https://twitter.com/ThunderheadQMArchive: http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/qstarchive.html?tags=Halo:%20Wolfpack----------------------------------------------------------------The Pale Rider -your prowler- shuddered ever so slightly as it broke the barrier between realspace and slipspace. Compared to almost every ship you'd ever traveled in, the prowler was absurdly smooth for its size. In spite of being almost three times the size of a corvette, it made the transition just as well. The moment the shuddering stopped, the bridge crew snapped into action, the sound of keys clattering filled the room."Disengaging slipspace drive. Emission sinks active." Your navigation officer called out the more pertinent parts of her checklist. The armored shields in front of the bridge windows dropped as she spoke, the radiation plates slid into their storage bays, and recessed into the hull of the prowler as the ONI pilot turned to face you. "The board is green, we're running silent.""Where are we?" You asked. While you knew that you were in orbit of one of Arcadia's moons, you didn't know which moon you were over. One grey atmosphere-less ball of rock was hard to tell from another atmosphere-less ball of rock."Surface topography matches the moon of Gihon, LRAD puts us at a stable thirty-thousand meter orbit. We're in its shadow and have no LOS to Arcadia." Another crewman called out, "Has anyone seen us drop in?" You asked another question, one which was probably a bit redundent but was still something that needed to be asked. Dropping in from slipspace was usually something that could be detected from a fair distance out, and while prowlers probably came with something to mitigate that, you didn't want to just assume you were stealthy."The local satellite network wouldn't have detected us if it was intact, and it's not. I calculate our chances of being detected to be in the sub-percentile range." Diana informed you, the AI lacked an obvious way to project her avatar on the bridge, so she was stuck with using the bridge speakers to communicate.>Investivigate the moon of Gihon, the innies won't have left it unoccupied.>Head straight to Arcadia, you don't want to waste any time.>Other (write-in)
>>4087229>>Head straight to Arcadia, you don't want to waste any time.
>>4087229>Head straight to Arcadia, you don't want to waste any time.
Also, I just posted a little something about how RnD will work in the last thread. Do you want me to repost it here?
>>4087246I've seen it already but IMO might as well in case other people/ new posters haven't
"Alright, take us into orbit over Arcadia." You ordered, and slowly the prowler began to move. The baffled engines pushed the ship onto the right course, before cutting out and letting you drift through space. Because of this cautious and slow means of travel, it took nearly an hour before Arcadia began to rise over Gihon's horizon, and another half an hour before someone broke the silence with a report."I'm getting multiple drive signatures in Arcadian orbit. Tally at least three Strident class light frigates, plus a number of civilian craft." One of the ensigns called out, projecting the locations of the engine returns onto one of the screens over the viewports.Another ensign added to the report, bringing the two flanking screens online to show you a number of rebel ships. "Eyes on, at least four strident-class frigates in oribit, plus a bunch of small transports and yachts. Tally around thirty ships in orbit, plus what looks like a few orbital habitats and space stations.""The majority of them are in semi-equatorial orbits, if we go into a polar orbit then we should be able to limit our time close to them by a hefty amount." Dyad reported your XO suggestion a course that garnered her an approving nod from the navigation officer."Alternatively, we can try and find a weak node in their network. Accessing it will give us the means to get a lot more intel." Lieutenant Karmann suggested, the short spook honing in on an option to obtain more of the office's lifeblood, enemy data. "We still have our drones and satellites stowed. If we deploy them in low orbit then they stand a higher likelihood of getting detected. I recommend deploying them now." Your AI threw her hat into the mix, reminding you of the cargo that you carried in your hold specifically to allow you to perform your mission without having to worry about someone sneaking up on you.>Head straight into low arcadian orbit, you shouldn't waste time.>Find a vulnerable node, you need to get into the local network.>Deploy your satellites, you need to have your eyes in orbit before you head dirt-side.>Other (write-in)
>>4085823i have seen it thank you.one of my ideas was starting the development of a very very ambitious mix of a ONI prowler and a UNSC frigate.and simple stuff like automatic built in turrets inside and outside ships, that activate for taking out enemy infantry boarding forces. An help for crew and marines of sort.
>>4087326>>Deploy your satellites, you need to have your eyes in orbit before you head dirt-side.
>>4087326>Deploy your satellites, you need to have your eyes in orbit before you head dirt-side.
"Take us into position to deploy our satellites, we need eyes." You decided to take this slowly and methodically. At the very least it would let you loose a fair amount of weight before entering the atmosphere. It took a couple of hours to get into the correct orbit, but you were soon in position to get rid of the small probes.""We're in position sir." Diana informed you the moment you were in position. "Be advised, even though we have shadowed our bays away from most sensor sources, the clarion drones are not stealthy and have a chance to be detected."Send it Diana." You told your AI. Even if the Clarion drones were spotted, the communication drones would remain hidden and you could retain them."Understood, probes away." Diana informed you as the ship ever so slightly shook as the first pair of drones and satellites were ejected with a small puff of compressed gasses.>Roll 1d20+3
Rolled 5 + 3 (1d20 + 3)>>4087399
Rolled 16 + 3 (1d20 + 3)>>4087399
Rolled 11 + 3 (1d20 + 3)>>4087399
Rolled 15 + 3 (1d20 + 3)>>4087399
Over the next half an hour, you waited as dozens of probes and satellites were dropped into the dark void of space, and slowly directed themselves onto their own orbital paths. It would take a few hours before the network was fully complete, but it gave you a lot more than going in blind."All probes deployed sir." One of the ensigns called out just a second after the final thud reverberated through the ship."Have the rebels taken any notice?" You asked, while you hadn't encountered anything yet, that didn't mean that the rebels hadn't seen the probes. And if they had spotted the probes, then they would have a rough sector to look in to try and find you."I don't see any changes in the behavior of the rebels ships, I'd say it's safe to assume that they have not detected the deployment." The ensign replied, assuring you that you were fine for now.>Head straight into low Arcadian orbit, you shouldn't waste time.>Find a vulnerable node, you need to upload the virus into the rebel's computer networks.>Other (write-in)
>>4087329I mean a stealth frigate isn't that ambitious, it's kind of already been done if you check back on the 1st thread. Of course it would be expensive to build one new, but if you want to be reassigned to a stealth frigate then that option may be open to you. Just keep in mind that a stealth frigate tends to have a mission profile closer to prowler than a frigate.Auto-turrets already exist and are gonna be a procurement thing unless you want something that isn't just a cut-down assault rifle and a basic targeting system. Of course if you have something more specific in mind then you can look into getting it built.
>>4087478>>Head straight into low Arcadian orbit, you shouldn't waste time.dicking around will get us dicked down later.
>>4087478>Head straight into low Arcadian orbit, you shouldn't waste time.
>>4087478>Find a vulnerable node, you need to upload the virus into the rebel's computer networks.This will also help later should we be discovered trying to land/reentering space with our cargo.
>>4087478>>Find a vulnerable node, you need to upload the virus into the rebel's computer networks.
>>4087482 I will think of something elseNo more like a turret of several LMGs (x4) and rapid fire shotguns (x2) attached together, with a thick shield on the front and overall heavy armor. These turrets to be more than effective should have a built in transport system for movement in the spaceship and relocate where the crew needs them. Thus avoiding that they remain only in one place, ammo should move with them as well.the ship's interiors and rooms will likely need to become much more durable, and the ship will need to be redisign.>>4087478>Find a vulnerable node, you need to upload the virus into the rebel's computer networks.
"Next on the list is gonna be systems access. Any idea where we can access in order to get into the rebel data network?" You asked the room, though your question was more directed towards your AI. Diana was built for electronic warfare and hacking after all. "There is a satellite a few thousand meters to port, accessing now." Diana informed you, you waited for a few seconds before she spoke up again. "I'm in sir, but there's a problem. This satellite is too badly degraded to act as an effective node. Additionally, it has very limited access paths to the rebel network and can be cut off easily. I recommend that we look for something else.""Well, damn. Can you find us one?" You asked the AI, who once again made you wait before she responded."I've already found three sir." Diana replied with simulated smugness, before designating the locations of the three options on the central screen above the viewport. "The first is a communications satellite that seems to be far newer than the others. The rebels are using it as a centerpiece in their communications and information sharing network, and it has the bandwidth to allow us to conceal our actions among regular traffic. However, local rebel forces have a fighter squadron patrolling the nearby space. If they are alerted to any incursions via that node then they will investigate.""The next option is a modular freighter identified as the Patriot's Pride. It seems to have a workable connection to the rebel comms network and would provide us some means to hide our involvement as they would take the fall for us. However, it would require us to first hack their computer systems before leapfrogging into the rebel network." Diana flashed up a picture of the freighter on one of the screens. It was similar to the armed freighter you had encountered in orbit of Greydowns, except this one retained its standard form. As she began to tell you about the final option, she switched over to show you an image of a space station that looked right out of the history books. "The final option would be a small rebel station. The station is made up of a handful of small prefabricated modules and appears to share similar characteristics with stations built before gravity simulation technology was developed. It functions as a data-storage facility and appears to have a small crew and defensive setup. Overcoming this would be difficult given our inability to deploy troops without entering enemy weapons range. However, it would allow a more unexpected way to enter the rebel computer networks.""Using our current satalite is also an option, though I don't think we have many opportunities for uploading much." Lieutenant Karmann suggested, the spook taking the uncharacteristic path of suggesting the safer option.>CONT
>>4087671"Which is why I've brought up alternatives, lieutenant," Diana informed the short spook, addressing him by rank rather than by name. And the implied insult didn't go amiss.>Hack the newer satellite, you don't want to worry about people seeing you. (roll 1d20)>Hack the transport ship, if worst comes to worst then they'll take the fall for you. (roll 2d20)>Board the station, at the very least you'll be able to steal their servers. (roll 2d20)> Hack the old satellite, hardware limitations be damned. (roll 1d20-2)
>>4087675>>Hack the transport ship, if worst comes to worst then they'll take the fall for you. (roll 2d20)
Rolled 11, 15 = 26 (2d20)>>4087675>Hack the transport ship, if worst comes to worst then they'll take the fall for you. (roll 2d20)
Rolled 5, 10 = 15 (2d20)>>4087689
Rolled 12, 13 = 25 (2d20)>>4087675>>Hack the transport ship, if worst comes to worst then they'll take the fall for you. (roll 2d20)
>>4087537So basically you'd want something like pic related but without the grenade launchers, scaled up and with more armor and dakka?Ok so the biggest issue will be size in general. Having 4 LMGs, 2 shotguns, all of their ammo and some thick armor would make the system fairly heavy and large. Moving it around the ship would be difficult and it would be next to impossible to move into smaller access ways. Shaving off half of those weapons would make a massive difference without loosing much in terms of pure shield and flesh shredding power. You'd also need a couple of marines or technicians moving around with it in order to effect on-the-fly repairs and to reload ammo.Tech-wise there isn't much stopping you though as a lot of the tech already exists. So you can probably get them hammered out fairly quickly. EMP rating them on the other hand will be hard, and keep in mind that grunt plasma pistols can EMP things with an overcharge.
Rolled 14, 10 = 24 (2d20)>>4087770My bad i didn't write it well, not like that pic at all. Essentially what i want is :- a system of transportation built in the ship to move the turrets with their ammo around, allowing them to move anywhere the crew needs them.but the ship would need to be redesigned for this, if it isn't clear the turrets would be moved by this transport system inside the ship. Think of something like a tunnel system inside the ship for electrical small wagons to use for take turrets, move them and place them somewhere else.>>4087675>Hack the transport ship, if worst comes to worst then they'll take the fall for you. (roll 2d20)
>>4087815IMO that...sounds like a lot of work for not that much utility considering ideally for UNSC ships you don't want to be caught in a boarding action. Robots like above or automated sentry guns seem better suited and don't require modifying the entire ship
"Get us close to the transport ship, we'll use them as our way in." You ordered the bridge crew, and soon the prowler began to move after it's prey.The "Patriot's Pride" was in a relatively high orbit, though a lot of that seemed due to the fact that it wasn't alone. A small group of tugs were pulling modular cargo bays off the ship and were taking them into a lower orbit, probably so that they could be loaded with cargo and returned to the ship. The navigation officer waited until the tugs had left with the cargo modules before taking you in close, the texture buffers on the prowler's outer hull let you blend in with the void around you to the point that any observers on the rebel transport probably didn't know you were there."Begining intrusion." Diana stated flatly as she began to enter the rebel ship's computer systems. She only took a minute before moving on to accessing the rest of the rebel network. This time you had to wait for five minutes as she slowly did her work, which in AI terms was quite a long time. But none the less, she reported back with pride. "We're in sir. No alarms are out, we're in the clear.">Investigate the transport ship, maybe you can find out where they're from.>Start downloading data, anything you get your hands on is gonna be useful. (roll 1d20-1)>Try and find something more sensitive, there isn't much point bringing back a load of crap. (roll 1d20-2)>Upload the virus, you have your orders. >Other (write-in)
>>4087824But especially now covenant prefer to find any information about human planets, so if they can try boardings they will.I think it would depends by the amount of tunnels you would make, and by the amount of turrets you want to have.Robots like above and sentry guns can be easily dispacth off by covenant forces, and to be honest i wouldn t lose time for have them. One is slow and frankly seems more a problem than a help.Mine is only an idea since the robots and simple sentry guns are very weak.-one doesn t move and is visible in is position-one is too slow and easy to deal withIt can be even just a small system for example only for critical parts of the ship.
>>4087851>>Investigate the transport ship, maybe you can find out where they're from.>>Upload the virus, you have your orders.
Rolled 13 + 2 (1d20 + 2)>>4087851>Try and find something more sensitive, there isn't much point bringing back a load of crap. (roll 1d20-2)>Upload the virus, you have your orders.I'll try that roll.
Rolled 3 + 2 (1d20 + 2)>>4087851>>Try and find something more sensitive, there isn't much point bringing back a load of crap. (roll 1d20-2)>>Upload the virus, you have your orders.
