Star Frontiers Network

Will wrote:"We'll swing round and take out those damn guns first," Maria replies, swinging round to the north tower.

Please expand on what you mean by this. I need something I can translate into game turns. Are you going to veer off and fly circles around the camp? Set down further out and disembark the Explorer (Remember Gren has a recoilless rifle with a max range of 3km locked up in your cargo bay.) and then continue to hammer the guns with the Dart? I need details.

OOC: Oops, sorry.

Set down further out, drop off the Explorer, and continue hammering the guns.

First off, sorry about the down time. I've been sick and then traveling and then sick again. I seem to be back on top of things now so let's see if we can get this game rolling again.

Maria drifts slightly to the left, in order to pass north of the compound and keep Sebastian's chatterbox pointed at the compound. Malcom and Sebastian take final shots at the damaged SPDR on the roof. Once again, Malcom seems to be too close to hit and his shot just misses the 'bot. Sebastian once again connects and the SPDR disintegrates into a pile of scrap metal.

The defensive robots at the base have a good round. Three of the lasers in the towers connect with the Dart. One bounces harmlessly off the reflective hull of the ship. The other two manage to do some minor damage. In addition, one hits your starboard engine causing a bit damage reducing your acceleration by 30 m/turn. One of the machine guns also connect, once again peppering the Dart with bullets. (The Dart has now sustained the equivalent of 1 HP of damage from all the hits so far.)

On the next round you will pass north of the base and be abreast of the second tower from the west end about 150m from the base. Sebastian and Malcom need to pick their targets.

"I wonder if this thing has a 'shotgun' setting..." Malcom muses as his shifts his aim. Not wanting to waste shots on an albedo screen, he picks the footing of the north tower, next to the gate. A couple hits there should bring the tower down.

B'Looone diverts his attention from the security 'bots and focuses on getting a handle on the engine repairs.

As B'Loone turns his attention back to the computer, he sees that his voice analysis program had completed while working on the bots. The computer gives back some various statistics, the most important one being:

No significant correlation with any Obar Enterprises personnel on file.

Of course you realize that you don't have files on every OE employee at the moment. Currently you just have yourselves, the mining camp crew, Terl, Yala and Lee and a few of the techs that did the initial setup and shakedown of the Dart's systems.

Pulling up the status report on the engine, you find that one of the valves that control one of the fuel lines into the engine seems to be partially jammed. It still works but can't open up all the way. That last hit must have melted something nearby or in the valve itself, causing it to warp. In any case, it's not something you can fix from the engineering deck and an EVA at the moment probably isn't a good idea .

You also notice that the ship's Skin Sensors seem to be working perfectly as you count 39 different small holes/impacts in the hull where the bullets and lasers have hit.

"Oy! You're makin' extra work for me down here. If I have to spend the day fixing our brand new ship and miss out on all of the fun storming the compound, I'll be mad."

OOC: Is it possible to aim the atomic engine at the north tower and incinerate with about a second's worth of thrust?

If you wanted to, that could be a possibility. I'd have to think about the effects a bit. The easiest one to hit would be the NE tower as you went by.

"Anyone for barbecued guard tower?!" Maria asks, firing the atomic drive full blast(for one second)at the NE tower.

The tower BBQ will be next turn.

As you pass to the north of the compound, you end this turn about 110 m north of the center guard tower.

As you pass by, Sebastian opens fire on the 'bot in the NW tower at a range of 70m. You can clearly see that this is an OES-01 security bot. His shot with 'ol Chatterbox rips into the 'bot riddling it full of holes. It's still standing but looks considerably worse for wear. The bot returns fire with its heavy laser but it's shot goes well wide of the Dart.

Malcom sets his sights on the base of the next tower in from the corner and cuts loose with the Dart's Heavy Laser. He scores a direct hit on the base of the tower, ripping chunks of metal and concrete from its base. It's still standing but another hit like that and it will probably fall over. The 'bot in that tower, another SPDR-03 returns fire with it's machine gun but its shot also goes wide.

The 'bots in the other towers return fire as well with much more devastating results. Two of the machine guns connect as well as three of the Heavy Lasers. B'Loone just groans as he sees his repair list growing. Combined damage from the five hits results in another HP worth of damage to the superstructure as well as significant damage to your aerial control systems (rudder, aerlions, etc) and additional damage to your starboard engine. Maria notices that the stick is sluggish and not as responsive (harder to turn the ship - you can only make 4 45 degree turns per round instead of your original 8) and that her acceleration has been capped by another 30 m/turn (now maxed out at 90 m/turn down from your peak of 150)

You are currently going 300m/turn and are about to cut in and buzz the NE tower so Maria can fry it with your atomic engine unless she changes her mind. You also notice that the two shuttles sitting on the pad seem to be warming up their engines.

