all our marines?

Rolled 54, 98, 97 = 249 (3d100)

>>5274564

>>5273550
I would like for that 99 to mean something.

>>5274564
>two combined 69
>3rd roll for combat not getting above single digits
>duo crits turning our marines into fucking Astartes, taking control of the ship

wtf is RNGesus doing?

How I imagine our marines rn- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O7hgjuFfn3A

>>5274636
RNGesus was think 99 was very sexy and we get blueballed with single digits

>>5274621
ROY!

Why are we even 1v1ing the Aggressor with our Timur when we are attempting to take it with our marines? Our fire has a risk of killing our own men and we're just about to lose our capital ship for no reason. This is why I voted to join the boarding action, the option you voted for is worse than pulling out.

>>5274636

RNGesus said. Fuck everyone aboard that particular ship and it would be done
https://youtu.be/IAKfazhFwoQ

Could also be like this. Just going completely off the rails to obliterate everything in their Path. Minus the needing to be put down part at the end

91, 70, 3 for the space battle
98, 97, 70 for the boarding
Okay, the boarding is fine, hell we've probably captured the damn thing, and the space battle is okay except for a crit, probably a vigilance lost.
We've got this.

Battle 91 70 3(crit fail)

Boarding 61 98(crit success) 97(crit success)

Fortuna, the fickle bitch, has decided to finally smile upon you.

Writing.

File: Pirate hunt18.png (1.03 MB, 5459x3662)

1.03 MB PNG

“Forward you dogs ! To Victory !” The Lieutenant shouts over public comms.

https://youtu.be/4sgimfISzPs?t=26

And so, you do.

Dozens of men, perhaps even hundreds, as the Reavers had no doubt been almost entirely emptied of their crew, but for those needed to keep them moving. A bunch of pirates, for that is what they are, no matter what military ranks had been imposed upon them, alongside proper imperial navy marines charge against the cyborgs. Having destroyed your means of escape, the cyborgs had signed their death warrants, for if there is no escape, you have nowhere to go but forwards. In situations like these, even the most timid of fighters will show their all.

Still, the enemy is good. Even through the charging horde, they direct accurate fire upon those clad in power armour. You come to this conclusion, as your comrade, the one who prayed, is suddenly slammed onto the floor like a wet rag, as an anti-material rifle smashes through his chest, leaving a clean hole in his chest.

Scores of men are cut down in their charge, each and every one had fired their rifle, aimed their shots, and did nothing against the thick armour these machine men wear, in response, all were slayed. Their tactics, whilst textbook for an engagement like this, eerily so, as you observe their movements, are rendered pointless as the first men in protection suits reach point blank range.

The thing about textbooks is, it only works when you are fighting people who had actually read it. Carrying a disturbing number of explosives upon themselves, the new “recruits” hurl such an excessive number of them, that they would never be allowed to carry so much unless they were the explosives experts of a squad.

Circular, miniature stars quickly bloom and faster even dim. What is left behind are those same cyborgs, their armour glowing red hot from the heat, rivers of molten metals flow and float outwards. Even metallic beasts like these are rendered incapable from such sheer destruction.

You, like so many others, level your rifles. Its kickback is soothing, as round after round is ejected from the barrel. Only when it clicks dry, do you realize that someone screaming in your ears had been you.

Breathing raggedly, you look upon the bent, broken, hole ridden, superheated piles of metal, now laying still and unmoving. It takes a moment for you, for every man still standing really, to process just what happened. You won ! The cyborgs are dead !

But before a shout can begin, your officer cuts in. “Keep it together ! Everyone gather up and prepare to breach, we do not have the time to enjoy this victory !”

Snapping back to reality, you quickly begin to move towards one of the entrance.

“Form up ! Form up !” The sergeant shouts.

You quickly set a breaching charge and step away.

“One. Two. Three. Breach !” Your immediate CO orders.

The explosion blows out the airlock. “Go ! Go ! Go !” Your move as the sergeant shouts.

>>5275079

You are one of the first one’s to move in. The hallways of the cruiser, you quickly notice, are built in such a way that they funnel the attackers into well prepared and defended positions, whilst denying any potential cover for the attackers.

A round bounces of your shoulder, the blow had been a glancing one, not stopping you from raising your own rifle in return. Your now full magazine begins to once again empty as you open fire. A successful shot sees one of the pirates lose their head as it is turned into a shower of viscera and gore.

Surprisingly, you are able to quickly close the distance with minimal casualties. Perhaps the pirates had not expected your success ?

Rapidly overwhelming the defenders in their holdout, you find yourself in a situation where the next two holdouts open fire upon you, the defensive position now untenable from your location, but you are inside, and you have breached the initial defences.

