[a / b / c / d / e / f / g / gif / h / hr / k / m / o / p / r / s / t / u / v / vg / w / wg] [i / ic] [r9k] [cm / hm / y] [3 / adv / an / cgl / ck / co / diy / fa / fit / hc / int / jp / lit / mlp / mu / n / po / pol / sci / soc / sp / tg / toy / trv / tv / vp / x] [rs] [status / ? / @] [Settings] [Home]
Board:  
Settings   Home
4chan
/qst/ - Quests


Archive: http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/qstarchive.html?tags=Fleets%20Of%20God
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Pixel_Anon

A swarm of missiles fly balefully from one fleet to another- 600 from Ajax's flushed pods alone, and your fellow Knight-Brother rotates his ships to present their broadsides, firing off another 500 from his ships' internal tubes. The initial salvo is the least effective, of course, but the sheer weight is a mighty hammerblow that the Legion ships are wholly unable to answer from the initial range. But in front of his missiles come those fired by the human ships, with far smaller engines, yet fitted with much more advanced 'Counter-Mass' devices than anything developed by the Order. They don't have the sophisticated bomb-pumped laser heads of Order missiles, but they do have big, powerful, and above all dirty nukes that detonate in a great ripple just ahead of the Legion ships. The wavefront perfectly compliments Ajax's salvo, hiding his missiles from the Legion's sensors as they get sandblasted by the radiation. Of course, the detonation blinds Ajax too, and he is forced to hand off their targeting to the missiles' onboard systems- not as capable as those on his ships, but as the nuclear wavefront sweeps away the Legion decoys and jammers, you realise the tactic. The detonations start to rip through the Legion's ranks, but Ajax has already turned side-on to the oncoming, decelerating enemy to launch another salvo.

Meanwhile, you have you own problems. A Legion fleet consisting of a battleship with 23 cruisers and 97 destroyers in formation is accelerating out from the Legion's asteroid base. In fact, as you examine their projected route, they appear to be fleeing for one of the jump points. Unfortunately, they're cutting close near the primary, and even with it at your back, they're likely to spot you. You're actually quite certain of taking this fleet on, but why would it be running? Strange. As you examine it, you realise that although the battleship masses slightly more than the 'standard' one you've been seeing so far, it's elongated somewhat. Very perculiar. In any case, you're still several light-minutes away, and your missiles have a 30-light second range, so you have a little time to work something out.

>Go for the zero relative velocity intercept, take out the big one, then smash the escorts as your leisure.
>Intercept the Legion ships, attempt to board the battleship.
>Make for the enemy station with a passing engagement with the battleship- you hurt it now and hunt it down later.
>>
File: Mission 3.png (27 KB, 800x800)
27 KB
27 KB PNG
>>1988866
Representation of the system, not to scale.
>>
>>1988866
>>Intercept the Legion ships, attempt to board the battleship.
>>
>>1988866
>Make for the enemy station with a passing engagement with the battleship- you hurt it now and hunt it down later.
>>
>>1988866
>Make for the enemy station with a passing engagement with the battleship- you hurt it now and hunt it down later.

Boarding is a bad idea since the legion drones are in bigger number then ours.
>>
Rolled 59 (1d100)

>>1988866
Right, sorry, I was actually called away for a bit.
Beelining for the station it is, give me those 1d100s.

Reminder: Your squadron is 6 battlecruisers, 24 cruisers, and 18 destroyers.
>>
>>1988868
>Intercept the Legion ships, attempt to board the battleship.
>>
Rolled 70 (1d100)

>>1989061
>>
Rolled 7 (1d100)

>>1989061
>>
>>1989061
Welp, disregard my vote as it came too late. I suggest we fire at the battleship as we pass it, targeting its engines in hopes of disabling it.
>>
Rolled 46 (1d100)

>>1989061
>>
>>1989061
>70 vs 59

Well, no way to get around it, so you'll just have to go past them. Besides, you're only going to come within like 10 light seconds or so, which more than long enough for the Legion fleet to be unable to rely to your missiles. The range closes, and you slowly resolve your targeting through passives, until long-range radar starts pinging off your screen's hulls and you go to active. Your own radar and lidar refines targeting remarkably well- they don't seem to be launching many decoys, for some reason. Strange.