>>4087815>>4087852Gotcha. The best way to install such a system would be an overhead gantry system attached to the ceilings of almost all corridors throughout the ship. You'd need some elevator systems to move these turrets between floors, but the size of those elevators would depend on the scale of the turret systems. That way the amount of changes to the ship would be minimal, even if it's all rather exposed. The size and weight of the weapons fitted would still be an issue. We're talking around 40 kilograms in LMGs alone, not counting shotguns, ammo, sensors and armor. That would have a limiting factor on the speed at which you can deploy these things, and their size may make them unstable for smaller corridors, even if they have an ability to lock down a corridor all on their own. A far easier to deploy option would just be to use the cargo-bay LMGs used on pelicans, a single gun with ammo and already built to use a ceiling mount. A sensor suite and armor would add weight to it, but it would be far easier to move around and has the added bonus that it can be dismounted and used as a normal weapon if the mount fails. Though it doesn't allow you to mount shotguns.In terms of being vulnerable and easy to destroy, that's going to be something you can't really work around unless they are deployed with care. There are a lot of corners you can use as cover, and a gun-shield will be able to soak a couple of plasma bolts. But don't expect a mobile system to be able to soak a lot of damage.
"Find me something interesting Diana. We can't settle for just doing our job now can we?" You asked the AI with a smile. If you weren't an over-achiever then you wouldn't be here right now, and you saw no reason to stop.Diana complied without a word, and you waited for a couple of minutes as she did her work, but she did not disappoint, as she soon returned with something worth your while. "I think I have something, sir. It's a list of outgoing traffic, specifically containing a list of ships and their assigned destinations. Recovering this should allow ONI to hunt down these rebel transports and maybe even find some more bases to raid.""Good work Diana. Download as much as you can and upload the virus." You ordered the AI, that information would have to do, in the meantime, you had orders from a vice admiral to follow, and a whole lot of navigational data to delete."Captain, are you sure?" Diana asked, before clarifying the reason for her concern. "Uploading this virus will probably cause the rebels to lock down their computer systems, I will not be able to recover any more information if that happens. Do you want to continue?">Upload the virus, maybe you can use the distraction to make landfall.>Hold off you want to gather more intel. (roll 1d20+2)
>>4087962>Upload the virus, maybe you can use the distraction to make landfall.Intel is nice but let's complete the primary objective first
Rolled 13 + 2 (1d20 + 2)>>4087962>Hold off you want to gather more intel. (roll 1d20+2)
Rolled 5 + 2 (1d20 + 2)>>4087940Perhaps it was too advance, didn t even need to think of something ambitious with a turret like that.So a turret based on a cargo-bay LMG, with a sensor suite and armor would be able to be positioned effectly and rapidly. For weight it would change much if we add to it a small camera and a small torch able to make a strong light for a few seconds ?Would it be possible to make an elevator system for this kind of turret ?As anyone try something like this in the UNSC or is not considered relevant do to the boardings of the covenant being so effective.>>4087962>Hold off you want to gather more intel. (roll 1d20+2)
>>4087964+1
>>4087962>Upload the virus, maybe you can use the distraction to make landfall.
>>4087985A small camera is included in the sensor suite, and a torch wouldn't weigh too much so you could mount one if you want.An elevator would be easy thanks to the small size of the system, and could be put where stairs already exist or could be built into new places.Mobile systems aren't used, but larger UNSC ship (cruisers and up) do have stationary sentry guns in a few hallways and outside key parts of the ship. Most of the time it's just easier to lock the enemy in one part of the ship and get rid of the air, the enemy will choke eventually.
"Do it, once it's uploaded get us into a low polar orbit, I want us ready to go planet-side as soon as possible." You decided. While getting more intel was nice, you had a mission to complete and you were up against the clock. You didn't have the luxury of taking your time."Understood, uploading now." Diana informed you, the AI offered no further resistance and gave no further pleas to have more intel. Instead, you merely had to wait for a few minutes, before she gave the all-clear. "Virus uploaded. Navigation, you are clear to move off.""Moving off, course plotted to low Arcadian orbit. ETA two hours." The navigation officer called out as the prowler moved off, leaving the unassuming freighter -and every other ship in orbit- to suffer the effects of the virus."Should we apply the reentry equipment now, or should we wait until we're in orbit before applying it?" Dyad asked, your XO seeing the long wait not as an opportunity to get something to eat, but as a chance to get some work done while you were waiting.>Apply the equipment now, you shouldn't waste time. (roll 1d20-2)>Wait until you're in orbit, you don't want to be detected.
>>4088066>>Wait until you're in orbit, you don't want to be detected.
>>4088066>Wait until you're in orbit, you don't want to be detected.
"Let's stay silent, I don't want the innies spotting us with our pants down." You decided against applying your armor. The virus would probably have the rebels looking for a target, and while you weren't sure if the kit ruined your stealth coating, you were damn sure that you didn't want to find out.Your concerns were soon validated as a pair of frigates and a bunch of smaller fighters and missile-boats converged on the Patriot's Pride. The rebels had probably traced the virus back to them and were looking to get some payback. You let them pass and didn't look back. Instead, you remained on the bridge and waited out the trip. Sure enough, it took a couple of hours to get there, but you made it without being seen."Orbit established. It will take a couple of hours to apply the reentry equipment, though that's liable to change if the innies come looking for us." Diana informed you, giving you enough information to know that there was not much for you to do, and you were getting a bit hungry yourself.>Stay on the bridge, you should be here in case something goes wrong. [TIMESKIP TO LANDING] (roll 1d20)>Go and get something to eat, you're feeling a bit hungry.>Other (write-in)
>>4088125>>Go and get something to eat, you're feeling a bit hungry.
>>4088125>Stay on the bridge, you should be here in case something goes wrong. [TIMESKIP TO LANDING] (roll 1d20)
Rolled 8 (1d20)>>4088125>>Stay on the bridge, you should be here in case something goes wrong. [TIMESKIP TO LANDING] (roll 1d20)
>>4088125>Go and get something to eat, you're feeling a bit hungry.
"Alright, in which case I'm gonna get something to eat. If any of you need a break then I suggest you take it now." You made your choice, and set upon getting something to eat. You had weighed it up in your head, and you decided that the chances of being spotted were low enough that you could have some time to yourself."I have the deck then." Dyad sighed, though you chalked that up to her being annoyed at having to wait for you to return before she could eat something. You paid no attention to this as you left the room, you were sure that being able to sit in a proper chair rather than on a stool would placate her enough.The mess hall was empty when you walked in, all but one of the tables had been lowered into the floor to open up the room for more storage space. You quickly grabbed something from the auto-chef and sat down at one of the tables. You pulled your tablet out as you took a sip of your drink, and breifly considered doing some work while on break.>Read through the intel you gathered, maybe you can find something (roll 1d20-2)>Read through some AARs, maybe you can learn something.>Finish up your food and return to the bridge, you shouldn't be away for too long. [TIMESKIP]>Other (write-in)
Rolled 9 - 2 (1d20 - 2)>>4088245>>Read through the intel you gathered, maybe you can find something (roll 1d20-2)
>>4088245>>Read through some AARs, maybe you can learn something.
>>4088245>Read through the intel you gathered, maybe you can find something (roll 1d20-2)Knowing is half the battle.
Rolled 5 - 2 (1d20 - 2)>>4088256uuuh dice?
Rolled 10 - 2 (1d20 - 2)>>4088245>Read through the intel you gathered, maybe you can find something (roll 1d20-2)
Rolled 15 + 2 (1d20 + 2)>>4088245>Read through the intel you gathered, maybe you can find something (roll 1d20-2)
>>4088365Why the hell does my - always turn into a +?
>>4088366you have to do dice+1d20+-2
maybe i'm retarded, but is the last thread not archived?
Rolled 15 - 2 (1d20 - 2)>>4088245>>Read through the intel you gathered, maybe you can find something (roll 1d20-2)Saw the announcement only a day late this time.
>>4088454It is now. Good catch.
You decided to get a little bit of work done by going through the list of cargo ships that apparently made their homeport at Arcadia. You booted your tablet up and loaded the document as you picked at your meal -some premade sausage and mash meal with assorted vegitables- as you read through the information. You didn't have to wait long before more members of the bridge crew joined you, though none of them bothered you. Instead, they grabbed their food and talked amongst themselves.The list contained the names, types, cargo manifests, and recent destinations of various transport ships. Roughly half of them were modular hulled freighters, probably assembled from sections bought from a variety of smaller dockyards and manufacturers. However, there were a couple of larger Parabola class heavy freighters and refitted mixed cargo shuttles. All of the ships were manned, there were no automated cargo tugs among the illicit fleet. You guessed that it was because automated tugs were easier to steal and board, having a crew would give them an ability to change course on the fly to avoid law enforcement patrols. Many of the ships carried mundane cargo -food, raw materials, and other things- to smaller mining colonies. However, a couple of vessels ran guns and contraband to other destinations. The Patriot's Pride had been one of them, with it's most recent trip being hauling old military equipment and drug-making chemicals to the small colony of Jacquot.You didn't bother trying to identify ships by their names to start off with, so instead, you looked up recent destinations. You didn't recognize most of the destinations, probably because they were smaller mining colonies. However, you did find a couple of vessels that had made recent trips to Greydowns, the large gas giant that you had recently been assigned to perform anti-piracy missions. The ships Golden Nori and the Prospector had both made trips there within the last six months, though you couldn't recall if they had been in the system when you were making the rounds. Either way, they had both been carrying inoffensive loads, though they were probably still breaking a few tax laws.Well, aside from a pair of vessels operating in the Greydowns system, you didn't see anything else that piqued your interest. Though you felt that there was something you were missing, there was enough information that you could probably draw some conclusions, though you didn't know if it was enough to concern yourself with. ONI could probably do a bit more work with the intel, finding gold with the smallest amount of intel was probably the only reason why they weren't getting dragged before the Hague.>Read deeper, maybe you can find something hidden in the data. (roll 1d20-1)>Read through an AARs, maybe you can learn something.>Finish up your food and return to the bridge, you shouldn't be away for too long. [TIMESKIP]>Other (write-in)
Rolled 17, 13 - 1 = 29 (2d20 - 1)>>4089335>Read deeper, maybe you can find something hidden in the data. (roll 1d20-1)It may be nothing, but our instincts have been good so far. And we still have about an hour to kill.
Rolled 3 - 1 (1d20 - 1)>>4089340Aww fucked up my dice.
Rolled 11 - 1 (1d20 - 1)>>4089335>>Read deeper, maybe you can find something hidden in the data. (roll 1d20-1)
Rolled 15 - 1 (1d20 - 1)>>4089335>Read deeper, maybe you can find something hidden in the data. (roll 1d20-1)
You decided to take another look at the information, hoping to find something that the spooks would like. You slowly read through the list and tried to find something that ONI would find useful.Your first stop was the type of ships that the rebels were using. Modular freighters seemed to be their go-to choice, which wasn't surprising. A huge number of small yards and production facilities had taken up building parts for them, to the point that you could go to many colonies and someone making key components for them. This huge amount of potential suppliers gave them a large paper trail that they could hide in, while also allowing them to build new ships out of spare parts. The larger Parabola freighters seemed to be their primary means to transfer food stocks to larger human worlds, probably under the deal that they signed with ONI. By your count, that meant that at least four large colonies were receiving food shipments from the rebel world.Speaking of colonies, the fact that you hadn't heard of many of the colonies indicated that they were either abandoned or were well on their way to being abandoned. The war had caused a lot of people to leave smaller colonies for the safety or larger colonies where UNSC forces were posted on static defense. As such, those smaller worlds were probably at the bottom of the lists to be supplied by UEG, while also having to supply the bulk of the ores and minerals for the human war effort. They were probably turning to the rebels in order to make ends meets, which wasn't something you could hold against them. The lack of oversight from the UEG also probably made them great places for organized crime groups to operate, so they would be great places to receive large shipments of drugs for distribution.Altogether, it hinted that the majority of the groups on Arcadia were sticking their fingers into a bunch of pies, both illicit and harmless trades. They were buying up modular ship parts in order to create new ships without registering them. Aside from that, the groups had their fingers in a lot of pies, from food supplementing to weapons trafficking. You weren't sure the local success was due to having an unregulated world to work off, or if the groups had already been successful before they came to Arcadia. Either way, the Covenant would cause a massive blow to them once Arcadia was gone."Captain, your presence is required on the bridge." Diana announced over the tannoy, causing you to look up over an empty room. Apparently, you had spent so long reading through the data that everyone else had finished their food and left.>Read through an AARs, maybe you can learn something.>Finish up your food and return to the bridge.>Other (write-in)
>>4089553>>Finish up your food and return to the bridge.
>>4089553>Finish up your food and return to the bridge.
"Alright, I'll be there soon." You announced to the room. It would have sounded weird if there was anyone else in the room, but you knew that Diana was the only person observing you right now, so you felt comfortable with speaking to her as if she was in the room.What didn't make you feel comfortable was the reheated food that you had the misfortune of getting. Your first burger after getting up had led you to believe that ONI had better food than the rest of the fleet, but bland mix of what you could only assume was recycled meat, some synthetic potato replacer, and vegetables that tasted like they had been flash-frozen and thawed a few too many times had all came together to convince you that ONI was in the same boat as the rest of the fleet. Still, you didn't make it far in the military if you didn't have an iron stomach, so you took your usual approach of shoveling it down your throat before your body could toss it back up again. And after washing the taste out of your mouth, you made your way back up to the bridge. You entered to find that the armored shields had been raised over the windows, forcing you to rely on cameras to see the space around the ship."You know, I was kind of hoping to get something for myself." Dyad gave you a weak smile from her stool, though you could tell that she was a bit disappointed. You didn't blame her, you'd be a bit put out too."Sorry, you can grab something when we're dirtside." You assured your XO, before turning your attention to the matter at hand. "Is the reentry kit installed?""Engineers just finished final checks, we're as good as we're ever going to be. Your call on when we go in." Dyad replied, giving you an assuring smile.>Drop in right on top of the base, you still have a time limit. (roll 1d20)>Drop in nearby and fly over, you don't want to lead anyone to the base. (roll 1d20)>Orbit over the base, you ought to get an idea of how they're doing before you go in.>Other (write-in)
Rolled 17 (1d20)>>4089669>Drop in right on top of the base, you still have a time limit. (roll 1d20)Between the virus wiping navigation data, and the Covenant inbound, I don't think they'll have much time to do anything with the base, particularly since we're gonna be grabbing everything that isn't nailed down.