Malcom triggers the ship-to-ship com. Time for a good bluff. "Red Box shuttles, this is the TSS Dart with Obar Enterprises' Special Security Trouble Shooting Team. Unless you want to get trouble shot, I highly suggest that you stay grounded."

"Maria, are we getting transponder signals from those shuttles?" asks Malcom as he opens fire on the tower again. "We don't have time to take them out and I'm betting that we'll have to track them down later."

OOC: Well, Mister Referee, sir, are we getting transponder signals from the shuttles?

BIC: Yes, I want barbecued guard tower for Thanksgiving dinner.

OOC --- looks like Sebastian and Chatterbox did some good in my absence!

BIC --- Sebastian will line up one of the red box shuttles in Chatterbox's crosshairs, hoping to spy a crewmember performing preflight checks along the exterior. "Blast," he mutters out loud. "If I had some AP rounds I might be able to fire through their canopies!"

You are getting transponder signals from both shuttles identifying them as NPS Shuttle 11 and NPS Shuttle 12 registered to the same Red Box Hauler Line as the ones you saw in orbit. You can't quite tell but it seems that they are standing down their engines after Malcom's last transmission. The radio crackles to life "Dart this is Red Box 11, hold your fire, we aren't going anywhere".

Meanwhile, Sebastian squeezes off another burst at the 'bot in the NW tower which once again connects. The 'bot sputters for a moment and then stops moving. It looks like Sebastian's shot just finished it off.

Malcom continues to focus his fire on the second guard tower and once again connects ripping more concrete and plastisteel from the base. As you watch the tower begins to topple and the collapses,burying the robot inside under the rubble.

Maria swings the Dart in close (<5m) to the NE tower and then banks the Dart so that your main engine is pointed right at the tower. She engages the main engine for about a second bathing the tower and robot therein with fire. The Dart surges away from the base incinerating the bot and tower together.

The other towers lash out in retaliation with two of the machine guns hitting and one of the heavy lasers connecting as well. The Dart takes another 1/2 HP worth of damage from the various bullet holes. In addition, you port engine takes some damage, further limiting your acceleration (now at 60 m/turn), and your avionics take another hit as well Maria is practically flying with a dead stick (only 2 turns per turn now).

The Dart is now about 165 m east of the east end of the compound and headed due east away from the compound. You will have one last shot at the SE tower next turn before your weapons are masked by the body of the ship.

Are you going to turn back in or proceed out to a safe distance and disembark the explorer and the rest of your crew (including Gren's Recoiless Rifle)?

"That was fun, but we must run," Maria says, as she proceeds to fly a safe distance out to disembark the explorer and the rest of the crew.

OOC: Definitely option two. Can Maria use her tech skill to repair the damaged engine?

Will wrote:OOC: Definitely option two. Can Maria use her tech skill to repair the damaged engine?

Once you're on the ground and have the engine off, yes. It's not the main engine (that would require Engineering skill) but the atmospheric engines which fall under the Technician skill.

B'Looone picks himself up off the floor to survey the damage to the ship. He lost his balance when Maria blasted the tower with the main engine. "Hey!" he calls into the intercom, "warn us before you blast the engine like that! Someone might have been trying to do something out of their seat you know; like working on the security 'bots, or something. Just because you think I look like a super ball, doesn't mean you can use me as one!" Oy. Well, at least it looks like I might not have to miss the party after all. He ponders that thought for a moment: that's good, right?

As you pull away from the compound Malcom and Sebastian fire off their last shots at the SE tower. Both connect with Sebastian's Chatterbox ripping into the 'bot and the Dart's laser battery carving a chunk out of the tower itself. The bot is still functioning but definitely looks the worse for wear.

The response from the remaining towers is mostly ineffectual as you speed away. None of the 3 remaining heavy lasers even come close and amazingly enough the only machine gun that connects is the one on the far side of the compound. Ten rounds connect with the dart for a total of 42 more structure points of damage.

How far away from the compound do you want to set down?

"Time to play super hero," says Malcom. With the ship now blocking the main weapon, something must be done to keep up the pressure on the bad guys. He grabs the two para wings he stashed on the bridge earlier and heads down to the hatch. As he does he calls down to Sebastian. "Up for a little air time, flyboy?"