-
(End of POV shift.)

The enemy spacecraft had been thinned, less than half of their starting number, but the situation is not looking particularly good.

Last of Lashawn’s vessels had been broken by bombing runs, alongside one of your defenders. Still, the remainder of your Guardians had reached the location, now it is only a matter of time before they are completely overwhelmed. Marc’s Vigilance also manages to lose the Aggressors attention, firing off what he can at the spacecraft, entering a position where he can strike the Innovation if he is ordered to.

Speaking of which, it seems that you were able to inflict sufficient damage upon the super-structure. Unfortunately, the battleship cannon is still active, as another round is unleashed, thankfully entirely inaccurate as it had been previously. A hab block rips itself away from the rest of the vessel, power outages go through the ship as it struggles to reroute power through its makeshift electronics. Your missile ships are earning their keep this day.

Upon your starboard, the last of the pirate ships is overwhelmed, but not before it delivers a killing blow upon one of Alpizar’s Defenders, whilst another is brought low by another bombing run. In the middle of the battle, having tied down the enemy spacecraft, Alpizar’s own are completely overwhelmed, but not before taking down their opponents, with the assistance of supporting vessels.

You, yourself, find that you are in a perilous situation.

“Fergus ! Frontal plating is gone ! Our hull is exposed !” Gavril screams in your ear. The sounds of explosions, bending and groaning metal, electricity going haywire fills the background.

You slam your head into the control panel as the ship rocks. Pain courses through you and your head spins, you feel wetness on your head.

“Ca-Captain, are you alright ?” Groaning Tetrault calls out. On the bright side, she does not seem to have broken anything because of the fall this time, a few cuts and bruises are all she had suffered.

>>5275081

Raising your eye upwards, you watch the rather morbid sight of your frontal hull spilling out. Equipment, storage crates…crew. All float outwards into the cold and uncaring embrace of the void.

“Holy fuck !” Gavril continues his screaming. “What in the jumping loving Jesus was that ?”

“Not now, Gav.” You say. “Tets, get me status report.”

“That last hit seems to have knocked our power out, cascading failures all across the hull. We’re dead in the void.”

“Well shit.” You say, watching the heavy cruiser, its captain, Tristan no doubt, probably watches you as well. But instead of firing upon you, it activates its retro thrusters and turn a hard port, angling one of its M.A.G. cannons onto one of your Vigilances, currently busying itself dealing with a swarm of spacecraft.

“Comms, raise Payat, now !” You call out.

But it is too late. The many times faster than sound round cuts the Vigilance clean in half. Explosions rock the entirety of the ship as it dies from a singular strike. The Aggressor continues its slow turn, now starting to aim at Alpizar’s cruiser.

It seems that with your cruiser out of power, they had deemed it to no longer be a threat to them in this engagement.

What shall you do ?

>Get to the shuttles, due to you distracting the cruiser, your marines are still on board, you are taking this on yourself.

>The men need their captain. You know your way around a ship, see if you cannot help with the repairs to get the ship back up faster.

>(Write in)

Meanwhile, your boarders are still valiantly attacking.

[red]Can pick more than one. WARNING: The more options are picked, the more the boarders will be spread thin,[/red]

>Secure the bridge, you take that, you win.

>Secure engineering, secure the reactors and the main thrusters.

>The gunnery decks, if it can’t shoot, it cannot do anything to harm the fleet.

>The armoury, you did expend an uncomfortable number of explosives already.

>The retro thrusters, if it cannot turn, then it cannot fire.

>(Write in)

>>5275082
>The men need their captain. You know your way around a ship, see if you cannot help with the repairs to get the ship back up faster.
We are not leaving this ship ever
>Secure the bridge, you take that, you win.
>Secure engineering, secure the reactors and the main thrusters.
We are not blowing up again and if we cut the head its over.

>>5275082
>Get to the shuttles, due to you distracting the cruiser, your marines are still on board, you are taking this on yourself.

This ship is probably done for. At least for this engagement. Lets make sure we get a new one for our troubles.

>Secure the bridge, you take that, you win.
>Secure engineering, secure the reactors and the main thrusters.

Main reason. If we have the power we just cut off the guns. Or at least their targeting systems. Have fun trying to hit something you can't see or get a Firing Solution on without calculating it yourself.

>>5275087
If I remember correctly, we also have the reward of shutting down the entire Star Leagues defences to look forward to in addition to us finally taking care of the pirate menace.
We are probably getting heavy cruisers unlocked after this in addition to fat stacks of cash.