Rolled 4 (1d20)>>4089669>Drop in right on top of the base, you still have a time limit. (roll 1d20)
Rolled 1 (1d20)>>4089669>>Drop in right on top of the base, you still have a time limit. (roll 1d20)
Rolled 19 (1d20)>>4089669>>Drop in right on top of the base, you still have a time limit. (roll 1d20)
>>4089685So, we're literally dropping onto the base, aren't we? No brakes.
"Take us in right on top of them. We don't have much time." You ordered the navigation officer. You briefly considered doing some recon, but there was no point in that, you didn't know when the Covenant would arrive and how long you would have to spend on the planet. The sooner you were done, the better."Understood sir, activating retro-thrusters now." Your navigation officer confirmed, a dull rumbling following her message as the prowler's engines burned against your orbital path, forcing the prowler to drop into the atmosphere of Arcadia. "We've breached the thermosphere, all readings nominal.""Well here goes, I hope you all have good health insurance!" Lieutenant Karmann joked from his seat, getting a couple of people to chuckle at the coffin-humor. However, the laughter soon died as the prowler started to shake, something buffeting the hull of the vessel with very real force."Gums." You called, and pretty quickly, everyone pulled out a set of pre-molded plastic gumshields. The gumshields were intended to stop you from damaging your teeth on the way through the atmosphere, though you knew that a few people in the fleet didn't bother with them due to the ease of simply having a damaged tooth replaced. A quick glance to your side confirmed that your XO was part of that group."Looks like we've got high-altitude turbulence, we're around halfway through the thermosphere, coming up on the mesosphere." The navigation officer called out with a cool and calm tone, though you weren't sure if that was genuine or not. You were considering asking her, when something started to creak. "Please tell me that creaking is normal." Dyad asked aloud, her confidence laced with very real worry. You were about to answer her when it got considerably worse, the buffeting threatening to throw you around the room and making you wish that you had insisted on something with an actual bridge chair, and the crash restraints that came with it.>roll 1d20-3
Rolled 8 + 3 (1d20 + 3)>>4089740
Rolled 18 - 3 (1d20 - 3)>>4089740
Rolled 16 - 3 (1d20 - 3)>>4089740
Rolled 4 - 1 (1d20 - 1)>>4089740
The shuddering continued for the rest of descent through the atmosphere, the entire prowler seemed to protest at the forces exerted upon it, which was understandable. Most UNSC ships had the aerodynamics of a brick, and while the prowler was better than most, reentry was not something enjoyable in anything larger than a longsword. Still, the worst of the shaking began to tail off as you entered the stratosphere. Apparently, the weather conditions were far calmer in the thicker parts of the atmosphere. Whoever was controlling the artificial gravity onboard the prowler had apparently been ratcheting the artificial gravity down as Arcadia's natural gravity began to take over. By the time you were comfortably in the stratosphere, you had barely registered that the artificial gravity plating had been taken offline.And almost a quarter of an hour after you had given the order to land, the prowler leveled off. The prowler lurched as the bulky reentry armor was jettisoned by explosive bolts, your navigation officer calling out the timings before. "Alright, we're in the troposphere. Dropping reentry gear in five... four... three. two... one.""What's the damage?" You asked as you shakily stood up, your body getting used to the feeling of natural gravity for the first time in months. You unconsciously reminded yourself to do some exercises while you were planet-side, the last thing you wanted was a case of space walk."We'll have to check on the ground, but given how bad things got on the way down I wouldn't be surprised if we're missing some of the external refractive coatings. We can repair it but it'll take some time." Karmann answered as the armored shields over the bridge windows dropped away, showing you your first glimpses of the lush Arcadian jungles."How far out are we from the facility?" Dyad asked as she slowly stood up, you offered her your arm, but she brushed you off."Around fifteen minutes out sir, would you like us to overfly the base before we land?" Your navigation officer answered as she banked the large ONI vessel in the direction of the base.>Land immediately, you don't want to keep them waiting.>Fly over the base, you ought to check to see if everything is clear before you land.
>>4089895>>Fly over the base, you ought to check to see if everything is clear before you land.
>>4089895>Land immediately, you don't want to keep them waiting.All in I guess
>>4089895>Fly over the base, you ought to check to see if everything is clear before you land
>>4089895>Fly over the base, you ought to check to see if everything is clear before you land.
>>4089895>Land immediately, you don't want to keep them waiting.The sooner we land, the sooner we can fix shit.
>>4089895>>Land immediately, you don't want to keep them waiting.
Need a tiebreaker
"Take us overhead, I want to get a look at the base before we land." You ordered the navigator, who brought the prowler closer to the treetops in an attempt to hide from prying eyes. The thrust from your engines was probably causing a fair amount of damage to the trees in your wake, but given the fact that this world was already condemned, you didn't see any reason to fuss about it."Systems, how are we looking? We should be getting a signal from the base, but I'm not seeing anything on comms." One of the bridge crewmen called out to his colleague, you looked over his shoulder and at his console, which displayed a number of communications channels, most of them were quite with nothing being broadcast on them."We're green on our end, we packed up the comms equipment for reentry, remember?" Another bridge crewman answered, and you began to worry a bit more. If the base wasn't broadcasting on ONI channels, then something must have forced them to stop. And the number of negative reasons massively outweighed the positive reasons."Nav, get us higher, I want us orbiting the base at three-to-five thousand meters off the deck. And someone get me eyes on the base as soon as possible." You ordered, and soon after the prowler had reached its observation altitude, the reason for the silence from the base became apparent.The base had suffered an attack. What you could only assume to be the base's primary communications tower had been destroyed, its legs had been blown out from under it and had fallen over some of the buildings and crushed everything underneath it. A handful of buildings had suffered similar fates, having been destroyed by explosives. The base's UNSC-standard hydrogen reactor looked damaged and sat as lifeless as the rest of the base around it. A third of the defensive turrets had been destroyed so completely that only stumps remained where they had once stood. The rest all sported some kinds of damage.What concerned you the most was how lifeless the base looked. There were craters and obvious damage, but no sign of corpses. Nobody was moving outside, and from what you could tell the buildings weren't receiving power. And while you could chalk that up to the primary reactor being taken offline, it didn't make sense for the base not to have some sort of backup power system."This day just keeps getting better." You sighed as you surveyed the destruction of the base, and realized that you'd still have to explore the base if you wanted any chance of finding out just what had happened here.>Attempt to scan the base, maybe you can pick up some chemicals or residue that can help you (roll 1d20-1)>Try and remotely connect to the remaining turrets, maybe you can use them to get a look. (roll 1d20-2)>Land at the base, you need boots on the ground for this one.>Leave the area, you can't stay when there may be hostiles waiting nearby.>Other (write-in)
Rolled 3 - 2 (1d20 - 2)>>4090018>Try and remotely connect to the remaining turrets, maybe you can use them to get a look. (roll 1d20-2)...Shit. I guess we should have brought more people to help carry stuff.
>>4090025Oh God.
Rolled 16 - 1 (1d20 - 1)>>4090018>>Attempt to scan the base, maybe you can pick up some chemicals or residue that can help you (roll 1d20-1)
Rolled 20 - 1 (1d20 - 1)>>4090018>Attempt to scan the base, maybe you can pick up some chemicals or residue that can help you (roll 1d20-1)uh well debris everywhere then. We will retrieve what we can, since we don't have anything like construction vehicles to remove rubble or mining drills.We could use those explosives the marines did bring and talk about, but they sound powerful enough to be a threat for recovering things and saving people. Perhaps they where captured by the rebels ? We aren't really prepared for do an assault on a rebel place if that s the case.
Rolled 12 - 1 (1d20 - 1)>>4090018>Attempt to scan the base, maybe you can pick up some chemicals or residue that can help you (roll 1d20-1)
Rolled 2 - 1 (1d20 - 1)>>4090018>Attempt to scan the base, maybe you can pick up some chemicals or residue that can help you (roll 1d20-1)Lets try the defenses after that.
>>4088025good, maybe i will suggest it as an idea for the next time we see a researcher. It sounds less costly than the first one and it could be decent, if tested before.If the turret would be able to come out from different positions it would be more lethal and unexpected for enemies (floor, walls or ceiling), but that would raise the costs.That last option is probably the best one, if you are able to put the covenant squads where you want and if you have time to let them die there.
"Can we scan the base? Maybe we can pick up some residue or chemicals that can tell us what happened." You asked the crew, who probably had a better understanding of the limits of what the prowler could do than you."Way ahead of you. Palmer, Bienz, unlock your systems for me." Lieutenant Karmann answered yu, before demanding access to other parts of the ship. The two bridge officers gave him what he needed, as he began to tap away at his station with enthusiasm. And soon enough he had some answerers for you. "Ok, aside from the conventional stuff. Explosives residue, burned aviation fuel, radiation leaking from the reactor, I'm also picking up multiple small-scale radiation sources spread across the base. Many are in the single to double rotogen range, but all of them are similar to the effects given off by plasma damage to walls and other pieces of human infrastructure.""Are you saying..." Dyad began, only for the short spook to turn in his seat and cut her off."That Covenant plasma weapons were used to attack this base? Absolutely." Karmann answered, before then holding up his hands to stop anyone from asking the obvious question. "We don't know if those weapons were being used by the Covenant itself, or if the rebels are using plasma weapons that the obtained somehow. It certainly fits their MO.""Captain, I am detecting multiple heat signatures deep within the base. Comparison between the locations of these heat signatures and the known layout of the base leads me to believe that they are located within the base's panic room." Diana alerted you, displaying the approximate location of those signatures on one of the main"Survivors? Isn't it the Covenant's MO to not leave anyone alive?" Dyad asked, your XO apparently having decided that the alien menace was to blame for the attack, and while you could understand her reasoning, you weren't going to chalk it up to their involvement just yet."If it's the Covenant there are two answers to that, and neither of them are good." You answered your XO. The first option was that the Covenant simply hadn't bothered with them, which was bad because it meant that the Covenant was on a timer too. The second option was that the survivors were bait to attract anyone dumb enough to try and rescue them."The key word there being if." Karmann pointed out, before then adding. "My money is going to be on a rebel group. Our deal with the locals doesn't cover all of them. A group may have decided to play fuck-fuck games.">Try and remotely connect to the remaining turrets, maybe you can use them to get a look. (roll 1d20-2)>Land at the base, you need boots on the ground for this one.>Leave the area, you can't stay when there may be hostiles waiting nearby.>Other (write-in)
Rolled 18 - 2 (1d20 - 2)>>4090177>Try and remotely connect to the remaining turrets, maybe you can use them to get a look. (roll 1d20-2)
Rolled 2 - 2 (1d2 - 2)>>4090177>>Try and remotely connect to the remaining turrets, maybe you can use them to get a look. (roll 1d20-2)
Rolled 19 - 1 (1d20 - 1)>>4090177>>Try and remotely connect to the remaining turrets, maybe you can use them to get a look. (roll 1d20-2)Really wishing we brought those ODST now.
>>4090186I ummmm... wow that's a first for me,
Rolled 3 - 2 (1d20 - 2)>>4090177>Try and remotely connect to the remaining turrets, maybe you can use them to get a look. (roll 1d20-2)
Rolled 5 - 2 (1d20 - 2)>>4090187Fucked up the roll.>>4090188You get used to it in this quest.
Rolled 15 - 2 (1d20 - 2)>>4090177>Try and remotely connect to the remaining turrets, maybe you can use them to get a look. (roll 1d20-2)How deep the survivors are ? In the deepest point of the facility ?
>>4090209The Panic Room, so maybe not the very deepest part of the facility, but likely one of the most hardened.
"What can you tell us about the panic room?" Dyad asked your AI, your XO having apparently shaken off the worst of her descent-illness."The panic room is on the lowest floor of the facility, it spans three floors, and has direct access to the underground lake that provides clean water for the base's various functions. Unfortunately, without power to the rest of the base, I am unable to tell you what the status of the surrounding area is." Diana explained, pulling up a cross-section of the base. Sure-enough, the panic room started two floors below the ground floor and went three floors down from there. The bottom floor connected to a shaft that went straight down into the underground lake, with the shaft itself being secured by multiple blast doors."Diana, can you access one of the base's turrets? It should have an internal power system to keep it running." You asked your AI. While you could probably tell how the local area looked from the comfort of the prowler, the sensors on the turret were probably far better suited to picking up targets on a planet."I can, standby." Diana made you wait for a few seconds as she hacked into the hardened systems of the UNSC turret, but given her background and the tools at her disposal, it only took your AI a few seconds before she came back with some results. "I have control. We will have to move fast, as the turret's independent power reservoir is running low due to the base's reactor being offline. I estimate that the turret will only be able to provide surveillance for around eight minutes and offensive fire support for one minute.""I want you to look around and try to find any lingering hostiles." You asked the AI"The treeline is clear, I don't see any hostiles. But from the looks of it, the base's protective minefield has been deactivated." Diana explained as the feed from one of the turret's FLIR balls was brought up onto one of the screens. It panned across the treeline, showing that no heat signatures remained there. When it passed over the base, the ghostly signatures of lingering heat began to appear, but nothing there suggested that there was anyone still around. "The rest of the base also looks pretty dead, but admittedly my surveillance options for looking into the base are rather limited. The turret's motion trackers and thermals don't show anything, but the former has a very limited range, and the latter is a bit overwhelmed by returns from nearby fires and overheated machinery.">Land at the base, you need boots on the ground for this one.>Leave the area, you can't stay when there may be hostiles waiting nearby.>Other (write-in)
>>4091874>>Land at the base, you need boots on the ground for this one.
