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Ordyt doesn't sweat, but at this moment he sure wished he did as the Inferno Whale keeps growing larger and larger in his targeting screen. Muttering every prayer he can think of he flips the trigger-guard off as the ship swoops in close--way too close--to the monster!
"Shining Sarenrae, guide your servant in this hour of nee--OH CURSED DARK THAT'S A LOT OF TEETH!!"
As the ship swings by the colossal monster the oread sees its eye cross his reticle for a split second, and the warrior pulls the trigger.
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Round 4 - Open Spoilers for Details
Who promptly sets the Radiant Fire on what amounts to a collision course with the whale! Only a last moment desperate tug of the starship's two sidesticks pulls you away from a "ramming maneuver" and into a spin that takes you awfully close to the whale's fiery hide. You feel a static buzz as the shields rub against one another- and WAY, WAY too much of your viewscreen is taken up by the whale's massive underside.
The maneuver leaves your gunners way too shocked too get a shot in, but thankfully the whale still doesn't see you as a threat and doesn't take advantage of its opportunity to easily snap you up.
Instead, the whale swoops into a flyby of its own, diving "down" and then back up to try to bisect the fleeing ship in its jaws.
The Inferno Whale crunches down on the ship's frontal section, shearing through shields and crushing the hull like its made of paper. The ship's hull breaches in what you take to be the helm - the protrusion in the center front of the ship. Cloudy gases and assorted debris spray out of the rupture for a few seconds before the ship's systems once again seal off a portion of the craft. Against all odds and in defiance of conventional wisdom, it doesn't seem to have been made derelict just yet! The engines continue to sputter and push it forward, and its power core seems to be holding up.
As the whale wheels around, its continual disregard for the Radiant Fire finally comes back to bite it. Sammad's prayers to Feronia seem to be answered as the next missile he fires establishes a clear lock on the whale! It arcs up to meet the swooping beast and...
The missile explodes upon the whale's shields!
But before the whale can turn to face you, Ordyt's follow up shot whizzes through the void of space and pierces the beast right in its eye! It lets loose a terrible silent bellow.
It seems you have its attention...
----
Current Radiant Fire Status:
HP: 55/55
Shields (F/P/S/A): 15/15/15/15
Current Inferno Whale Status:
Shield Damage (F/P/S/A): 0/x/0/0
HP Damage: -11
"Glitching sensors"
Current Fleeing Ship Status:
Shield Damage (F/P/S/A): x/x/0/x
HP Damage: -69
----
Round 5 Init:
You guys move first!
Somewhat surprised to have avoided both a collision and major damage to the Radiant Fire, Captain Flint is shocked that they suddenly seem to have done some damage to the creature and now have its attention.
”Well, we finally have its attention. Let’s try and lure it away from the other ship.”
”Helm, back us off, nice and easy. Put a little wiggle in it if you can—we want to look like we are slow and damaged.”
”Mari, it likes to toy with its prey and Ordyt’s shot just damaged its sensors, right? Let’s give it a show! Can you rig the systems to put out false damage reports? Maybe vent spare parts/throw off sparks/cause parts of the ship to glow like it’s on fire?”
”Guns and Missiles, great shots last time. Now, go dark until the last second. We want to look as heavily damaged as possible.” Speaking to Sammad, he adds, ”One missile left...Make it count.”
"I can't believe that worked!" Mari exclaims, practically leaping out of her chair. "I mean, of course it did! But wow!"
Thinking over Conners's plan, she frowns. "I can certainly give it a shot."
Heaving a sigh of relief, Ordyt zooms in the targeting screen to try and survey the damage. He lets out a low, impressed whistle. "They build them tough on the Plane of Fire, don't they? I'll keep putting shots into the injured area."
Feeling a bit more comfortable with the gun controls now ("Who switched the controller to southpaw?!") Ordyt quickly lines up and fires again.
A wide grin breaks out on Sammad's face. "I did it. I..." He closes his eyes for a moment. My thanks, Mother of Flames.
He opens his eyes as he looks to Flint again, giving a nod. "Understood Captain. Here's hoping my luck, and the Flame's favor, holds out."
Oh Mother, guide my flame again...
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Round 5 - Open Spoilers for Details
The whale's attention sure is on you!
The whale approaches with the languid pace of a hunter after an already crippled prey. Its swimming takes a tight arc as it turns to face your ship head on. Its maw opens and...
You are enveloped by a column of flame. Your viewscreen turns a blinding white as your frontal shields are obliterated. The temperature in the bridge spikes, ablative plating doing next to nothing against the blaze. For a brief moment, it seems as though this is the end.