You reach the 30 light second mark, but hold your fire. Your first couple of salvos are going to rely on your bow tubes, so you want to resolve it as much as possible. When you hit 20 light seconds you fire, your squadron's chaser tubes throwing 'just' 138 missiles into the void. There's not much hope of many of them getting through the enemy point defence, so you focus them all on the battleship- perhaps they can cripple its propulsion, or something. 28 seconds later, you fire again, then a third time. The main advantage you have, of course, is that your missiles are firing straight at their bows, for a very respectable combined velocity.

As the range ticks down to just 15 light seconds, however, you're stunned as the Legion fleet seems to come apart on your sensors, ships shattering into pieces- wait, no. They're firing missiles at you! Not many, only 50 or so in the opening salvo, but it's impossible to tell where they're coming from as the Legion jamming suddenly comes hard online. You hand your own missiles off to your expert systems and start trying to figure what to do- because 7 seconds after the first salvo comes another, then another...

>They're probably aiming for your biggest ships. Pull your screen forward and use them to shield your battlecruisers.
>They're probably aiming for your screen. Shield your smaller ships with the much more capable point defence of your battlecruisers.
>Write-in.
>>
>>1989161
>They're probably aiming for your screen. Shield your smaller ships with the much more capable point defence of your battlecruisers.
>>
>>1989161
>Write-in

This is obviously an experimental fleet.

Optimized for best combined point defense, then engage the fleet and seek to slow them.

They haven't used missile tech before, they may be new to it. We can exploit this. See if you can blind their sensors and take over guidance of the enemy missiles. Turn them against the Legion.

Signal the main fleet to ask for a salvo sent your way as you keep up the pressure. When the missiles from Ajax or the Humans get here, take over guidance and use them to effect against the enemy fleet - if we can get human missiles, use them to blind the enemy.
>>
>>1989161
i'll back this >>1989188
>>
>>1989188
Optimize. I can't fucking spell.
>>
>>1989188
Missiles are really too dumb to actually be hacked. Ajax and the humans are currently battling the main Legion fleet in the system, ~9 light minutes away on the other side of the system debris belt. Even if they had the range, any transmission from you would take that long to get to them. The Legion missiles will reach your squadron in about half that time.
>>
>>1989161
>>They're probably aiming for your biggest ships. Pull your screen forward and use them to shield your battlecruisers.
>>
>>1989212
Then we should optimize our fleet pattern for combined point defense and engage. See if we can target the missile boats and disable them at range with our own salvos.
>>
>>1989212
Okay so just to clarify:

>Defend your BCs and try to get past the enemy
>Defend your screen and try to get past
>Slow for a longer missile engagement with your broadside
>>
>>1989253

>Slow for a longer missile engagement with your broadside
>>
>>1989253
>Slow for a longer missile engagement with your broadside
>>
>>1989253
>Slow down so you can give them a spanking.

1d100s again, let's see how you do.
>>
>>1989253
>>Slow for a longer missile engagement with your broadside
>>
Rolled 95 (1d100)

>>1989314
>>
Rolled 78 (1d100)

>>1989314
>>
Rolled 57 (1d100)

>>1989314
>>
>>1989322
>95

You quickly get over your initial shock, and as the Legion formation disappears into a fuzz of jamming, you activate your own. Your formation shifts, stacking into a vertical wall in space as you present your broadside to the enemy- battlecruisers at the centre, cruisers outside, destroyers in-between. As one, they flip and start decelerating, to keep the enemy ships in the engagement envelope for as long as they can. Your bow-fired salvos don't have much luck, unfortunately. Some succumb to the sweet singing of the Legion decoys, others are shot down by furious plasma fire, and others go off target, only re-acquiring the smaller screen vessels. Your first broadside, however, spits out exactly 456 missiles. You hand them off to the tactical systems on your ships while you wait the thirty seconds for your tubes to reload, so you can concentrate on the incoming missiles.