>>4091874>Land at the base, you need boots on the ground for this one.Tell the Marines to arm up and get ready. So much for quick in and out, and we're still on a timer!
>>4091874>Land at the base, you need boots on the ground for this one.
>>4091874>Land at the base, you need boots on the ground for this one.>Also get the fucking defenses back online as we go in
>>4091874>Land at the base, you need boots on the ground for this one.Well shit
"Dyad, I want the marines ground side now, get them armed for MOUNT." You ordered your XO as you observed the devastation of the ONI facility. There were too many locations where enemies and traps could be hidden, you couldn't justify anything more than a touch-and-go. It would just be enough to drop off your marines, but not enough to land. And given the close-quarters conditions of the base, they couldn't be armed with long rifles and rocket launchers."Understood, should be ten minutes." Dyad replied as she passed the information over to the marines. And to their credit, the jarheads were ready to go in just under half that time. They were already mustered in the hanger as the prowler dropped like a rock towards the base. Even though the ship dwarfed most of the buildings and even a quarter of the base, the only thing that an observer would have noticed would have been a whole lot of dust getting kicked up and a slight shimmer as the prowler's adaptive camo kept you hidden.The marines abseiled out of the open hanger bay, descending the few meters to ground level in a few seconds and taking up defensive positions around their landing zone. In under half a minute, all of them were on the ground and the prowler was taking off again. The prowler quickly rose back into the sky and returned to its perch, you spent the time taking a quick flick through the helmet camera feeds and confirmed that all of the marines were connected and broadcasting. A broadcast from one of the sergeants confirmed that they were connected to the correct frequency. "Rambler one and two are feet-dry."MULTI CHOICE VOTE:Please pick one choice per squad for a total of two choices, and then roll 2d20 with no negatives>Send rambler one to the panic room, you need to get to the survivors.>Send rambler one to the reactor, you need power.>Send rambler one to patrol the base, you need to secure the area.>Send rambler one somewhere else. (write-in)=================================>Send rambler two to the panic room, you need to get to the survivors.>Send rambler two to the reactor, you need power.>Send rambler two to patrol the base, you need to secure the area.>Send rambler two somewhere else. (write-in)
Rolled 1, 15 = 16 (2d20)>>4093511>Send rambler one to the panic room, you need to get to the survivors.>Send rambler two to the reactor, you need power.
>>4093511>>Send rambler one to the reactor, you need power.>Send rambler two to patrol the base, you need to secure the area.Make sure there's nothing lying in wait on the outside to fuck us up first.
Rolled 19, 15 = 34 (2d20)>>4093511>>4093528Whoops, missed the roll.
Rolled 3, 19 = 22 (2d20)>>4093511>Send rambler one secure a path and perimeter to the security room>Send rambler two to the reactor, you need power.
Rolled 4, 17 = 21 (2d20)>>4093511>Send rambler one to the reactor, you need power.>Send rambler two to patrol the base, you need to secure the area.
Rolled 1, 5 = 6 (2d20)>>4093511>>Send rambler one to the reactor, you need power.>>Send rambler two to patrol the base, you need to secure the area.
Rolled 17, 2 = 19 (2d20)>>4093511>>>Send rambler one to the reactor, you need power.>>>Send rambler two to patrol the base, you need to secure the area.
Rolled 4, 12 = 16 (2d20)>>4093511>>Send rambler one to the reactor, you need power.>Send rambler two to patrol the base, you need to secure the area.
i just went to the the archive since im just starting i was wondering if anybody had a link to the first thread
>>4093650Click on the Thunderhead tag instead.
>>4093652thank you
>>4093516>>4093556Guess its safe to say rambler one is boned. RIP in ArcadiaJust caught up from last thread, good to see the dice gods still hate our guts
>>4093716Our marines always manage to get the worst fucking luck.
>>4093728If you took a shot every time our marines got boned you’d be drunk by like thread 7
>>4093763Hey, at least the MAC round missed the bridge.
"Solid copy, hold for orders from the captain." Dyad ordered the marines before nodding at you to continue. A red blinking light next to one of the screens drew your attention to a built-in camera, which would probably project an image of you into the HUDs of the marines.You straightened up a bit, before giving out your orders. "Rambler one, your objective is to get power back online. Once its online we'll have more options. Rambler two, start sweeping the base for hostiles and survivors. Keep eyes open for traps and mines, I don't want casualties.""Wilco." Both of the sergeants leading the squads responded, before taking their units off in completely different directions. Rambler one sprinted straight towards the dark and dead form of the reactor building, while their comrades in rambler two took a sweeping path through the buildings, starting at one corner of the base and working their way around the perimeter. Both squads moved slowly, carefully avoiding obvious places where explosives and tripwires could be placed. And more than once, they found improperly placed devices. Mostly plasma grenades with improvised tripwires, but nothing more advanced than such amateurish tactics.The first squad to report back with something else was rambler two."Got bodies here, sir." One of the marines called your attention, you flicked over to his helmet camera in time to see him look over a trio of mangled corpses. The bodies had been mangled by dozens of plasma bolts, leaving charred holes and exposed bones in their wake. Thankfully, their ID tags still worked, as the marine identified the bodies. "Ensigns Spar, Rhames, and King. Whole lotta plasma burns.""Private, take a look at their hands." Lieutenant Karmann ordered the marine, you had to stop yourself from jumping at the sudden presence of the spook next to you, you hadn't even heard him walk over. Regardless, the marine lifted one of the hands up to his camera, showing extensive second and third degree burns. "Shots to the heads and burns to the hands are indicative of an execution. I'd guess that the extra hits are from the shooters trying to cover it up.""Why would they need to cover it up? Were they expecting us to show up?" Dyad asked the spook, presenting the very worrying possibility that whoever had knocked over the base was still around."Let's just settle on the shooters being overzealous and leave it at that." You settled the argument before it started, as the alternative would be to acknowledge that you were either facing a very well equipped rebel group, or the covenant had decided to vent on the corpses.>CONT
>>4095323"Rambler one to control, we're at the reactor, but the controls are FUBAR." The sergeant for rambler one reported in, you flicked over to his camera just in time to see the blasted and melted remains of the control console. The mixture of touch-screen and analog controls had been practically melted together, preventing it from being used the conventional way. The sergeant panned his helmet -and the attached camera- around the room, showing you that the entire room had been shot up. Thankfully, however, the damage to the reactor only seemed superficial, it was made of sturdier stuff. "We'll give the module a once-over while we plug in a connection for Diana, but she'll have to handle getting it online for us.""Thankfully, your backpack receiver should have enough bandwidth and power for me to assume direct control, you should be able to plug me in via the main service jack, I'll mark it on your HUD." Diana replied to the sergeant, before highlighting the plug where the damaged console was plugged into the floor. The sergeant carelessly upturned the console and ripped its plugs out of the socket, before gesturing for his radioman to come over.The response from rambler one's sergeant was drowned out by the sound of gunfire, you switched over in time to see rambler two's point man scarper back away from a door. Dust and quick-drying cement falling like sawdust from where a few bullets had struck the door he had almost gone through. The marine behind him took position just above him, his rifle covering the door. "Shooter!""GET AWAY! GET AWAY YOU FREAKS!" A very human voice screamed through the door. The quality of the external microphone and the hoarse voice of the scared survivor made it hard to discern if they were male or female, but the abject fear in their voice was obvious for all of you to hear. Their shout was followed by another burst of gunfire that chipped away at the doorframe."Got a live one here, how do you want to handle him?" Rambler two's sergeant asked as his squad stacked up on the door. The point man pulled a pistol out of a holster with one hand, and placed his other hand on his grenade pouch, waiting to be told what he had to throw into the room.>Try and knock him out, you're here to save everyone you can. (roll 1d20-2)>Try and talk him down, maybe he'll calm down when he hears a human voice. (roll 1d20-2)>Take him out, you can't have a head-case with a rifle running around. [KILL]>Leave him, the marines aren't equipped to properly handle him.>Other (write-in)
Rolled 1 - 2 (1d20 - 2)>>4095353>>Try and talk him down, maybe he'll calm down when he hears a human voice. (roll 1d20-2)
>>4095353Can we flashbang in and knock him out? If so, would the roll still be -2?
Rolled 14 - 2 (1d20 - 2)>>4095353>Try and talk him down, maybe he'll calm down when he hears a human voice. (roll 1d20-2)
Rolled 5 - 2 (1d20 - 2)>>4095353>Flashbang and knock him out, you're here to save everyone you can. (roll 1d20-2)
Rolled 20 - 1 (1d20 - 1)>>4095353>>Try and talk him down, maybe he'll calm down when he hears a human voice. (roll 1d20-2)
>>4095420Could we pretend I didn't mess up the roll and that 19 is actually an 18?
>>4095422I'm just hoping the 20 cancels out the 1.
>>4095425Knowing our luck, if it does, then the rest of the thread is going to be nothing but crit fails.
>>4095427I honestly think we should move to d100 if our rolls are going to be this consistently cursed.
>>4095430Or dicepool so it's less swingy.
>>4095437>>4095430See, that's whats so great about our bad luck. It's representative of how much regular humans got shit on during the war.
>>4095462Makes less sense against a bunch of innies though
>>4095499True. Could be worth talking about this with Thunderhead. A few threads back I think he was open to ideas, not sure if that's still the case though.
"Talk him down, use of force is prohibited." You ordered the marines to try and talk the soldier down. Right now, getting a hold of as many survivors as possible was your mission, and you couldn't afford to leave any potential sources of intel behind."Hey, we're friendly! Stop shooting!" The point man yelled around the door, the marine put his pistol back into the holster and edged just a bit closer to the edge of the doorframe. You still couldn't see around the side of the door, and from the looks of it, the pointman was unwilling to poke around the door just to give you a look inside.The shooter on the other side was silent for a few seconds, before screaming a challenge at the marine. "HANDS! GET OUT HERE AND SHOW ME YOUR DAMN HANDS!""Alright, I'm coming out slowly." The pointman slowly put his left arm into the doorframe, before slowly following it through. The ragged survivor was holed up behind an overturned metal table, he kept his MA-37 rifle pointed shakily at the marine as he tried to calm the marine down. "Hey, hey, it's alright bud.""Who are you? Where's your squad? What ship are you assigned to? Why are you here?" The survivor rapidly fired off his questions but refused to lower his rifle. To his credit, he kept his finger off the trigger, proving that the training hammered into all soldiers in basic had successfully transitioned into instinct."Take it easy. I'm private swagger, part of rambler two. We're one of the squads assigned to the prowler Pale Rider, we were sent here to get you out of here." The pointman slowly and simply explained the situation to the survivor. You watched through the helmet camera as the survivor slowly started to calm down, though he kept the rifle leveled on the marine. The marine didn't let the conversation die and asked a question in a calm tone of voice. "Can you tell me who you are?""Corporal Nash. Part of three... part of..." The survivor tried to answer, only to trail up as his emotions caught up to him, tears beginning to form in the corners of his eyes. As the tension sapped from his body, you began to make out more of his uniform, mostly loose bits of ODST battle armor attached haphazardly to the undersuit. The haunted helljumper let his head drop as he cried, allowing the pointman to walk up to him and put his hand on his shoulder. A few more marines slowly walked into the room, all of them armed, but keeping their weapons held slack. They quickly secured the room, three of them looked around while a fourth joined the pointman with the survivor, the marine carefully took the rifle from the helljumper's hands, the soldier didn't put up any resistance as his weapon was taken away.>CONT
>>4096723The marines lead the disarmed ODST out of the building just a few seconds before the power snapped back on, a second later your suspicions were confirmed when the comms crackled into life with a report from rambler one's sergent. "Power's up sir, give a thanks Diana for us.">Put rambler one on guard, you can't leave the reactor unguarded.>Send rambler one to the panic room, you need to get to the survivors.>Send rambler one to patrol the base, you need to secure the area.>Send rambler one somewhere else. (write-in)=================================>Have rambler two escort the survivor somewhere else, you can't hold him there. (Landing pad OR reactor)>Have rambler two continue their patrol, that perimeter still needs to be searched.>Send rambler two to the panic room, you need to get to the survivors.>Send rambler two somewhere else. (write-in)
>>4095430>>4095437If everyone likes we can try out a d100 or dicepool system, though it's up to all of you if we try that system out in this thread or if we dedicate an entire thread to testing out if a d100 system might work.
>>4096726>Put rambler one on guard, you can't leave the reactor unguarded.>Have rambler two escort the survivor somewhere else, you can't hold him there. (Landing pad)
>>4096726>>4096726>>Send rambler one to the panic room, you need to get to the survivors.>Have rambler two escort the survivor somewhere else, you can't hold him there. (LANDING PAD)Thank you, Thunderhead, for allowing my scuffed roll. Also, if power is back online that means we can get the base's defense turrets up and running, right?>>4096738We're still comparatively early in this thread, so it might not be a bad idea to try out another system now. I'm personally cool with either a dicepool or d100 system. The latter would probably give us a bit more of a safety net.
>>4096726>>Put rambler one on guard, you can't leave the reactor unguarded.>>Have rambler two escort the survivor somewhere else, you can't hold him there. (Landing pad)Don't mind switching. Also another suggestion:For rolls with positive/negative modifiers should we just factor it into the rolls themselves? So like say 1d20-2 just becomes 1d18.
>>4096855This is a bad idea, it fucks with the probability making lower rolls more common
>>4096855If we use d100 I'd be more open to factoring that in. But with a pool or d20 then it just makes are already shitty luck impossible to overcome.