>>5275082
>The men need their captain. You know your way around a ship, see if you cannot help with the repairs to get the ship back up faster.
The captain stays on the ship.
>The gunnery decks, if it can’t shoot, it cannot do anything to harm the fleet.
We can't withstand more fire from it now.

>>5275082
>Get to the shuttles, due to you distracting the cruiser, your marines are still on board, you are taking this on yourself.


>Secure the bridge, you take that, you win.
>Secure engineering, secure the reactors and the main thrusters.

>>5275082
>The men need their captain. You know your way around a ship, see if you cannot help with the repairs to get the ship back up faster.
>Secure engineering, secure the reactors and the main thrusters.

>>5275082
>The men need their captain. You know your way around a ship, see if you cannot help with the repairs to get the ship back up faster.
Always last to leave.
>The gunnery decks, if it can’t shoot, it cannot do anything to harm the fleet.
>The armoury, you did expend an uncomfortable number of explosives already.
The bridge wil be way to fortified.

>>5275082
>>The men need their captain. You know your way around a ship, see if you cannot help with the repairs to get the ship back up faster.

>Secure the bridge, you take that, you win.

>Secure engineering, secure the reactors and the main thrusters.
MAG cant fire if there is no power

>>5275082
>Get to the shuttles, due to you distracting the cruiser, your marines are still on board, you are taking this on yourself.
We secure the heavy cruiser, we win. Simple as.
>Order Marc to destroy the heavy cruiser’s retro thrusters, then proceed to destroy the main gun of the Abomination

>Secure the bridge, you take that, you win.
>Secure engineering, secure the reactors and the main thrusters.

>>5275082
>Get to the shuttles, due to you distracting the cruiser, your marines are still on board, you are taking this on yourself.
We do need a new flagship.

>Secure the bridge, you take that, you win.

>Secure engineering, secure the reactors and the main thrusters.

>>5275082
>Get to the shuttles, due to you distracting the cruiser, your marines are still on board, you are taking this on yourself.

>The retro thrusters, if it cannot turn, then it cannot fire.
>The armoury, you did expend an uncomfortable number of explosives already.
>The gunnery decks, if it can’t shoot, it cannot do anything to harm the fleet.

Rolled 65 (1d100)

The MC:

Stay 5

Leave 5

Boarding:

Bridge 6

Engineering 7

Gunnery 3

Armoury 2

Retro thrusters 1

I need a tie breaker for the MC's actions.

>>5275992
>Stay aboard. And make sure your men know you do not abanfon them

Alright, so Proenza will stay onboard to see if he cannot help to get the thing up and running again.

Whilst the boarders will hit the two main targets for any boarders. Engineering and the bridge.

3d100 best of 3 for the space battle

3d100 best of 3 for boarding

Rolled 36, 91, 32 = 159 (3d100)

>>5276086

Rolled 4, 66, 95 = 165 (3d100)

>>5276086

>>5276120
Wtf is this RNGesus?

Rolled 54, 82, 82 = 218 (3d100)

>>5276086

Rolled 65, 91, 51 = 207 (3d100)

>>5276086

Our Timur is going to get destroyed because you retards voted not to attack the Aggressor's gunnery decks.

Rolled 16, 37, 19 = 72 (3d100)

>>5276086
Lets go Boarders

Rolled 90, 96, 19 = 205 (3d100)

>>5276086

>>5276122
The dice giveth and taketh away. In our case it's every damn roll.

So we've probably just lost our ship. But we just got ourselves a bigger one...

Battle 4 91 95

Boarding 90 96 51

Writing.

The thing about this battle is that we should be able to salvage everything so should at least get a discount or some trade inns. I mean hell I’d say we should try and splurge for a mobile dockyard for our growing fleet with everything we have to salvage here so that mister ‘biggest brain in the sector’ can make us something truly nice or at least make us a steady flow of exos, advanced escorts, and other nice tricks along with scavenging our destroyed ships from every engagement since we always produce a nice field of salvage both us and enemy

I believe we have won this battle gentlemen at the price that Fergus is crippled (again)

>>5276365
Told you we should’ve been the one boarding. We better not have to pay the influence value of the heavy cruiser after this shit, I’d kill ourselves if we weren’t already dead.

>>5276376
aren't Marcs marines the ones taking it? Meaning he gets ownership of it?
Either way, once we complete the mission we will be rich to buy a heavy cruiser ourselves so we are good.

>>5276384
The pirates as well, so it probably would be simpler to buy it off them both and avoid the administrative headache that comes with dual ownership. But yea, I’d rather us be in full control of the heavy cruiser than our friend Marc, just because it fits our aggressive style.