All your ships are, courtesy of Flavius, entirely new-build, most no older than a couple of months at the most. Unfortunately for your current situation, this means every single one of them is far more suited for the long-range missile bombardment that's proven to be so effective against Legion forces, with their affinity for close-range weaponry. A pre-war Order cruiser, expecting to fight an enemy with a weapon mix similar to its own, carried 12 defensive laser clusters on each broadside. Your current cruisers mount just 4 each, and your battlecruisers 10- indeed, your destroyers just 2. But what you do have is a large array of anti-ship energy weapons, and the Legion missiles, while relatively manoeuvrable, seem to carry no kind of EW capability. As the first salvo closes to within a couple light-seconds, the massed laser and graser fire of your squadron wipes most of them out of space. Using your energy mounts like this is hardly efficient, their targeting not suited for such small targets, but they trim them down enough that your laser clusters don't have much trouble. Unfortunately, as soon as they finish, there's the next salvo to deal with.

Meanwhile, the massed broadside of your own flies through the void. They have some EW capabilities of their own, and the expert tactical systems on your ships guide them as best they can. 74 lose their lock and target the enemy's screen. 103 are lured away by decoys, or waste their energy on near-misses caused by jammers. 98 are destroyed by point-defence plasma fire. But that still leaves 181 to go into their terminal run against the enemy battleship. Not all of them are good hits, of course. Indeed, another 50 or so scrap and graze at the strange black substance of its hull. But that still leaves at least 100 bomb-pumped x-ray lasers that cut straight into the enemy battleship.

cont.
>>
File: 1447479508627.jpg (2.01 MB, 2279x1019)
2.01 MB
2.01 MB JPG
>>1989442
If it was just a few, or even a couple of dozen, then the damage would not be particularly severe- battleships are tough, made to take hits and keep on fighting. But those hundred lasers slice into it with in interval of just a couple of seconds, and the entire hull shudders. It starts to roll, falling out of formation until the rest of its screen shifts to keep up with it. The missile fire slackens off briefly, but then comes back again, albeit with a dozen less in each salvo.

You have a few moments to upload new orders to your next missile salvo, already in flight.

>Finish off the battleship.
>Target the screen.
>>
File: Mission 3.png (31 KB, 800x800)
31 KB
31 KB PNG
>>1989454
Also, updated map.
>>
>>1989454
>Target the screen.
>>
>>1989454
>Target the screen.
Capture the battleship and pick it apart at our leisure.
>>
>>1989454
seconding
>>1989480
Target the screen. A boarding action later may prove useful.
>>
>>1989454
>>Target the screen.
>>
>>1989454
>Kill the screen

As soon as the feed comes back of the results of your salvo against the battleship, you hurriedly update your tactical systems, which shift your salvo's targets. The decoys, the jammers, and the defensive fire is less coordinated now, and it takes less fire to kill a cruiser- only fifteen to twenty hits, perhaps half that for destroyers. You punch out ten screen vessels in your first strike, then twenty in the second. Then you're past them, and your missiles have to catch up with the fleeing ships, so only a dozen more are destroyed. All in all, not too bad.

You didn't get off completely scot-free, with two destroyers, well, destroyed, and a cruiser damaged. Not too bad at all, though. You're still decelerating, and your thoughts turn to Ajax- you haven't been able to really keep tabs on him, but he's undoubtably waiting for your support to flank the greater Legion fleet he faces. On the other hand, the weird new battleship wreck seems to beckon...

>Continue decelerating and capture the battleship.
>Detatch half your squadron and send that to capture the battleship while you continue on.
>Continue with your mission, but detail a destroyer to keep tabs on the battleship for afterwards.

I almost finished the post, then my finger slipped and I hit f5. I should have been using notepad.[/spoiler.]
>>
>>1989624
>Detatch half your squadron and send that to capture the battleship while you continue on.
>>
>>1989624
>Continue with your mission, but detail a destroyer to keep tabs on the battleship for afterwards.
>>
>>1989624
>Detatch half your squadron

This enemy battlegroup is down to just destroyers by now. The problem is we won't have any indication of it if they hack our detached fleet until it's coming in at us from very far away.