But the beast's breath abates, your viewscreen clears (at least, if you ignore the masses of critical alerts), and you're alive and very, very hot.
Among the systems not looking so hot good are the engines - or at least their control systems. They seem to be glitching.
Not to be deterred, Ordyt fires the ship's coilgun. The half-melted slug whips through the intervening distance and strikes cleanly in the center of the creature's frontal shields.
Sammad's follow-up missile, the Radiant Fire's last, explodes across the whale's massive nose, breaking the remaining shields and sending a powerful blast of shrapnel across its face.
As the smoke clears, the whale's jaw doesn't seem to be sitting quite evenly.
----
Current Radiant Fire Status:
HP: 35/55
Shields (F/P/S/A): x/15/15/15
Glitching engines
Current Inferno Whale Status:
Shield Damage (F/P/S/A): x/x/0/0
HP Damage: -31
"Glitching sensors"
"Glitching weapons"
Current Fleeing Ship Status:
Shield Damage (F/P/S/A): x/x/0/x
HP Damage: -69
----
Things are looking dire, but right on time you hear a voice over comms that helps bolster your courage. "Radiant Fire this is Morningsong, we are locking weapons now." You adjust your viewscreen and see a gleaming ship of gold and red emerging from behind the curve of the sun. Blue lights flicker across its frontal spires - banks of missile silos entering their firing sequence.
Round 6 Init:
You guys move first!
”Okay, so that was pretty rough, but I had to be sure it left the sunship alone...time to run!” thinks Flint.
”Engineering, please tell me those engines are still working. We are going to need everything you have!”
”Helm, hard to port 120 degrees and run for the ring. We can’t let it get another shot at our bow!”
”Guns, Fire at will!”
”Ambassador, since the missiles are gone, please raise the Morningsong so we can coordinate tactics. Nice shooting, by the way.”
Grinning wildly, Mari pops open a sparking control panel and practically dives in.
"You did it! You actually pulled it off, you beautiful bastards!"
"Don't worry Cap, she's got a bit of a hiccup in the engines but I'll get it sorted out right quick, you'll see," she says, giving a thumbs up from behind the console.
Muttering to the electronics themselves, she adds "మీరు నేను చెప్పేది వినగలుగుతున్నారా? కలిసి పట్టుకోండి."
Nervously glancing at the Morningsong's incoming missiles and then back at the Inferno Whale, doing some quick calculations in his head. He must not like the answer he gets, because his expression turns grim as he takes the shot.
Sammad gives a short bow towards Flint. "Thank you, Captain. I'm as surprised as you are."
He moves then to the comms station and opens a line to the Morningsong. "Morningsong, this is Radiant Fire. We're trying to move away from the whale so that you have a clear shot. Please just give our pilot a moment, we'd rather not take your missiles on top of...whatever it just did to us."
The calm, collected voice of the Morningsong's comms officer comes through to Sammad "Don't worry Radiant Fire, we've got some crack shots on here. Hold tight."
Final Round - Open Spoilers for Details
Finally taking you seriously, the inferno whale attempts to evade any return fire, but its massive bulk makes its movements slow and ponderous.
Belmarniss dives to the side as the inferno whale unleashes another enormous jet of white-hot fire at your craft. But the Radiant Fire is no sprightly fighter, and despite her best efforts the blaze engulfs the ship from the aft. Aft shields rupture and fail, and another intense wave of heat fills the bridge. Once again, for a few agonized seconds it seems as though the hull will melt clear off - spacing its occupants. But the ship holds... just barely.
Error messages fill the viewscreens - scanners faulting, weapons cooling rupture, critical structural damage - they go on and on.
But Ordyt is not one to be dissuaded by the chaos on the ship. He lines the turret up and sends another coilgun slug straight into the whale's face!
The Morningsong's missile silos unleash a dizzying array of glimmering missiles, seemingly delivering their whole arsenal in an attempt to stop the inferno whale before it can finish you off. The flurry of missiles speeds across the intervening space...
... reaching their target in a tremendous hail of explosions!
The clouds of shrapnel and meat part to reveal the inferno whale's inert carcass.
----
Current Radiant Fire Status:
HP: 9/55
Shields (F/P/S/A): x/15/15/x
Glitching scanners
Malfunctioning weapons
Current Inferno Whale Status:
Shield Damage (F/P/S/A): x/x/0/0
HP Damage: -153
DEAD
Current Fleeing Ship Status:
Shield Damage (F/P/S/A): x/x/0/x
HP Damage: -69
----
Combat Over!
Sitting back heavily in his seat, Ordyt looks around at the damaged ship and flips back his manual targeting screen before standing back up.
