"About damn time," Cranston mutters under his breath as he again diverts power to the forward shields.
Seeing the missile strike home, Ranif shouts out "YES!"
The dragonkin roars a note of success as the high explosive payload slams into the enemy ship, shattering the forward shields and sending fragments of the hull cascading through space. The Inscrutable has finally drawn blood.
"About damn time," Cranston mutters under his breath as he again diverts power to the forward shields.
...some members of the crew are slightly less impressed. Working diligently, Cranston is able to partially restore some of the forward shielding.
Despite the hard hit, the enemy ship anticipate's the Inscrutable's next move.
Engineering Phase: Cranston
Helm Phase: Alfin, Ziyad?
Gunnery Phase: Kragga, Ranif
Alflin maintains an evasive course and turns the ship to the side.
Alflin maintains an evasive course and turns the ship to the side.
As the Inscrutable dives to and dips to hide her vulnerable forward arc, the enemy ship takes the mirror image action streaking away in the opposite direction. As the enemy ship attempts an evasive maneuver, however, it overcorrects in one direction, sending the ship tumbling and providing a wider target for the Inscrutable's guns.
Despite the erratic flight, the enemy gunners still fire towards the Inscrutable. A shot from the turret crashes into the aft arc, but the shields just barely manage to soak the damage. The enemy ship also fires some sort of missile from its forward arc, which doubles back towards the Inscrutable. Before it can hit home, however, it clips a piece of debris, causing it to spin off into the void before detonating.
Engineering Phase: Cranston
Helm Phase: Alfin
Gunnery Phase: Kragga, Ranif, Ziyad
Engineering Phase: Cranston
Helm Phase: Alfin
Gunnery Phase: Kragga, Ranif, Ziyad
Kragga swivels the turret to keep track of the enemy ship before firing again.
Quickly re-aiming the Missile Launcher on the enemy ship, telling the missile to jet around and target the enemy's forward arc. As usual, he requests assistance from Clive.
"Wow! I think you might have hit ammo storage." Cranston says as his indicators flash for a moment.
Fairly confident that the enemy ship is still dangerous, he quickly shifts back to keeping power to the shields.
Kragga swivels the turret to keep track of the enemy ship before firing again.
The half-orc's shot penetrates the aft shielding and melts a section of hull plating.
Quickly re-aiming the Missile Launcher on the enemy ship, telling the missile to jet around and target the enemy's forward arc.
The missile whips around, striking just under the bridge. By a stroke of luck, it strikes a previously-fractured hull plate and slams through the ship and into a crew passage, sailing an additional 30 feet into the heart of the ship before exploding. Shrapnel flies off the enemy ship in every arc.
Fairly confident that the enemy ship is still dangerous, he quickly shifts back to keeping power to the shields.
Leaving a cloud of debris in its wake, the obsidian ship limps through an arcing turn, managing to cut an evasive line despite its obvious injuries.
Engineering Phase: Cranston
Helm Phase: Alfin
Gunnery Phase: Kragga, Ranif, Ziyad
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Quickly re-aiming the Missile Launcher on the enemy ship, telling the missile to jet around and target the enemy's forward arc. As usual, he requests assistance from Clive.
"That missile strike is substantially more destructive than what statistical data would indicate for analogous payloads. In fact, my initial calculations show that to better than a one in two-thousand shot.
"It was... beautiful."
"Interested in prisoners, Captain?" Cranston asks.
"If'n so, now would probably be the time to give them the option."
"Interested in prisoners, Captain?" Cranston asks.
Captain Ross looks up from her battle station. Improbably, it appears that she's hardly paid any attention to the battle at all; her forearms are wreathed in loops of runes and sigils that float in and out of her control monitor.
"Eh? Oh, them. If they don't ask for quarter, don't give any. Cripple the ship and let them float off into the void, for all I care."
Alflin turns the ship around partially so the enemy can be targeted with the port weapon.
Kragga barely hears the captain's orders, the blood pumping in her ears. Focused on revenge on the people who mistreated her as a youth, she blasts away with the particle beam once more.
Alflin turns the ship around partially so the enemy can be targeted with the port weapon.
The halfling easily turns the ship around, presenting a minimal cross section while offering his gunners as many options as possible.
The enemy ship is heavily damaged, but not out of the fight yet. Seeing the Inscrutable fly into its forward arc, the enemy fires twice. Both projectiles come within inches of the ship, but the Inscrutable manages to squeak between them, due entirely to Alfin's deft maneuvering.
Engineering Phase: Cranston
Helm Phase: Alfin
Gunnery Phase: Kragga, Ranif, Ziyad
Engineering Phase: Cranston
Helm Phase: Alfin
Gunnery Phase: Kragga, Ranif, Ziyad
Once more targeting the enemy ship, Ranif fires off a third missile.
"Alfin, You want more shields fore or aft?" Mills calls out.
Focused on revenge on the people who mistreated her as a youth, she blasts away with the particle beam once more.
Her rage hones her shot, and the turret weapon strikes true, smashing directly into the front of the enemy ship.
Unfortunately, neither Ranif nor Ziyad are as precise, and both of their shots fly off into the void.
"Alfin, You want more shields fore or aft?"
The enemy ship limps forward, attempting to provide the smallest target towards the Inscrutable without revealing its heavily damaged forward arc.
Engineering Phase: Cranston
Helm Phase: Alfin
Gunnery Phase: Kragga, Ranif, Ziyad
”Forward. I’m bringing us close.”