Detatch half the squadron and send them to relieve Ajax and attack his enemy from the rear, including turning over command of that squadron to him for the duration of the battle while you capture the battleship.
>>
>>1989624
>>Continue with your mission, but detail a destroyer to keep tabs on the battleship for afterwards.
>>
Looks like a tie, so I'll wait a little longer before rolling to break.
>>
>>1989624
>Detach half the squadron
>>
File: Mission 3.png (32 KB, 800x800)
32 KB
32 KB PNG
>>1989709
Alright, half the squadron it is.

After a bit of thought, you decide to send 3 of your battlecruisers, 10 cruisers and 8 of your destroyers to wipe out the rest of the Legion light vessels and capture the battleship. That leaves you with 3, 14 and 8 ships, respectively. Your detached units continue decelerating hard, and they fall away from you as you turn the bows of your remaining units back towards the asteroid base.

Before you left the Olympus system, Ajax delivered some of Flavius' special 'bunker-busting' missiles with upgraded mass reduction tech the Order acquired from the humans. Since the base is essentially incapable of dodging, you can pound it at your leisure. On the other hand, there's a possibility it has some useful intel, and a rapid strike might allow you to find something useful before the swarm that is no doubt housed that base rip your boarding drones apart.

On the other hand, you're continuing to receive some basic telemetry from Ajax, and it doesn't look too good. Despite pounding the enemy hard in the initial missile barrages, they still have enough ships that he's taking a furious fusillade of plasma fire from the remainder as they start to close in.

>Intercept and board the Legion base to try and find some intel.
>Just blow it up and hurry on your way to help Ajax.
>>
>>1989920
>Intercept and board the Legion base to try and find some intel.
>>
>>1989920
Bombard it with long-range missile fire while on your way to relieve Ajax.
>>
>>1989920
>>Just blow it up and hurry on your way to help Ajax.
>>
>>1989935
Unfortunately we've already committed a good deal of resources to the capture of a battleship. I doubt our chances in a rapid strike on the base.
>>
>>1989920
>Just blow it up and hurry on your way to help Ajax.
>>
>>1989920
>>Just blow it up and hurry on your way to help Ajax.
>>
>>1989920
>Blow it up so you can hold Ajax's hand

As much as you might like to see if there's any intel, you can't leave a Knight-Brother to face the enemy alone. Or worse, the humans. So you load the specialised missiles, and as soon as you get a proper fix on the Legion base, you let them fly. As soon as they launch, their countermass systems kick in and they shoot off, eventually hitting the base at an appreciable percentage of lightspeed. They don't even carry warheads- their kinetic force alone is enough to shatter it apart by the time they hit, their countermass cutting out the instant before they strike.

You continue on, leading your depleted squadron on out of the debris belt to find yourself on the scene on sheer carnage. Wrecks of ships - more Legion than Order, thank God - litter space between the two fleets. It seems that the group facing Ajax do not have any of the new missiles, but they're numerous enough to not need them. Your Knight-Brother sends you a rapid update as soon as you clear the debris belt.

In the initial opening exchange, Ajax and the humans battered the Legion with impunity, destroying 2 battleships, damaging another 3, and incurring heavy losses on their screen. When they got into energy range, however, it became a lot less even. As of now, one of his 3 battleships is crippled, but still throwing out a few missiles per salvo, 20 of his 37 cruisers have been destroyed, though only 1 of his 12 destroyers has been taken out- focusing on the heavier ships, no doubt. For the humans, one of their 12 cruisers have been destroyed, and the others are damaged. They're purposely staying back, though, bombarding the enemy fleet with their big, dirty nukes to try and keep them blinded. Unfortunately, that also keeps Ajax from getting better locks, but considering there are more Legion than Order ships, that's probably an acceptable trade-off.
"Whatever you do, do it fast." Ajax appends to the end of his sitrep.