"Captain," the oread begins as he pulls a fire extinguisher off the rack under his seat. "I'd like to withdraw my previous inquiry about you needing my continued services on the crew."
”So incredibly close to dodging that last one!” thinks Flint, quickly looking over the damage screens and letting out a low whistle.
”Full stop. Stand down battlestations, all hands assist with repairs,” Flint calls with a sigh of relief. ”Ambassador, please convey our heartfelt thanks to the Morningsong.”
”Great job everyone! Radiant Fire seems to be an apt name after all.”
Flint will sit down heavily in the captain’s chair, the mote of solar energy floating unnoticed next to his head seeming to settle somewhat as well.
Sitting back heavily in his seat, Ordyt looks around at the damaged ship and flips back his manual targeting screen before standing back up.
"Captain," the oread begins as he pulls a fire extinguisher off the rack under his seat. "I'd like to withdraw my previous inquiry about you needing my continued services on the crew."
With the crux of the crisis over, you're left sitting in a blindingly hot bridge area (think a nice dry sauna, >150 F) as the climate control groans and whirrs in its attempt to dissipate the heat. The pipes, instrumentation, and machinery lining the walls clinks and clanks as it cools. You start work on getting things all shipshape, only to be interrupted by an incoming video comms connection.
Dr. Taeress' beaming face flickers onto your viewscreen. "Amazing! That was incredible! Everyone here was sure we'd lost our deep-sun traveler, and you saved her!" You see a few more scientists clustering in behind her on the screen, faces flushed with relief and excitement. "You stuck your necks out for her, and for us. Thank you so much."
Flint nods at Sammad wearily in an invitation for him to handle the communications with the giddy scientist. Moving over to Belmarniss, he speaks quietly to her, ”Do not apologize. We all did our best against a tactically superior foe. We survived and even saved the sunship. Thank you for taking the helm.”
Sammad gives a small smile at Dr. Taeress through the viewscreen. "You're most welcome, Doctor. We're happy to have succeeded."
He then switches comms again to the Morningsong. "On behalf of the Radiant Fire, and the Al-Fayir Cooperative, I thank your crew sincerely for the aid you've provided."
Then he gets up and makes his way to Marisol at the engineering station, greeting her with a smile. "How can I help with repairs, Marisol?"
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"And yet we could have done so much better. If Sammad and Ordyt's aim had been more on point, we could have distracted the whale's attention earlier, prevented more damage to the sun-ship. We may have prevented them from being completely destroyed, but we don't know how much of its tech is intact, or if any of its crew have survived. And without the Morningsong's intervention, we would have literally been toast."
She sighs heavily.
"I can help with the repairs as well. I've extensive knowledge of starship maintenance."
She gets up and places her helmet back on as she joins Marisol at the consoles.
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With his blinding array of technical skills, Flint does what he is best at, and goes to the officer’s mess to see if he can liberate some cold drinks from any refrigeration units still operational, then brings them back and distributes them among the people working to repair the ships’ systems.
”How does she look?” asks Flint of Belmarniss and Mari, as he looks at the blinking red displays.
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"Well, right now the ship is mostly held together by positive thinking." Mari begins ticking off fingers as she talks. "Propulsion's in bad shape, sensors are damaged, weapons are just this side of ruined. I patched the engines up good enough to get us to safety, but the poor girl needs some time in drydock."
Marisol jumps out of her chair and claps once. "Okay! I'm going to get started making sure we don't suddenly explode while the sun-groupies tow us back into port. Bel, if you can get started on the sensors, I'd appreciate it. Sammy, I'll need a hand getting the weapons back online."
"Sounds good, Mari. Thanks for holding it together for us," comments Flint, although he mostly stays out of the way.
With Sammad busy helping with the engineering fixes, Flint takes over communications, "Far Watch station? Do you have any repair facilities available? Can we dock there long enough to get our systems stabilized?".
Ordyt assists as best as he can, kneeling near Marisol while she's waist-deep in the ship's guts, occasionally handing her tools when she asks for them.
"Those 'sun groupies' saved our lives. he says to her quietly, as he passes over a soldering torch
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"Sure did! says Mari, nodding her head vigorously as she grabs the torch. "Thanks! Wasn't their timing just the best? Zooming in all fire and steel like right out of a holovid. We'd have been well done for sure."
"Oh," Ordyt swaps the soldering iron for a socket wrench when asked, but stays quiet.