>>4097154dicepools provide more consistent 'middle of the road' results, instead of the same flat 1/20 or 1/100 chance of rolling a critfail.
>>4097173Ah, my mistake. I had assumed it was something different. But with that in mind I still don't think factoring in modifiers is a good idea.
"Good work rambler one, secure the building and establish a better connection for Diana." You ordered the leader of rambler one, before switching to the CO of rambler two, who was busy watching as his squad's medic wrapped the surviving ODST in an emergency foil cloak. "Rambler two, get the survivor over to the landing pad, we're going to collect him.""Touch and go or full landing sir?" Your navigation officer asked a question that you hadn't thought of. Well, technically that was a lie, you had thought a bit about it, but not much in the last few minutes, and that left you wrongfooted to answer her."Diana? Can you guarantee our safety if we land?" You asked your AI for her assessment. With the power online, she could afford to run all of the remaining turrets at full-tilt, but there was a whole lot more to defense than just shooting anything you saw."With the base's power grid online, I can operate the turrets to their maximum capacity. However, the base lacks any sort of active protection network, so the chances of being able to intercept incoming munitions fired at the prowler would be low." Diana explained, before then adding. "Note, keeping the prowler's sensor and propulsion systems online would provide a far greater chance of simply dodging incoming fire, but that would prevent certain actions from being undertaken.""So we'll be a sitting duck, great." Dyad sighed again, and you began to get the idea that your XO was starting to regret joining you on the mission.You were about to offer your XO a chance to take a break when your short spook began to tell you both about some of the benefits to going dirtside. "Maybe, but there are other benefits. For a start, we can plug the prowler directly into the facility, which would give us some measure of control over the base. Not to mention that we can also repair the damage that we sustained entering the atmosphere if we're landed.""That doesn't do much to change the fact that being sat still in a ship that isn't even rated to take shoulder-launched rockets is a bad idea." Your XO got right to the core of the biggest issue why landing was a bad idea. If the enemy showed up, you would suffer greatly if even the barest amount of attention was sent your way.>Remain airborne, you don't feel comfortable landing your prowler when enemy forces may still be around.>Land the prowler, you can repair your stealth coating under the cover of the base's guns.
>>4098721>>Remain airborne, you don't feel comfortable landing your prowler when enemy forces may still be around.We can land after the marines can confirm there's no hostiles around
>>4098721>Remain airborne, you don't feel comfortable landing your prowler when enemy forces may still be around.We need to figure out what happened from the ODST before we start repairs.
>>4098721>Remain airborne, you don't feel comfortable landing your prowler when enemy forces may still be around.
>>4098721>>Land the prowler, you can repair your stealth coating under the cover of the base's guns.
>>4098721>Land the prowler, you can repair your stealth coating under the cover of the base's guns.
>>4098721>Land the prowler, you can repair your stealth coating under the cover of the base's guns.We are on a time table, we gotta get this fixed, and we'll have to land to load people and equipment anyhow. We can't afford to constantly take the 'safe' option.
"Nav, set us down. Dyad, tell engineering to get ready to effect external repairs and to run a wire between us and the base." You made your decision after a couple of seconds thought. Like it or not, you had to effect repairs in order to guarantee a stealthy exit from the system. And that would require you to land and power down the prowler's stealth systems. You could also use that time to access the base's computers, and maybe you could use that to contact the people in the panic room."Hopefully there isn't anyone around." Dyad shook her head as she tapped something into her tablet. You didn't bother to answer her as the prowler dropped like a rock, the gravity-generating deck plating activated purely to keep everyone on deck. You watched through the camera feed from one of rambler two's soldiers as the prowler uncloaked and landed almost vertically, the stealth ship's landing gear dropped out of hidden bays and extended just enough to keep the ship from landing on its delicate hull."Touchdown confirmed, main thrusters and reaction control systems offline." Your navigation officer reported back as the ever-constant rumbling of the prowler's engines died out. You looked out of the bridge window and saw the destroyed base for the first time without having to look through a camera. You watched as the marine squad jogged over, leading the surviving ODST towards your ship."Engineering is running the wire now, and the survivor is onboard. Would you like to talk with him, or should I?" Dyad asked a few seconds after the prowler had landed. You thought about it for a second, while you certainly had some questions for the ODST, you still had operational command of the mission, and you couldn't just leave to have a chat.>Interview the survivor personally, you have your own questions for him.>Have Dyad interview the survivor, you have a mission to direct.
>>4099654>>Have Dyad interview the survivor, you have a mission to direct.
>>4099654>Have Dyad interview the survivor, you have a mission to direct.
>>4099654>Have Dyad interview the survivor, you have a mission to direct.>With a live audio feed sent to you
"If you wouldn't mind." You handed the task off to your XO, who nodded and left the bridge to meed the haunted helljumper. You trusted it to her, and instead turned your attention to your AI. "Diana, how long until you're plugged into the base?""They have found an adequate port and are in the process of connecting us. What tasks would you like me to undertake once we're connected." Diana asked, and before you could answer the comms crackled into life again."Rambler two to control, requesting orders." The sergeant of rambler-two asked over the radio.>Have Diana analyze the security camera footage, you need to know what happened to the base.>Have Diana try to download as much data as possible, anything you can get will be useful. (roll 1d20)>Have Diana try to connect to the outlying facilities, maybe there are survivors there.>Try and contact the people in the panic room, if you can coax them out then you can save a whole lot of time.>Have Diana try to do something else. (write-in)=====================================================>Have rambler two guard the prowler and survivor, you need some close-in protection.>Have rambler two continue their patrol, that perimeter still needs to be searched.>Send rambler two to the panic room, you need to get to the survivors.>Send rambler two somewhere else. (write-in)
>>4099796>Have Diana analyze the security camera footage, you need to know what happened to the base.>Have rambler two continue their patrol, that perimeter still needs to be searched.
>>4099796>>Have Diana analyze the security camera footage, you need to know what happened to the base.>>Have rambler two continue their patrol, that perimeter still needs to be searched.
>>4099796>>Have Diana analyze the security camera footage, you need to know what happened to the base.>Have rambler two continue their patrol, that perimeter still needs to be searched.
>>4099796>>>Have Diana analyze the security camera footage, you need to know what happened to the base.>>>Have rambler two continue their patrol, that perimeter still needs to be searched.
.
"Diana, once you're connected I want you to look through the security camera footage, find out what you can. Rambler two, continue your patrol." You passed out your orders, before then adding. "And someone tell engineering to double-time those repairs, I don't want to be staying here for too long.""Understood, sir. Also, lieutenant commander Dyad is about to interview Corporal Nash. Would you like to watch?" Diana asked, and you nodded in response. A few seconds later, the feed from what looked like a lounge area on the ship appeared. You didn't kid yourself, it was just an interrogation room with some nice upholstery. Dyad sat on one couch, while the ODST sat on another. Dyad relaxed in stark contrast to the helljumper, who seemed about ready to leap out of his skin."Captain, lieutenant commander Dyad is wearing an earpiece, if you have questions for the survivor then you should direct them via her." Diana informed you, giving you a little bit of time to think about some questions for the helljumper.>Ask about the attackers, did he get a good look at them? (roll 1d100-20)>Ask about the alpha site, where is it? (roll 1d100)>Ask about the facility staff, did anyone seem off? (roll 1d100)>Ask something else (write-in)
Rolled 79 - 20 (1d100 - 20)>>4099994>>Ask about the attackers, did he get a good look at them? (roll 1d100-20)
Rolled 52 - 20 (1d100 - 20)>>4099994>Ask about the attackers, did he get a good look at them? (roll 1d100-20)F
Rolled 12 - 20 (1d100 - 20)>>4099994>>Ask about the attackers, did he get a good look at them? (roll 1d100-20)
Rolled 30 - 20 (1d100 - 20)>>4099994>Ask him if he'd care for a cup of coffee>Ask about the attackers, did he get a good look at them? (roll 1d100-20)
"Dyad, ask him about the attackers. We need to know what we're dealing with." You ordered your XO, who gave an almost imperceptible nod, before starting the conversation with your new friend."Hello Corporal, I'm lieutenant commander Dyad." You XO introduced herself with a calm tone and a smile. "We're trying to piece together what happened at the base, can you tell me about what you were doing in the run up to the attack?""We... we were just coming back from the old alpha-site after a security rotation with the team there. I got lumped with the first guard shift once we got back." The helljumper began slowly and quietly, he occasionally shifted in his seat and continued to look around the room, as if he was waiting for something to appear. "I had just come off shift and was in the middle of changing when the shooting started.""What can you tell me about the attackers?" Dyad asked the marine another question, and at this the special forces soldier broke down, the fear that had been welling inside him finally broke him. "They were everywhere! A-and nowhere too!" They came out of the shadows for a second and disappeared just as fast! And they killed them all! They killed everyone like rats! They... THEY...." At that, the helljumper buried his head in his hands and sobbed. Dyad slowly walked over to him and put her hand on his shoulder, and the marine screamed at the contact and scrambled away from her and into a corner.Dyad didn't follow him, instead, she gave him a sad look, and left the room. Once she was out, she contacted you. "No dice sir, whatever he saw has him spooked. I'm heading back to the bridge.""Captain, I have reassembled the camera footage. Would you like to view it, or should I try to draw conclusions from it myself?" Diana announced a few seconds after the feed from the interrogation room was cut.>Watch the camera footage, you can come to your own conclusions.>Let Diana try to deduce something from it, she can do it faster.
>>4100103>>Watch the camera footage, you can come to your own conclusions.
>>4100103>Watch the camera footage, you can come to your own conclusions.
>>4100103>Watch the camera footage, you can come to your own conclusions.I'm guessing specops elites or some such. Innies wouldn't have fucked with an ODST so much.
>>4100103>Watch the camera footage, you can come to your own conclusions.>>4100111Agreed, sounds like those invisible twats.
>>4100111If they are still around the mission could be easily compromise. Maybe we should speed up things ?At least we have extra cargo space for anything and anyone that is in the outlying facilities or in the alpha site.
>>4100154Definitely. Repair the ship, get what we can and go.>>4100144Here's hoping they aren't the ones in the panic room.
"Bring it up, but don't play until I tell you, I want Dyad's opinion on it." You ordered your AI, who complied and brought it up on the main screen.A couple of minutes later, the door opened and your XOwalked in with an apologetic look on her face. "Sorry about that sir, but he looks like a psych-casualty.""Nothing to apologize for, we had to try either way." You assured your XO, before turning your attention back to the screen, the still image of the feed from one of the more appropriate cameras in the facility. "Diana. Play the footage."The camera Diana had chosen was apparently one of the cameras mounted to the side of a building and faced in on the base. However, while it didn't have a good view of the surrounding base, it did have a good line of sight to many of the things destroyed by whoever had attacked the base. And one of the first things to go were the cameras that were watching the exterior of the base. One by one they were burned out, probably by directed energy weapons that weren't operating in the visible spectrum. In spite of this, the base's defenses snapped online in response to multiple cameras going down. A couple of turrets fired blindly into the treeline but were soon destroyed by fuel-rod guns. The somewhat crude alien equivalents to a UNSC rocket launcher managed to blow up a few turrets in quick succession before the rest of the turrets opened fire on where the shots had come from. Unlike the first turrets, they weren't destroyed, so you had to assume that the attackers wanted them to keep firing at a set location.Soon the fighting entered the base, and that was marked with the base's power shutting off as the reactor powered down. Soon after, the camera watched as plasma-bolts started to fly around the base, embedding themselves into walls and people. Tracers from UNSC weapons answered them, but only for a few seconds, and never in a large amount. Meanwhile, the attackers started blowing up buildings with plasma grenades. If the base's turrets had spotted the explosions, they hadn't turned to engage, most likely due to someone adding a rotation lock to them that prevented them from firing into the facility. You made an internal note to have Diana delete that lock for you. However, nothing thus-far had provided any answer to just who had attacked the facility.Your answer came in the form of a first-hand look at the foe. You watched as a researcher and a laborer ran together towards the center of the base, probably to get to the panic room. The first of them to fall was the researcher, as a shot to the leg blew her to the ground, her residual momentum making her land a foot or two away from her severed leg. The laborer was less lucky as a barrage of fire sliced him into pieces. His charred corpse fell to the ground as the researcher clutched at her leg and screamed. Their attacker stepped out of thin air as his active camo deactivated, revealing the red-clad form of an elite special-forces operative.>CONT
>>4100342So it was the covenant, great. It was just your luck that the first time in months you'd encounter them, you wouldn't be in a good position to wipe them out."Is that an officer? His armor is a different color to what they usually wear." Dyad asked, and you had to wonder the same. He was certainly cruel enough, as the enemy agent kicked the wounded researcher in her damaged leg. The researcher screamed in pain and posed no resistance as the alien dragged her away by her hair. The researcher tried weakly to bat at the alien's hand but flinched away as it gave her a small look. And with her properly subdued, the alien walked out of the camera's field of vision."Diana, can you please roll the footage back?" Lieutenant Karmann asked, and your AI complied, rolling the footage back to just before the alien grabbed the researcher's hair. The alien wore a fully-sealed suit, the helmet ending in a long and forked snout. The armor itself was a reddish-brown, almost the color of dried blood. The alien's standard blue plasma rifle stood in stark contrast to this, though you doubted that it mattered much when his suit came with a cloaking device. "I don't think so, the color is similar to a medium ranking officer, but is too dark. And the armor style doesn't match anything we've seen thus far.""Keep playing." You ordered your AI, and the recording played again. You watched as the researcher was dragged away, and then nothing else happened for a few minutes. There was still shooting, but it only seemed to be for the sake of inflicting damage on the base. The aliens seemed to wait for the turrets to power down, before calling in a dropship. The large, beetle-like form of a phantom-class dropship appeared over the landing pad and activated its onboard gravity lift to pick up the special forces elites and their prisoners. Diana zoomed in as at least six people were tossed into the inverted gravity field, before being followed up by the aliens that had kidnapped them. The dropship flew away once everyone was on board, and the base was left as a silent and burning monument to their assault."Is this all we have?" You asked Diana. You were hoping for something a little more substantial than a feed from a single camera, even if it gave you some idea about what you were facing."Unfortunately not sir, this is the only camera that both spots the enemy, and remains intact enough to provide an end-to-end accounting of the entire battle." Your AI replied simply, before then adding. "Unless you would prefer to view some of the underground cameras, but unfortunately they don't have much.""What now boss?" Dyad asked, though you could tell from her voice that your XO was a bit uncomfortable at the current situation.>Write in
>>4100347>Diana can you get into the base's other systems, see what if anything they took?