Well, you could rush them, pounding the enemy with missiles from behind and performing a rapid strike with energy pounds as you pass by. It would let you get the most out of your swift battlecruisers, and avoid the worst of enemy retaliation. On the other hand, if you don't do enough damage to cripple the enemy fleet in the initial strike, by the time you can reverse course it could all be over. On the other hand, you could try to match speeds with the enemy fleet and pound it from the other side with missiles while staying out of range. They would be unable to strike back while Ajax is hitting them, but you'd be slower in killing them than if you went in with lasers and missiles both.

Ajax: 3 BBs (1 heavily damaged), 17 CRs, 11 DDs
You: 3 BCs, 14 CRs, 8 DDs
Legion: 6 BBs (3 medium damage), 34 CRs, 24 DDs

>Hit-and-run.
>Missile strikes.
>Close-quarters combat.
>>
File: Mission 3.png (33 KB, 800x800)
33 KB
33 KB PNG
>>1990175
Also mission map 'cause I forgot. The other half of your squadron is essentially out of it for now.
>>
>>1990175
>>Close-quarters combat.
>>
>>1990175
Close-quarters combat. Hit hard and fast, prioritize their battleships.
>>
Alright, since things seem to be quieting down and since it's getting late as it is, I think I'm going to put a pin in it for tonight.
We'll finish this up tomorrow at the same time, you know the drill.
>>
>>1990408
Thanks for running tonight, catch you later.
>>
Rolled 53 (1d100)

>CQB

There's no time to waste. Generally, your standing orders are to only hit about 90% acceleration for safety purposes, but your reduced squadron rockets forward at literally zero percent safety margin on inertial compensators. Of course, you have less to worry about than a human crew, but the thought of anti-deuterium being sent flying into the rear of its containment chamber is... not a nice thought. Regardless, you don't really have a choice. It takes half an hour to reach the Legion formation, and they rapidly shift to try and counter you, creating a kind of elongated sphere in space, with one long side facing Ajax, and the other you. For most of the deceleration you were forced to point your engines at them, but as you match speeds you're able to bring your broadsides to bear, enable your new, directed shields, and start firing.

>Roll 2d100, one for you, one for Ajax.
>>
Rolled 22, 83 = 105 (2d100)

>>1993993
>>
Rolled 67, 19 = 86 (2d100)

>>1993993
>>
Rolled 13, 22 = 35 (2d100)

>>1993993
>>
File: 1447479655228.jpg (605 KB, 1280x962)
605 KB
605 KB JPG
>>1993993
>67,83 vs 53

In the time it took you to be a big damn hero, Ajax managed to cripple one of the damaged battleships, and is working on the next in return for his own damaged battleship being smashed into pieces. Losing half your squadron means you can't put quite as many birds out into space, but you can still manage a bit over 250 missiles, with the first salvo coming in at a roaring pace. It further damages one of the Legion battleships, but there's a slight flicker of hesitation that runs through the enemy task group. That flicker of hesitation allows for a salvo 400 strong from Ajax to rip through the two damaged battleships, and a moment later his energy mounts discharge, great chunks of material the size of shuttles simply sloughing off another battleship and its close escorts.

The Legion aren't prepared to take it lying down, however, and another of Ajax's battleships comes under fire, several of cruisers shifting to take the hit and falling out of formation. You, on the other hand, are forced to fly straight into a deadly green hail of fire. Your shields are twice as strong as they would be otherwise, but even so, your ships are even less able to take a hit. Three of your cruisers are heavily damaged, one is destroyed outright, along with one of your destroyers. Your battlecruisers start to attract fire, too, but even if they're not as strong as the battlecruisers, they can take more of a hit- for now.

The ball lands back in your court now, however, and along with your next salvo your energy mounts reach out, stabbing at the same battleship Ajax already damaged, crippling it so much it starts to fall out of formation. Your next missile salvo lands shortly after, ripping several cruisers apart. In that instant, the Legion formation shifts, suddenly turning towards you! Whether they're trying to flee for the jump point, or trying to cross your 'T' you're not sure.