Running two comms channels at once, Sammad lets the scientists at Far Station start celebrating for a moment to talk briefly with the Morningsong. The comms officer on the other end of the line gives a warm chuckle at Sammad's thank you "We're just glad you managed to hold out for us. The Captain was alarmed to hear Far Station had recruited a passing transport to face off against that whale. You did well for yourselves, Radiant Fire. And it was our pleasure to be of assistance. May you walk in the light of the Dawnflower today."
With that, the Morningsong begins wheeling around slowly and heading back towards Dawnshore.
---
Marisol and Belmarniss work together to start tackling some of the ship's burning issues - first and foremost of them the precarious state of the ship's hull. While you're able to patch up the sensor array and weapons subsystems, it quickly becomes clear that the hull won't be so easily repaired. The external cameras have all been atomized, but even without them you can surmise that all but the innermost layers of the hull are likely a mass of blackened slag. It'll take serious shipyard time to get that sorted out.
As you're considering that, Sammad resumes his call with the scientists of Far Station. Flint joins on in as well. Taeress, now quite a bit more composed, inclines her head before saying "You've done us an enormous service. And risked life and limb to do it. It's only right that we pay you back. While we don't have much in the way of repair facilities, the least we can do is cover your repairs. Come on over to Far Station. I'll meet you at docking bay two."
Sammad looks to Dr. Taeress as she makes her offer. "I'm not usually inclined to settle for the least, Doctor...but I'm willing to wait to discuss any further compensation until after we get Radiant Fire into a dock and repairs are underway. What do you say, Captain?"
"Well ambassador, I have complete faith in your negotiating skills, and we really have no choice," responds Flint.
"Knight Lieutenant, please take us in once Mari has us stable," Captain Flint requests, adding "good job, everyone."
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"One moment, Captain Conners. I'm going to do a token check on my family's cargo. I don't care about their cargo and then their profits getting damaged, but I imagine we should at least make sure they don't decide to get litigious with you. And you may call me Belmarniss if you wish."
She goes back to check on the cargo before returning to the helm.
Sammad perks up as Belmarniss turns to walk way, eyebrows raising in unison. "I should do that as well. Hopefully the cargo was heat-resistant..."
His voice trails off as he stands up from the comms station and heads to the cargo bay.
As he enters the cargo bay shortly behind Belmarniss, he clears his throat to alert her to his presence, then speaks. "Well old friend, this has turned out to be a very...unconventional cargo run, hasn't it?"
Ordyt watches the Morningsong turn away and depart before going back to assisting Marisol. That done, he goes back to the viewscreen to watch the sun until it's all that can be seen.
Having gotten a full accounting of the ship's damage, and how little can be done from inside the ship, Marisol returns to her chair at the engineering station and promptly collapses into it. The end of any immediate danger seems to have drained the energy out of her, and with her hair covering her face it's hard to tell if Mari is even awake.
Flint takes in Mari's weary demeanor, then checks the internal thermometer...still way too hot. If they dock, at least they can cycle the air...
"I'll start us headed towards the station, nice and easy," says Flint to Mari, "at least until Belmarniss returns."
Flint sits down at the helm and starts gently guiding the Radiant Fire towards the station
With the tension from your high-octane fight with the inferno whale (not to mention your close brush with death) leaving you, Flint takes the ship's helm and guides the Radiant Fire towards the Far Station. The trip there is filled with strange sounds from the ship as parts cool off, but thankfully the climate control manages to get the worst of the heat down by the time you get to the Station's docks.
The ship's airlock opens and you're greeted at the docks by Dr. Taeress, along with a small group of techs that start looking over the Radiant Fire right away. While they work, Taeress beckons the group of you to join her at the far end of the docks - a location with a clear view of the sun through the darkly tinted and force-fielded windows. She gives your team a lopsided smile. In person, you see that she's a broad shouldered korasha lashunta, wearing a utilitarian blue coat with dozens of pockets and a set of cargo pants.
"Considering the crisis, we never got a chance to introduce ourselves properly." She extends a hand. "Nice to meet you all. Dr. Taeress Suloro. I specialize in magnetospheric monitoring, deep spectrum prediction, and dabble in getting myself in trouble. I'm acting subdirector here at Far Station while Dr. Jori is on leave. And who do I have the pleasure of meeting?"
"Greetings, Doctor Suloro. May I introduce Marisol Welkin, our ship's engineering and science officer and mistress of all things robotic. Star-Knight Belmarniss Rycast is our daring pilot, who distracted the inferno whale from your sunship by scraping across its belly and opening up the shots for our gunner, the stoic Ordyt, and our fearless ambassador, Sammad, who was in charge of missile control," says Flint by way of introduction, indicating each person in turn.
...and I am Captain Flint Conners, at your service, he concludes, smiling and giving a small bow.