>>4100347>>Write in>Search the base for any more survivors plus anything the covies didn't manage to loot
>>4100347"Now we continue with the rest of our mission.I need you to examine the footage and look at vests and faces of the people that where taken by the covenant, we should have a list of the people in this base so we should be able to find matches.Also do a note and check who has the authorization for locking turrets in a facility of this type.For me instead pass me the sergeants of our marines they need to know that covenants could still be around... even if what they have done would say otherwise.For the other orders they need to finish the patrol of the base, then we need to extract the people in the panic room. And see what we can do about this outlying facilities and that alpha site, that odst and the survivors should give us information about them.When we have those info we should be ready to go to them and see what can be done.Meanwhile we need to be ready to go away if we are compromize, even if repairs aren t finish."
>>4100347>Rambler one to the panic room and grab anything valuable on the way down, Rambler two clear our perimeter, possible opfor in the area. Diana, clean out local network and make sure /nothing/ of value can fall into covenant hands.
>>4100384This, plus arm the prowler crew if they're not already.If the cloakers are still around they may try to board.
What is the current mission time ?We need to keep in mind, that an air patrol of the warlords could fly nearby and see the facility damage or the covenant fleet arrives.
"Now we continue with the rest of our mission." You sighed and rubbed your face. Could today get any worse? You didn't focus on answering that question and instead turned your attention to your AI. She'd have a better chance to examine the information you wanted. "Diana, I want you to run through the base's systems and bring up a list of everything that isn't responding. The spec-ops team may have also stolen or destroyed things, and I want to find out what. Take a copy of anything you find and delete the originals, cole protocol still applies.""Karmann, I need you to examine the footage and look at vests and faces of the people that were taken by the covenant, you should have a list of the people in this base so we should be able to find matches. We can try and find out what they're looking for. And get me as much intel as you can on the outlying facilities and this old alpha-site that the ODST referred to.""Dyad, I want the crew armed and put on guard rotations, we need to free up rambler two. And put me through to the marine sergeants, they need to know that covenant could still be around... even if what they have done would say otherwise.""Rambler one and two, this is control. Click to confirm." You announced as soon as the connection was established, and that they weren't about to let anyone in on what you were about to say. "Listen in, we have confirmed sightings of Covenant special operations teams. Hostiles are making use of active camo and advanced tactics. Rambler one, get your people down to the panic room and get those people out of there. Grab everything of importance on the way, burn what you can't. Rambler two, hold until replaced by armed crewmen and then move to clear the base. Grab any survivors and intel you find, and keep in constant contact with me.""Wilco, rambler two will make ready to move." The sergeant of the second squad replied first."Rambler one to control, please advise. Should I take my team to recover the people in the panic room or should I remain on guard at the reactor?" Rambler one's CO asked for some clarification, as you had put him in a bit of a compromising situation.>Keep rambler one at the reactor, you cannot lose power to the base.>Send rambler one to the panic room, getting the survivors out is your biggest concern.>Split rambler one up, you can't afford to leave both the reactor and the survivors unattended.>Other (write-in)
>>4101436>>Send rambler one to the panic room, getting the survivors out is your biggest concern.
>>4101436>Send rambler one to the panic room, getting the survivors out is your biggest concern.
>>4101436We able to trap the entrance to the reactor room? Slow down anyone trying to get in?
>>4101436How much extra charge have the defense turrets received since the reactor came up? And if there is a lock that prevents them firing inside the base perimeter can Diana override it?Out of story question: I'm sure I remember in the 'Halo' book (the actual one where they are on the first Halo, that the cloaking tech gives off heat signatures and can be seen via thermal sights. Is that true in this universe?If so, get any thermal sights we have to the marines, maybe it will help them.
>>4101502Only with grenades and small mines, keep in mind that the reactor itself can survive direct hits from plasma weapons, a frag grenade going off nearby won't cause a meltdown.>>4101529>How much extra charge have the turrets receivedTheir batteries are still charging, but it's between 30% and 50% charge right now. You can keep the turrets running for a little while longer if the power goes down, but you're gonna want to keep the reactor up.>Can we override the locks on the turret rotationThat's already underway, Diana will get back to you once that's done.>Can we see active camo enemies on thermals?I can't really answer that question without giving you more information than you know in character. You could ask some of your marines to try it out, but you won't know for sure until they make contact with the enemy.
>>4101563>>4101436>>Rambler one to panic room after the do what they can to trap the entrance with mines. Keep frags for combat.
>>4101436>>Send rambler one to the panic room, getting the survivors out is your biggest concern.As long as no one can overlaod the reactor and cause it to go kaboom, this is my vote.
"The panic room is your priority. If you can rig up some mines or defenses to cover the reactor then go right ahead, but make it quick." You clarified to the marine sergeant, you were fairly sure that the reactor would be fine, but you couldn't afford to take any chances."Wilco." The sergeant confirmed, before addressing his unit. "Alright people, let's rig up some mines and cams before we ready to roll.""Rambler two to control, confirm the presence of armed crewmen. We're moving out on patrol." The second sergeant crowed a couple of seconds later, you flicked over to the man's helmet camera in time to see a dozen assorted crewmen armed with rifles and shotguns.>Roll 3d100
Rolled 47 (1d100)>>4101611
Rolled 80, 36, 26 = 142 (3d100)>>4101611
Rolled 78, 25, 77 = 180 (3d100)>>4101611
Rolled 56, 36, 79 = 171 (3d100)>>4101613
The two squads went on their way as expected, with rambler two making their way over to the ruins of the base in the same time that it took rambler one to rig us some trip-mines and remote cameras. And for the next ten minutes, you watched as they carefully walked around the base until your first squad reported in with an issue. "Rambler one to control, we're halfway to the panic room, but we've got a set of locked blast doors. Can Diana crack 'em for us?"You looked through one of rambler one's helmet cameras and found what their issue was. A set of large blast doors covered the semi-recessed access dors into the lower floors of the base. Thankfully, with power restored to the base, Diana could easily handle that little issue. You watched as the doors slowly began to creep open as your AI responded to the NCO's request. "Doors are opening, please stand back.""Thanks for that, we're moving in." The first sergeant thanked your AI, before gesturing for his men to enter the underground section of the base. Flashlights snapped on as the marines carefully made their way inside."Rambler two, what's your status?" Dyad asked for an update from your second squad as you flicked over to watch the feed from rambler two's pointman. They were advancing along a debris-strewn street and were coming up to what looked like a T-junction."Rambler two to control, nothing thus far. We're continuing along the west side of the base." The second sergeant replied with an almost bored tone of voice. You were about to ask the sergeant about why he hadn't split his unit when the pointman rounded the corner. Almost the second the had passed the corner, a high-pitched wining sound screeched into existence, and there was only one weapon that you knew of that could make that noise. The pointman looked down in time to see a plasma grenade spark into life, the blue-white glow of the steadily building ball of plasma showing that it was mere seconds away from exploding."BACKUP! BACK-" The pointman turned and tried to run back behind the corner as he yelled, but he was cut off as the plasma grenade dettonated. The feed from his camera blurred as the soldier was sent flying, before suddenly cutting off as it impacted against something with great force. You switched back to their sergeant, and you watched as he ran over to the charred and brutalized body of the pointman, though with most of his back charred and his neck hanging at an odd angle, there wasn't much that could be done to save him.>CONT
>>4101768"Control, this is rambler two. We have a mass-cas here." Rambler two's sergeant coughed as he reported his unit's losses. He looked back at the rest of his squad. The soldier that had been standing immediately behind the pointman was on the ground, screaming as the squad's medic pulled his half-melted body armor off him. Another soldier immediately behind him was having his head looked at, blood poured from the wound. "Tally one KIA, two wounded. Requesting mission update.">Have rambler two continue with their mission unaided, you can't stop now.>Reinforce rambler two with soldiers from rambler one, you can afford to shuffle some troops around.>Order rambler two to wait, you'll reinforce them with armed crewmen.>Bring rambler two back to the prowler, there have to be other ways to find survivors in the base.>Other (write-in)
>>4101770>>Reinforce rambler two with soldiers from rambler one, you can afford to shuffle some troops around.
>>4101770>Reinforce rambler two with soldiers from rambler one, you can afford to shuffle some troops around.
>>4101770>Order rambler two to wait, you'll reinforce them with armed crewmen.Time, time, ask of us anything but time. With Covie spec-ops around and having already done a smash and grab, the fleet can't be far behind.
>>4101770>Bring rambler two back to the prowler, there have to be other ways to find survivors in the base.
>>4101770>>Order rambler two to wait, you'll reinforce them with armed crewmen.
"Understood, hold position there while we get you some reinforcements." You ordered rambler two's sergeant, before switching channels over to contact the leader of rambler one. Unlike their comrades, rambler one was advancing slowly in the dark of the subterranean levels of the base. "Rambler one, this is control. Rambler two is down two or three men, I need you to send someone back here to link up with armed crewmen as reinforcements.""Copy, sending someone over." The leader of your first squad replied, before gesturing to one of the members of his squad, and then gesturing back the way they came. The soldier seemed confused, but followed the unspoken order regardless. Now one man down, the rest of rambler one descended into the guts of the facility, though with the help of your AI and a map of the facility, they soon came across the closed doors to the panic room, where another issue lay in wait. "Contol, this is rambler one. We're at the panic room, but we've got a problem. Looks like the door controls are fried, we can't get in.""Well, our only option now is to hope that the secondary ID reading system hasn't been damaged. All we need is for someone with an officer-grade neural lace to trip the system and alert the people inside that a friendly officer is outside." Lieutenant Karmann suggested, and you could already see dozens of issues with that idea on its own."So, I need to go out there and unlock it?" You asked rather sarcastically. With the threat of an enemy spec-ops team being outside, you really didn't like the idea of leaving the armored and protected hull of your prowler."Either you or lieutenant commander Dyad will work." The short spook smiled up at you, and you felt the sudden urge to insult him. Then again, that wouldn't really help the people inside the panic room if you spent your time playing whack-a-spook.>Head out yourself, Dyad's done her part for today. [HEAD TO ARMORY]>Send Dyad out, you need to handle the entire operation from the bridge.>Try something else, you aren't letting an officer leave this ship. (write-in)
>>4101847>>Head out yourself, Dyad's done her part for today. [HEAD TO ARMORY]
>>4101847>Head out yourself, Dyad's done her part for today. [HEAD TO ARMORY]
>>4101847>Try something else, you aren't letting an officer leave this ship. (write-in)We have used all of those spying and communication drones or there are some in reserve in the prowler ? If that so can we use one to go with our Id to the inside of the facility to rambler one ? Or we can t ? I imagine it would be faster than us and it shouldn t be too large. Going out ourselves is rather risky. If we don t have drones i guess we go but we should go with at least someone to watch us. And maybe some body armor, bad idea overall to go with covies out. And rambler two, what exactly is doing ? They don t know where their foe is. So reinforcements or not they can t engage it. Is really a good idea to remain here with our ship, when there is a team of Aliens that needed barely a few minutes to bust open this place ? We have a mission, but with the current status of a covenant spec-ops team here it seems a bad choice to continue. Two marines squads aren t decent for this.
>>4101901Those drones are for space. And yes, we deployed them all.And the grenade appears to have been a boobytrap, given the lack of any plasma bolts or a counterattack.
>>4101901All of the drones are up in space, they were never built for use in atmosphere anyways. Think of them as satellites with rockets on them rather than modern drones.Rambler two ran into a boobytrap, not an actual attack. If there was an actual attack then the option for you to leave the ship at all wouldn't have been given.
>>4101912Yay, I'm good at this!
>>4101847>>Head out yourself, Dyad's done her part for today. [HEAD TO ARMORY]Hopefully this doesn't turn into a Captain Keyes type situation. I assume we're gonna be suiting up in some BDU's and body armor for this. Shouldn't need to bring more than a sidearm.
>>4101847Who ever goes, we need to be ready to dust off as soon as they get back.Have intel collection and repairs complete as soon as we start running back.