Ajax: 2 BBs, 14 CRs, 10 DDs
You: 3 BCs, 13 CRs, 7 DDs
Legion: 3 BBs (1 heavy damage), 28 CRs, 22 DDs

>Turn with them, and continue pounding them into dust.
>Attempt to disengage. If they want to run, let them.
>Write-in.
>>
File: Mission 3.png (32 KB, 800x800)
32 KB
32 KB PNG
>>1994314
Also updated tactical display.
>>
>>1994314
>>Turn with them, and continue pounding them into dust.
>>
>>1994314
>Turn with them, and continue pounding them into dust.
>>
File: Reid_Southen_05a.jpg (253 KB, 680x1010)
253 KB
253 KB JPG
>>1994314
>Keep fightan

Well, that just won't do. They clearly consider Ajax a larger threat, something that you would probably agree with, considering his battleships have almost double the number of tubes of your battlecruisers. Still, it's a little rude, you feel, so you should really disabuse the Legion of any such notion. You snap off a quick burst transmission to Ajax, informing him of your intentions, and receive his affirmative a few seconds later. The Legion's sudden shift take them out of his effective energy range, but he continues launching missiles after them. Unfortunately, he also informs you that his lighter ships only have a few more salvos. But that's fine, you just need to finish this quickly.

Unfortunately, the manoeuvring that takes the Legion formation out of Ajax's range brings them directly into yours- and they still have three battleships. Tiyr squadron's energy mounts discharge again, grasers clawing deep inside the damaged battleship's hull and ripping it apart from the inside while lasers sear away metres of hull plate. Well, make that two BBs. Luck isn't all on your side, however, as plasma finally manages to burn through the shields of one of your BCs (not yours, thank God) and smash its hull, taking out three missile tubes, a graser and two lasers. It also damages the control runs for its primary tokamak, forcing it to shut down for safety's sake while the secondary comes back online. As a result, it starts to roll, falling out of formation.

>Slow your squadron to keep apace of your damaged BC.
>Leave it for now, you need to do as much damage as possible before the Legion pulls away!
>>
>>1994506
>>Leave it for now, you need to do as much damage as possible before the Legion pulls away!
>>
>>1994506
>Leave it for now, you need to do as much damage as possible before the Legion pulls away!
>>
>>1994506
Leave it for now, you need to do as much damage as possible before the Legion pulls away!
>>
>>1994506
>Leave it.

Your damaged battlecruiser fires a last salvo along with the rest of your ships, then it slips backwards out of your formation. Thankfully, the Legion doesn't bother targeting it any longer, but that's only because they're focusing on the rest of your ships. If it wasn't for your upgraded shields then more of your ships would be destroyed by now, but most of them are showing signs of damage, with missile tubes or energy mounts knocked out by the furious, continuous plasma fire. But finally, you manage to catch a break as both yours and Ajax's missile salvos come in at the same time, focused on the same enemy battleship, and the double strike simply overwhelms the fleet's defenses. At least a hundred laser heads make it through the point defence and rip through one of the two remaining Legion battleships. A quick follow-up with shipboard lasers devastate it, and the Legion fire slackens slightly again, becoming unfocused once more before it resumes its far more effective focus fire.

Unfortunately, your ships are still outnumbered, and are reaching the limits of what they can endure. Several cruisers and destroyers are destroyed or crippled, and your BCs are starting to really rack up the damage too. Your own shudders under the weight of fire nipping at it as you continue to close the distance with the Legion fleet- you simply can't turn quickly enough. Suddenly, a volley of nuclear fireballs detonate throughout the enemy formation. Some of their screen is damaged, but best of all, it totally disrupts their defensive fire for a good thirty seconds, allowing you to pound the final battleship. Crippled, its acceleration cuts out. Your fire shifts to the screen, but unhampered by the slower acceleration of the battleships, the undamaged lighter screening vessels rapidly start piling on the speed.
"Leave them, Dauntless." Ajax's message makes you frown. "Let's mop up the stragglers, we can take those another time."