Kragga grimly fires the turret once more.
"I think one more good hit'll do for her!" Mills calls out.
Ranif quickly launches the next missile, having fallen back into silence due to his previous miss.
Seeing the missile sail past, he lets out a faint growl of frustration. "Down to one missile."
”Forward. I’m bringing us close.”
Alfin quickly slips the Inscrutable into a close attack position while minimizing the ship's cross-sectional target.
Kragga grimly fires the turret once more.
The turrets blast digs into the heavily-damaged front arc of the enemy ship, sending shrapnel in all directions.
Ziyad takes a moment to concentrate before pressing her thumb firmly on the blaster trigger...
Ziyad's shot hits home, but from her position on the port arc, she can't aim at the ship's exposed forward section, and she eats into the enemy ship's starboard shields.
Seeing the missile sail past, he lets out a faint growl of frustration.
The growing amount of debris causing Ranif's missile to lose track and snip wildly out of control before detonating harmlessly.
The enemy ship attempts to fire back, but the formerly smooth motions of its mounted guns are now jerky and erratic - two shots are fired, and both shots miss the Inscrutable.
diverting power to forward shields
Slowly, the enemy ship turns in place, trying to hide its weakened forward arc.
Engineering Phase: Cranston
Helm Phase: Alfin
Gunnery Phase: Kragga, Ranif, Ziyad
Alflin maneuvers around the enemy ship to reach their front, presenting the port side so all weapons can fire.
Eager to end this skirmish, Kragga blasts away with the particle beam!
Alflin maneuvers around the enemy ship to reach their front, presenting the port side so all weapons can fire.
Alfin quickly maneuvers the ship in tight and fast, flying just erratically enough as to make the Inscrutable hard to hit.
The enemy ship is looking rough, but it's not completely out of the fight yet. Once again, two mounted weapons fire high-velocity shells, and this time, one hits, neutralizing the Inscrutable's port shields.
Engineering Phase: Cranston
Helm Phase: Alfin
Gunnery Phase: Kragga, Ranif, Ziyad
Engineering Phase: Cranston
Helm Phase: Alfin
Gunnery Phase: Kragga, Ranif, Ziyad
Carefully aiming at the front arc of the enemy ship, Ranif fires the final remaining missile in a tight arc that will hopefully give the enemy little time to react to the threat.
Both Kragga's shot and Ranif's missile pierce the enemy ship's hull, triggering a chain of explosions up and down the ship. The thrusters flicker and then fail, allowing the crippled ship to drift off into the void...
"Pilot, bring us in as close as you can. I doubt there's a functioning docking arm, but a little bit of space isn't unsurmountable."
Standing up from her console, the Captain beckons Kragga, and points the half-orc to the captain's chair.
"This was a 'gift' from one of our investors - it's a specialized sensor set for monitoring fluctuations in certain planar energies. I'm trying to find out what's happening on the inside, but I can't make heads or tails of these readings. You seem fairly 'in-tune' with the natural world - perhaps you'll have better luck."
"Science officer, give me some more traditional eyes in that rock. Do you see anything?"
Kragga sits in the chair and runs her hands over the console, attempting to read the sensors.
...quickly a nice graphical display of the information pops into view, with a full statistical analysis.
Ziyad's analysis is both extremely thorough and startlingly incomplete. The Inscrutable's sensors combined with Select's subroutine have produced a highly detailed three-dimensional map of the asteroid from the surface to a depth of about 5 feet. According to Select, the asteroid is rich in highly magnetized metallic deposits, making a traditional scan of the interior functionally impossible. The only useful information gleaned is that the apparent docking bay is the only entrance to the interior.
Kragga sits in the chair and runs her hands over the console, attempting to read the sensors.
Kragga has never used a device like this one before, but she intuits the controls and feedback loops very quickly, using her forceful will in place of a traditional control scheme. She doesn't have the same difficulties as Ziyad, but neither does she glean much. The half-orc first officer is confident that no cataclysmic planar breaches exist within the asteroid base, but aside from that, she can't say much.
"Well, while you folks try to see under the skirt, Lucille and I will see about fixing the issues with life support."
Mills gets up from the engineering console.
"Girl, head over to the internal pressure balancers; I'll meet you there."
The older man heads off towards the back of the ship.
"I swear, if my ears pop just one more time ... "
"Well, while you folks try to see under the skirt, Lucille and I will see about fixing the issues with life support."
After about 10 minutes, Cranston is able to replace the damaged components of the life support system, and the ship's pressure equilibrates. The hull of the ship has been significantly damaged, but complete repairs would require time - time that Captain Ross is unwilling to lose.
"Alright, here's the plan. Our artifact is probably in there - if it wasn't, we wouldn't have encountered such resistance. On the flip side, that means we'll probably encounter some resistance on the inside as well.
"We have no idea what we're stepping into. I need everyone at 100% on your toes. We get in, we secure our hot potato, and we get out. Understood?
"Clive - once we're offloaded, the ship is yours. Circle around and hide somewhere nearby. Return on my command.
"Alright, load up! Be ready to disembark in ten!"
Alflin brings the ship in close.
Kragga makes sure she has a full quiver of crossbolter bolts. She says a prayer to Oras and stands ready to board the drow vessel, itching for a little payback against the pointy-eared bastards.
Alfim pulls the ship up to the remnants of the asteroid base's docking bay. As the crew disembarks, they discover a weak gravity field holding them securely to the platform. Progressing to the airlock, they find it tightly sealed.