"I'll do it." You decided to take up the job yourself. You didn't know if that was a rational decision, or if it was because you wanted to play an active part in moving the mission along. Either way, you turned to your XO. "Dyad, you have the bridge. Keep me informed about what's going on, but put the safety of the ship and the mission above all.""Are you sure sir? I can handle this just as well as you can." Dyad asked, her voice level but not nearly calm enough to make you think that she wasn't concerned. You smiled at your XO and gave her a reassuring pat on the shoulder, but you wouldn't be swayed from your path."Dyad, you'll be just as good here as you would be out there." You assured your XO, who still didn't seem too happy about your choice. Dyad sighed, but she didn't argue the point, instead, she sternly poked you in the chest. "Just don't die out there. I don't want to explain to the spooks how our new captain ran into a plasma bolt.""I'll keep that in mind." You grinned at your XO, before turning and leaving the bridge in her capable hands. The trip down to the small armory was rather quick, and you found it deserted and almost empty. Almost being the keyword. You still managed to scrounge up a full set of marine body armor and a few weapons.You had access to everything from pistols and SMGs all the way up to assault rifles and shotguns. A smaller weapon like a pistol or an SMG would give you something handy to defend yourself with, assuming you were facing grunts or jackals. But you hadn't actually seen either of them working alongside the spec-ops elites. Against larger targets, the pistol would work well against flesh and armor, but not against shields due to its low rate of fire. Meanwhile, the SMG also worked well but for the opposite reasons, it's high rate of fire and large magazine would let you shred shields, but being only a 7mm it was less effective against flesh.Slightly higher up than those two choices were assault rifles, battle rifles, and shotguns. Tha MA5B assault rifles would work well enough as an all-round weapon, and you could carry 60 round magazines to really get the lead out, but at longer ranges, it lost effectiveness quickly. The battle rifle would give you a slightly smaller magazine and lacked the ability to go full-auto but was better at range with its built-in scope. Finally, a shotgun would give you the most power per shot, but it's lack of long-range capabilities and small magazine size limited you to only a few shots. You also had access to a mix of grenades if you wanted them. Fragmentation, high explosive, and incendiary grenades gave you a lethal punch while smoke and flashbangs gave you less-lethal options.>Choose a small weapon. (Pistol or SMG)>Choose a large weapon (Assault Rifle, Battle Rifle, or Shotgun)>Take some grenades too (Frag, HE, Flame, Smoke, Flashbang)>Search for something else. (write-in)
>>4101982>>Choose a large weapon (Shotgun)
>>4101982>Choose a large weapon (Battle Rifle)>Take some grenades too (Flame, Smoke, Flashbang)
>>4101982>Pistol>Shotgun>Frags
>>4101982>>4101988I think I misunderstood. If only one weapon choice then I"ll stick with>Shotgun>Frags
>>4101983>>4101987>>4101988>>4101996Sorry, I should have clarified as I'm a dunce, you can take BOTH a large and a small weapon, though it will have implications for your overall maneuverability.
>>4101982>Pistol (M6C/SOCOM)>Shotgun>FragsI honestly don't see a reason we can't take both a sidearm and a longarm. We were a SECO at one point after all.
>>4101982>Shotgun>Frags
>>4102001I had assumed right then. I'll stick to my original vote.
>>4102001>>4102005Pistol as well then
>>4101982>Choose a large weapon (Shotgun)>Take some grenades too (Flashbang)We're going indoors. Shotguns were made for close-quarters. Range shouldn't be much of an issue. Xenonauts made me fall in love with flashbangs, so I'm a bit biased.
>>4101982>Shotgun (Can we pack some slugs?)>2 Frags, 1 Flash, 20ft worth of string, 1 roll ductape
>>4102059I like the cut of your jib.
The first thing you did was to strap on your armor, the reasons why you did that first was two-fold. Firstly, it was a lot easier to adjust the armor when it wasn't weighed down by ammo and equipment, and secondly, it allowed you to understand just how much weight your body was willing to carry. If you over-weighed yourself you'd be too slow to adequately move, and that would make you far easier to kill.And after putting on the armor, you realized that you needed to get back to weight training. The bulk of the marine body armor was just enough that it was noticeable, but thankfully it wasn't enough to noticeably impede your movement. Still, you needed to get back into top form as soon as possible after the mission. The last thing you needed was to get fat.With that sorted out, you grabbed a pistol and holster first. As it turned out, luck was on your side as someone had left a perfectly working M6C/SOCOM pistol lying around. The decent 12-round magazine, suppressor and targeting system would serve you well, not to mention that it was one of the easier to control pistols in the UNSC inventory. All the weight up front made it easier to keep the barrel on target for follow-up shots. You keyed the pistol to your helmet-mounted sight before holstering it, at the very least you'd be able to snap-shot better with it.Next up was your long-arm. And there was nothing better for the job than an M90 shotgun. While the weapon was limited at only eight rounds -seven in the tube and one in the chamber- it's sheer destructive power was more than enough to make up for that. The eight-gauge weapon could knock an elite on its ass with a close-range body shot, and unlike most, you had actually been trained to be able to fire the weapon without getting knocked on your own ass by the recoil. You chose a 2-1 mix of buckshot to slugs but loaded the weapon with straight slugs for now. If the worst came to worst, you could just slam in some buckshot and start blasting if the slugs weren't pulling their weight.As it turned out, the only thing that stumped you was the question of grenades. You wanted to take a whole mix of them, from basic frags to flame grenades and flashbangs. But you only had a limited number of places to stow them, so you had to make an executive decision and go for the frags alone. The flashbangs might have been useful, but the risk of them causing more harm to your men than to the enemy was too high.With everything in order, you loaded up and headed for the door, but something stopped you. You thought for a second that you had missed something...>Yeah, you forgot something (write-in)>You weren't missing anything, leave the room and get going.
>>4102074>>Yeah, you forgot something (write-in)A knife now that i think about it. Can't imagine what the UNSC gives out for standard issue though.
>>4102074>Yeah, you forgot something (First Aid Kit)>>4102083>(And knife.)
>>4102074>>4102086Still insist on grabbing a roll of ductape too though
>>4102086Supporting
>>4102086This
>>4102086backing. Always have a knife, and a first aid kit wouldn't do any harm.
Yeah, you forgot a couple of things. You turned on the spot and made a circuit of the room, grabbing useful items as you went. The first thing you grabbed was a combat knife, which you clipped onto your waist. You didn't know how effective it would be, but if worst came to worst you'd prefer to knife-fight an alien over trying to punch it to death. Six and a half inches of steel was preferable to your fists any day of the week. After that, you grabbed a small medkit. The tiny kit contained enough medical equipment to tend to a couple of small wounds or a single large wound. The kit contained a small can of biofoam, polypseudomorphine, MediGel, and other useful components to help pack and treat a variety of wounds. A helpful guide on the back informed you that the kit was rated to treat either heat burns from multiple plasma bolts striking body armor, or a single plasma bolt to exposed flesh. You also grabbed a roll of duck tape. You had no good idea for why, but duck tape almost always found a use.With all of that in hand, you finally left the armory and made your way groundside. By the time you got there, a couple of marines from rambler one was waiting for you. One of them -a corporal by his PID tag- turned and saluted you. "Sir, LC Dyad ordered us to escort you to the panic room.""Thanks, lead the way." You ordered the marine, who seemed happy that you weren't going to drag this out any further."You know how to use that sir? That thing ain't exactly user-friendly." The other marine asked the private didn't ask the question out of malice, but more out of concern, and you understood why. The M90 had a habit of being a tough beast to work with, both from it's horrendous recoil to its archaic operating system."Trust me, I wouldn't be taking it if I couldn't handle it. I've done enough security and VBSS rotations to know how to handle myself." You assured the marines as you started to walk, and they got the message enough to take up positions either side of you as you started to jog away from the prowler. You were comfortable enough with the shotgun, even if it was lacking in the range department.>roll 1d100
Rolled 39 (1d100)>>4102180
Rolled 63 (1d100)>>4102180
Rolled 47 (1d100)>>4102180
Rolled 25 (1d100)>>4102180
Rolled 71 (1d100)>>4102180Typical rolls for this quest. The cursed UNSC captain.
Rolled 20 (1d100)>>4102180>>4102419Cursed is too light a term.
Rolled 8 (1d100)>>4102180>>4103513Well, at least it's not multiple critfails.
>>4103521Yet.
>>4103521...Jesus.>>4103541They just keep getting worse.
>>4102228>>4103513>>4103521See, this is why we go with the best of the first three.
"Control to XO, moving off." You radioed to Dyad as you and your escorts left the shadow of the prowler. The trip over to the panic room took maybe a quarter of an hour, but it felt a lot longer than that. You tried your best not to jump at shadows, but the constant worry of some invisible fuck being just around the corner was ever-present. Thankfully, you didn't run into any contact as you made your way through the facility, though you didn't let yourself get complacent. Getting complacent when there was a chance of getting ambushed was a great way to get a knife or whatever the Covenant equivalent was jammed in your throat. Either way, you quickly found yourself standing in front of the large titanium-A armored door. You waited for something to happen, but when nothing happened for a couple of seconds, you radioed back to the prowler. "Control to XO, you hear me Dyad?""Loud and clear, sir. What's the situation?" Dyad asked over the static. Even though you were less than a mile away from the prowler, the sheer amount of electronic dampening materials built into the facility was making it hard to remain in contact over a wireless link."I'm outside the panic room, though nothing seems to be changing. Get Karmann on the horn, I need intel." You asked your XO as you looked around to try and find some sort of sensor or camera system, though you weren't successful at all."Want me to knock?" One of the marines joked, and you briefly considered actually asking him to. But if the Covenant hadn't bothered to blow through it, then it was probably too thick for anyone on the other side to hear someone banging on it.>roll 2d100
Rolled 9, 73 = 82 (2d100)>>4103561
Rolled 50, 43 = 93 (2d100)>>4103561bo3 is fine with me.
Rolled 54, 9 = 63 (2d100)>>4103561
"There isn't anything else I can suggest sir. Just stand there and hope that the sensors haven't been blown out." Karmann recommended, and you took it as you had no other options. You stood around in front of the door for another ten minutes before deciding that enough was enough."Damn it, Diana I need options for manual entry." You hissed over the radio, you were getting annoyed right now. You had a lot of things going on right now, from the threat of a covenant spec-ops team roaming the area, to the ever-present sword of damocles that was the Covenant fleet bearing down on Arcadia. The last thing you wanted was to waste more time."An alternative path through the underground lake would take you to the secondary escape shaft. The blast doors there are more likely to be intact." Your AI recommended, before projecting an image of her alternative path, and already you saw a problem."Diana that route takes us into the water. Are you really suggesting that I go for a swim?" You asked your AI. You weren't especially against the idea, but you also weren't especially for it either."I'm sorry sir, but that's the only way I can find." Diana apologized, before trying to cheer you up. "Though it's not all bad, sir. Your PFI rating indicates that you should be able to wear your body armor and carry your sidearm without increasing the risk of accidentally drowning.""What about blowing our way in? We have a fair amount of explosives, and it would be very fast." One of the marines asked as he gestured towards the door. And sure, you did have explosives capable of blowing through battleship hull armor. But there was more than one issue with that suggestion."This place doesn't look too suited for repeated explosions rookie. Not to mention that any blast may seize up the doors entirely, and convince the people inside that we have less than noble intentions." The sergeant answered his subordinate, before then sighing and acquiescing a point. "But my soldier does have a point, sir. Blowing the door would be our fastest option.">You'll take a swim, you can't risk causing a collapse right now.>Blow the door, you've wasted enough time. (roll 2d100-20)>Other (write-in)
>>4103604>You'll take a swim, you can't risk causing a collapse right now.Explosions might attract the covies back if any are in the area
>>4103604>>You'll take a swim, you can't risk causing a collapse right now.With our rolls? No thank you. Probably end up killing ourselves, damaging our ship, or any other assortment of bad things.
>>4103604>You'll take a swim, you can't risk causing a collapse right now.
>>4103613>end up drowning anyways
>>4103613I'm trying to come up with something that doesn't end up with us cave diving.So far, the only thing that comes up is uh...maybe welding a cable to the doors and giving a yank with our Prowler.Yeah, it's a bad idea.
>>4103636Not a lot of options, really. We either blow ourselves up or get wet.>>4103622We'd probably roll our way into collapsing the resolver.
>>4103604>>You'll take a swim, you can't risk causing a collapse right now.Just caught up. love it so far!
>>4103604>>You'll take a swim, you can't risk causing a collapse right now.
"Yeah, let's not risk it. I'll take the swim." You decided against blowing the door. While you were in a rush, you didn't want to take any stupid risks. And using high explosives in a confined space that probably wasn't rated to handle it definitely came in on the far end of the stupid scale. Diana didn't respond verbally but instead highlighted a route on your HUD. The marine sergeant gestured for a couple of his men to follow him, before scouting the route for you. You followed on behind them as they descended deeper into the facility, past the machinery and the plumbing and the other guts that kept the ONI base running. Soon enough, your route terminated at a small water-access door. The sergeant and his men breached into the room, hoping to ambush anyone hiding inside."Looks clear sir, clear and cold." The sergeant reported back, before leading his men back out of the room. Just before he passed you, he patted you on the shoulder and gave you a cocksure smile. "Enjoy the swim, chief."You gave him a laugh and a nod, before entering the room and shining your shotgun's torch at the ceiling in order to light up the room. The small room was essentially a small balcony that looked out over the inky-black pool of water that was the underground lake. A quick shine of your torch into the water confirmed that it was water, and not some kind of black hell-slime. However, you weren't able to see the bottom. A low whistle over your radio confirmed that your XO was watching things from your perspective. "Damn, I'm really glad I'm up here.""Sure you don't want to join me? The water looks nice." You sarcastically asked your XO as you propped your shotgun up against the door. You then started to strip off your equipment into a small pile next to your weapon."Believe it or not, I like swimming in warm and well-lit water." Your XO chuckled back as you started to strip off your armor. The shin-guards, arm protection, and helmet all came off, leaving you with just your BDUs, your chest armor, your pistol, and an earpiece."Alright Diana, where am I going?" You asked your Ai as you walked over to the precipice. The water didn't look appealing at all, but you had no other choice than to go in. At the very least, it wouldn't be so cold for long. Being hit by plasma beams did wonders to warm up bodies of water."Head straight until you reach an air pocket, then continue to your right until you reach the far wall. Keep in mind that you'll be going in blind, so your sense of touch will be essential." Diana advised you, and you couldn't help but groan at your decision. Still, you had come too far to throw in the towel now. You took a couple of seconds to calm yourself before you made your move.You dropped feet first into the water.>roll 1d100
Rolled 49 (1d100)>>4104536We are gonna fucking drown.
Rolled 26 (1d100)>>4104536Please stop fucking us, dice. For once.
>>4104538>>4104543We're fucking dead. Watch the next roll be a critfail.
Rolled 19 (1d100)>>4104536
>>4104538Hopefully a 49 doesn't kill us dead. Anyone know if Covenant have amphibious or aquatic units?
>>4104536Here we go...