>Ajax: 2 BBs, 14 CRs, 10 DDs
>You: 2 BCs (medium damage), 9 CRs, 5 DDs
>Legion: 25 CRs, 18 DDs

>Ajax is right, you're too damaged to risk it. Cut accel and make sure the crippled enemies are really dead.
>That's not good enough- you need to make sure all of them are chased down and taken out.
>>
>>1994645
Third option I somehow forgot to post:

>Hound them to the jump point and harass them with missiles, but don't actually engage.
>>
>>1994645
>Hound them to the jump point and harass them with missiles, but don't actually engage.
>>
>>1994645
>>Ajax is right, you're too damaged to risk it. Cut accel and make sure the crippled enemies are really dead.
>>
>>1994650
>>Hound them to the jump point and harass them with missiles, but don't actually engage.
>Guve the humans a thank you
>>
>>1994645
>Hound them until they leave

With a bit of careful manoeuvring (plus another nuke salvo) you stay out of range of the remainders, and then stay on their heels the rest of the way to the jump point, occasionally firing off missile salvos from your bow tubes to keep them honest. You even manage to cripple a couple of their ships and force them to fall back into range of your bow energy mounts, but overall you don't have the weight of fire to really threaten them. Either way, the remaining Legion ships jump out as soon as they reach the jump point in a long stream, their cohesion utterly broken.

In the few hours it takes you to do that, Ajax busily executes the remainder of the enemy ships, pounding a few that can still fight with missiles, or using his lasers on the rest. By the several more hours it takes for you to get back, the rest of your squadron has arrived, carefully towing the Legion battleship to Ajax's position. The human ships keep a picket as Ajax's two remaining capital ships pour their boarding drones into the hulk, slowly weeding out any remaining Legion drones on board. In the deepest, most central part of the ship, he finds another one of those strange, almost-cores. It's not quite the same as the one you recovered, you note with interest as you review the footage, but it's remarkably close. How curious.
"So, now you've finished playing with your food," Ajax remarks somewhat sardonically, "Would you mind keeping an eye on the humans as they do a final sweep of the base? Their Admiral Weston wants to take a look at it for himself, and I'd like to get this... thing... back home as quickly as possible."

>Agree, it's the least you can do.
>Disagree, you should take the core back- you're faster than Ajax would be, anyway.
>Disagree, and try to talk the humans out of getting near the base. There's no reason for them to put themselves in avoidable danger.
>Write-in.
>>
>>1994830
Agree, it's the least you can do.
>>
>>1994830
>>Agree, it's the least you can do.
>>
>>1994830
>Agree, it's the least you can do.
>>
>>1994830
>Agree

"Well... I suppose so. Why do they want to?"
"No clue, but humans are pretty weird."
"True. Take care." Ajax's ships start gentle acceleration towards the same jump point you came from.
"I'll leave one of the auxiliaries in case you need spare parts." He informs you, "When the humans are done, escort them back to Olympus, then to the Chapterhouse. I'll get another Knight-Brother sent out to replace you."

With that, your fellow Knight-Brother boosts out, and you turn your attention to the remaining human ships. They only lost one of their twelve, but the rest all carry some scarring, and three look heavily damaged. You feel a twinge of guilt as you accept a comm request from Admiral Weston.
"Dauntless. Your Admiral Ajax said you'd be keeping an eye on us." His lips twitch in a slightly bitter smile. "Under the circumstances, I couldn't really say no. I'd also like to say how thankful I am for your assistance today. I don't know how many people crew your ships, but I'm sure you lost more people than me. Thank you."
Er... awkward.

>Boast
>Neutral
>Polite
>>
>>1995057
Polite
>>
>>1995057
>Polite
>>
>>1995057
>>Polite
>>
File: spitzer-20061010-full.jpg (141 KB, 2000x1125)
141 KB
141 KB JPG
>>1995057
>Polite

"Of course, that's just... how one does things." You tell him, with more than a little awkwardness. "Anyway, shall we?"
"Yes, we shall." Admiral Weston turns from the display, briefly, and tells somebody to lay in a course. "My admiralty will want some primary data of the destroyed base, so we'll just gander on by, then head for home. If you could just remain on station in case there are any Legion ships hiding in the debris belt, that would be great."

There aren't any Legion ships hiding in the debris belt. Admiral Weston takes it slow, mostly to give his damaged ships time to conduct jury-rigged repairs, and you hardly mind, as it allows you to do the same. Your damaged battlecruiser is relying on its secondary tokamak, but it'll need more extensive repairs when you get home. Regardless, you find the human ships to be quite interesting. They appear to use fusion drives and reaction mass instead of antimatter, and when you ask the Admiral, he informs you that all their ships are fitted with counter-mass to allow them to reduce their mass so that it actually requires little fuel for them to get anywhere, and even helps to cut down on the amount of force they need to deal with- they don't even have inertial compensators! It actually sounds quite ingenious to you.

In any case, nothing jumps out at you as Admiral Weston takes his ships in for a close, slow pass of the destroyed asteroid base. There's a lot of debris around, you notice, as the dozen largest chunks continue to drift apart. You're examining what appears to be a heavy mount for one of their plasma weapons when the human tactical net the Admiral kindly tied you into explodes with activity. OSV Achilles, the human ship ordered to pick up some samples, is reporting hull breaches. First a few, then ten, then two dozen, rising by the moment. Turning your ships' powerful visual sensors onto the vessel in question, atmosphere is streaming out from dozens of holes, and you catch a glimpse of a new one being created- by a Legion drone! It seems they can survive in vacuum for longer than you thought, or else somehow launched an attack... regardless, as the first fragmentary reports come in, it's clear the Achilles is in trouble.

>Allow the humans to deal with it, start trying to locate the attacking drones before they reach the Achilles.
>Move your ships in, attempt to use PD lasers to pick the drones off the hull while the humans deal with the ones inside.
>Move your ship in and launch as many boarding drones as you can- even if they arrive late it's better than never.
>Write-in.
>>
>>1995204
>>Move your ships in, attempt to use PD lasers to pick the drones off the hull while the humans deal with the ones inside.
>>
>>1995204
>Move your ships in, attempt to use PD lasers to pick the drones off the hull while the humans deal with the ones inside.
>>
>>1995204
>Move your ships in, attempt to use PD lasers to pick the drones off the hull while the humans deal with the ones inside.
>>
>>1995204
>PD lasers

1d100s for sharpshooting, if you please.
>>
Rolled 91 (1d100)

>>1995337
>>
Rolled 91 (1d100)

>>1995337
>>
>>1995349
>>1995355
I think we are damn fine shots.
>>
File: full9.jpg (220 KB, 1440x900)
220 KB
220 KB JPG
>>1995355
>Double 91, nice.

Luckily enough, you have several destroyers and cruisers in range of the Achilles. After flashing a warning across the human tactical net, their laser clusters reach out and neatly pluck off a dozen Legion drones still on the hull. They fire again a second later with the same result, quickly clearing the hull of the human vessel as soon as the drones land. The Achilles' marine compliment takes losses, especially considering the somewhat lightweight weaponry they deploy, but they manage to fight off the remaining Legion drones and seal up their hull after they clear the base debris cloud. Her captain makes sure to send you a message of thanks as the human ships form up again.

"Thank you again, Dauntless." Admiral Weston says as you boost towards the jump point an hour later. "If you hadn't intervened, I'm sure it would have been worse."
"Of course, Admiral. That's what we're here for."
>>
File: icon175x175.jpg (7 KB, 175x175)
7 KB
7 KB JPG
And so ends this week's chapter of the quest. I may not be running next week so I can fix my sleep schedule before the week where I need to get all the first wave of coursework in for college, we'll see.

Next time on Fleets of God Quest: Dauntless chooses his next upgrade and I try to come up with the next set of missions more than a day before the quest!
>>
>>1995443
Sounds like a fun time. Thanks for running boss!
>>
>>1995443
Thanks, Pixel. Good thread as always
>>
File: tegaki.png (5 KB, 400x400)
5 KB
5 KB PNG
>>1988866
hey man, currently reading your initial thread in the archive you keep. Did you make this yourself? Pretty solid bro. I envy you.




Delete Post: [File Only] Style:
[Disable Mobile View / Use Desktop Site]

[Enable Mobile View / Use Mobile Site]

All trademarks and copyrights on this page are owned by their respective parties. Images uploaded are the responsibility of the Poster. Comments are owned by the Poster.