Rolled 86 (1d100)>>4104558Well, the roll didn't work
At this point i'm just wondering how much abuse our good captain can suffer before he kicks the bucket.
>>4104602This is why we've been low-key grooming Dyad to take over the quest.
>>4104609A good backup plan. But all the setup in the world can't help us if RNG doesn't lift it's curse.
Rolled 40 (1d100)
Rolled 92 (1d100)>>4104536Bruh
>>4104602Too bad this isn't roll under
As you went under, you struggled to keep your bearings. You kicked up and broke the surface again. You took a second to reorient yourself, before going under again. You made your way along slowly and carefully, being careful to maximize your effort for the minimum amount of air used. You patted along the ceiling of the cave as you went, searching for the air pocket in the dark was only something you could do by touch. And with your gentle going It was easy to underestimate just how long you had been going...Wait, you've been going for a while......your lungs are starting to burn......WHERE THE FUCK IS THE AIR POCKET?>Go back! You aren't drowning now. (roll 1d100-10)>Keep searching! You have to be close. (roll 1d100-10)
Rolled 13 - 10 (1d100 - 10)>>4104655>>Keep searching! You have to be close. (roll 1d100-10)
Rolled 82 - 10 (1d100 - 10)>>4104655
Rolled 87 - 10 (1d100 - 10)>>4104655>Keep searching! You have to be close. (roll 1d100-10)
>>4104656I'm gonna have a heart attack if this shit keeps up.>>4104657>72But for which option?
>>4104657>>4104659Thank fuck
>>4104660>>4104657Oh shit that was me. Meant to choose.>Keep searching!
Rolled 20 - 10 (1d100 - 10)>>4104655>Keep searching! You have to be close. (roll 1d100-10)
>>4104659I think you just saved us anon
You had to stop for a second to crush the fear that was starting to build in your chest. Fear was the silent killer, you wouldn't let it drag you into an early grave. Some chant that one of your old drill instructors had made you all learn came to the forefront of the mind, but you didn't focus on it. You waited until the fear was gone, before pressing on. Your conscious mind knew your body's limits more intimately than any fearful reflex ever could. You would endure, you had to.And your determination was rewarded almost a minute later, as your hand broke the surface in an air pocket. Your face swiftly followed as you rushed to catch your breath. You took a couple of seconds to calm yourself, before activating your earpiece again. You reported in with your success. "Control to XO, I'm at the air pocket. How copy?"And all you got back was static. Oh well, you'd tried.You followed Diana's instructions and made your way to the right, feeling your way along as you went. The air pocket was just high enough to poke your head out of the water, and you took full advantage of that. It didn't take long for the rough ceiling of the cave to make way for the smooth polycrete of something made by man. You ran your hands along it until you reached the metal of a hatch cover, and after a little tugging, you managed to push it up and out of the way. You pulled yourself up through the hole and pulled your pistol out of its holster. At the same time, you pulled the pistol's suppressor and electronics block out of the sealed pocket on the inside of your body armor. The packing had prevented you from lighting your way underwater, but it kept the electronics safe and dry for use now that you were out. You joined the two parts together and flicked the pistol's torch on.You were in a small room that was sealed by a blast door, a couple of boxes nearby sat with a small layer of dust and powdered rock over them. You looked back at where you had come up from and found yourself looking at what seemed to be a standard service manhole, complete with a composite cover plate. You kicked the cover back over the hole, the last thing you wanted was to fall through.>Get going, you came here for a reason after all.>Search the boxes, you're still wet damn it.>Other (write-in)
>>4104723>Get going, you came here for a reason after all.
>>4104723>Search the boxes, you're still wet damn it.
>>4104723>Get going, you came here for a reason after all.The hour grows late and our enemy draws 'ere near!
>>4104723>>Get going, you came here for a reason after all.
>>4104723>Get going, you came here for a reason after all.gogogo
Even though you were a starting to get cold -the room you were in only had the bare minimum of heating if any- you couldn't stop to look for something dry to wrap yourself up in. You made your way over to the blast door, which thankfully recognized your neural lace and booted up its access panel. You pressed the only option on the screen, which opened the door to a dark and unlit shaft. You didn't wait to groan about it and instead made your way in. The shaft was a single well-lit tube going upwards for around five floors, with a large blast door every two floors. It was wide enough to hold a freight elevator, and from some of the wall mountings, it looked as if that had either been a previous function or a future expansion plan. Either way, a series of stairs had been installed in its place that went all the way up. It was still a bit of a slog to get up there, but on the bright side, the exercise would keep you warm. You slowly made your way up, stopping only to let the blast doors open enough for you to get through, before moving on. After roughly ten minutes, you managed to reach the top, where the metal landing met a doorway cut straight into the stone. You casually walked in, and up the stairs on the inside.Finally, you found yourself stood right outside the only other entrance into the panic room. Your way in was a small but well-armored hatch, which was cross-bolted by dozens of foot-wide metal beams that recessed into the ceiling and walls in order to grant access. This entrance was absolutely intact if a bit on the dirty side. A quick check of the access panel on the side confirmed that it had detected your neural lace, and was ready to respond to your commands.>Just waltz right in, you're too damp to care.>Go in cautiously, they're all probably on edge.>Other (write-in)
>>4106351>Go in cautiously, they're all probably on edge.Getting shot would be pretty shitty
>>4106351>Go in cautiously, they're all probably on edge.Thunderhead, it makes me incredibly suspicious when you include obvious trap options like 'waltz on in.' What aren't we seeing here that may make that a good idea?
>>4106351>Go in cautiously, they're all probably on edge.
>>4106351>>Go in cautiously, they're all probably on edge.
>>4106351>>Go in cautiously, they're all probably on edge.>>4106362Character building
>>4106351>You pressed the only option on the screen, which opened the door to a dark and unlit shaft.>The shaft was a single well-lit tube going upwardsHmm
>>4106777Yeah, it may have been dark but was pretty lit.
>>4106780>>4106777Smoking it in the shaft huh?
>>4106787>Enter panic room>Everyone's stoned
>>4106789Hotboxin' the bunker BOOIIIII
>>4106789>>4106827So thaaat's why we had the option to waltz in.
For a second, you briefly considered just opening the door and waltzing your way in. You had always prided yourself on your patience, and it was running out far faster than you wanted to admit, and you just wanted to get back to the prowler and slip into something warm, dry and comfortable. And from that point of view, just walking in and not bothering to waste time acting cautious would speed things up a bit. You could see yourself walking into the bottom of the panic room, and quickly kicking the inhabitants onto their feet.And you could also see yourself getting pumped full of lead, courtesy of some jumpy survivor with an assault rifle and a severe lack of sleep. While it was true that you wanted to slip into something more comfortable than your damp clothes, you also didn't want to slip into the afterlife. As such, you took it carefully. You first disengaged the locking bars. The vertical bars were pulled into the ceiling and locked in place, followed by the horizontal bars. You assumed that they would naturally drop into place if the power failed, so you were thankful that there was still power to use. With them out of the way, you only had the hatch itself to go through. You carefully drew your pistol, and opened the hatch with your off-hand.The door opened into a small storage room, a number of boxes were stacked all around, and given the dirt and small rocks on the floor, you assumed that more than one of the boxes had been turned into improvised cover. You didn't see anyone, so you called out. "Hello? Any friendlies?"When you got nothing in return, you carefully crept into the room with your pistol raised. You barely made it a meter in, before you heard the sound of a rifle's safety clicking off. You didn't turn to look, instead, you waited for the person behind the gun to speak. "Who are you? How did you get through there?""Captain Norman Wells, currently assigned to the prowler Pale Horse." You calmly introduced yourself as you slowly turned the back of your head towards the voice, giving a clear view of your neural jack. You didn't explain the function behind it, he probably already knew, so you instead told him why you were them. "I'm the guy who's meant to evac all of you, so maybe you should point that muzzle somewhere else.""So... sorry sir. We're a bit jumpy down here. It's been... god, I'm too tired to remember how long it's been since we came down here." The voice started to apologize as the safety clicked back on. You turned around and found yourself looking at a young woman in dirty and slightly blood-stained clothes with a basic set of webbing over the top. Even in the low lighting of the room, you could see how bloodshot and haunted her eyes were. >Find the leader of the survivors, there has to be a ranking officer somewhere around here.>Ask the survivor something (write-in)>Other (write-in)
>>4106789
>>4107601>you could see how bloodshot and haunted her eyes were.Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm>>Find the leader of the survivors, there has to be a ranking officer somewhere around here.
>>4107601>>Find the leader of the survivors, there has to be a ranking officer somewhere around here.
>>4107601>Find the leader of the survivors, there has to be a ranking officer somewhere around here.
>>4107601>>Find the leader of the survivors, there has to be a ranking officer somewhere around here.do we have a painkiller for the woman ? maybe it can slightly help her.
"Can you tell me who's in charge? We need to get everyone moving as soon as possible." You asked the armed civilian -which was basically what she amounted to- where you could find the person leading the band of survivors. She seemed a bit out of it for a couple of seconds but replied before you could ask if she had fallen asleep with her eyes open."That would be the lieutenant, he's just upstairs." She said, before gesturing for you to follow her out. You quickly fell into lockstep behind her as she reached the door and opened it, only to be blinded by the harsh ceiling lights. She stopped in her tracks and swore at the sudden light, before slowly moving off after letting her eyes adjust to her surroundings. You followed her out as the bars that had barred your route into the panic room fell back into their naturally obstructing positions.The panic room itself was small, but well built. It would probably be a decent place to live in for a few months if you could get over the apparent decision to use bare structural supports as part of the decor. The lowest floor contained all of the equipment needed to keep the lights on and the air breathable, as you passed rooms labeled as RTG-GEN and AIRFIL as you were lead towards the stairs up. You heard the sounds of more survivors as you arrived at your destination, from slurred moaning of doped-up casualties to the sounds of people eating from metal trays. The woman lead you into a room and almost instantly all eyes were on you."Captain on deck!" A very jumpy-sounding guard called out as soon as he saw you, prompting everyone but the only ODST in the room to stop what they were doing to look up at their damp new arrival. The ODST in question wore the markings of an officer but had enough of a lack for regulations that he walked around with a pack of cigarettes taped onto his chest plate. His left arm was wrapped up and in a sling, and his right arm was in the process of returning his SMG to its magnetic brace as you laid eyes on him."Well aren't you a sight for sore eyes." You ODST officer smiled as he walked over to you, undoing the latches on his helmet as he walked. By the time he was in front of you, his helmet was mag-locked to his belt and his hand was offered to you. "Lieutenant Ross Antonwicz, formerly from the one-oh-fifth. I'm in charge of base defense.""Captain Norman Wells, currently commanding the prowler Pale Horse. We're here to pick you up." You introduced yourself as you shook his hand. You noticed the marine's expression change a bit as he shook your hand, but after giving you another once-over he smiled again."You know sir, there are other ways in than taking a swim in the reservoir." Antonwicz reminded you, before raising his voice ever so slightly so that the rest of the room could hear him clearly. "Well, we'd better not keep you waiting.">CONT
>>4110720"Everyone, get the word out to pack everything up. I want everyone on their feet in five and everything packed up in fifteen." The lieutenant addressed everyone else in the room, and they promptly jumped to the task. You had expected them to be a bit sluggish -the deep bags under their eyes and their postures had given the impression that they were very sleepy- but they moved with renewed vigor at the chance to finally escape their nightmare.>Ask Lieutenant Antonwicz a question (write-in)>Head out the main entrance, you ought to start co-ordinating with your people.>Look around for something (write-in and roll 1d100-10)>Other (write-in)
>>4110724>Ask Lieutenant Antonwicz a question (write-in)"Is there a reason the main entrance wouldn't respond to our neural-lace?"
>>4110724Backing this >>4110750
>>4110750+1
Rolled 93 - 10 (1d100 - 10)>>4110724>>4110750Backing.Also though; >Look around for enough weed to hotbox the whole base for 4hr (roll 1d100-10)
>>4110724>>4110750Backing
>>4110816Dude, there's wounded in there. It was obviously for medicinal use.
"Is there a reason the main entrance wouldn't respond to my neural-lace?" You asked the lieutenant, before gesturing to your damp clothes. "I didn't take the long way around just for the swim.""Was the entrance damaged in any way, sir?" The ODST immediately asked as he started to pack up a medkit on the table. You noticed that the kit was missing a few shots of polypseudomorphine and it's packs of medigel, but you didn't bring it up immidiately, and instead let him continue packing up the assorted bandages that had been left out."Yeah, it's been shot up by plasma weapons. I'd guess that the covies tried to get in and got frustrated." You replied, earning a small nod from the ODST. He didn't seem surprised at all."That matches what we saw. They tried to hack their way into the access systems, we disconnected the systems and they responded with gunfire. We only caught a bit of it as they got our cameras first, but if they kept up the heat then they might have taken the sensors out with stray fire. They're hidden, but the wiring isn't mounted deep in the wall. So if the split-lips were just spraying at the walls then they might have caught it." Antonwicz explained as he finished packing up the kit, before attaching it to his rigging. The large, white container clashed with his grey-black equipment, but that was a given. Wall-mounted packs were never intended to be carried into the field, and he had probably snatched it on the run over.>Ask Lieutenant Antonwicz another question (write-in)>Head out the main entrance, you ought to start co-ordinating with your people.>Look around for something (write-in and roll 1d100-10)>Other (write-in)
>>4110941>Ask Lieutenant Antonwicz another question (write-in)>How many came and how did the base get caught off guard, and what were they here for.
>>4110941>Head out the main entrance, you ought to start co-ordinating with your people.Also>>4110972
>>4110976Supporting>>4110972We can interrogate and debrief after everyone's aboard ship and we're hauling ass outsystem.
>>4110941>>Head out the main entrance, you ought to start co-ordinating with your people.
>>4110941>Other - Ask for armor and weapon (replace what we had to leave behind)>Head out the main entrance, you ought to start co-ordinating with your people. Aka 'Get to da Choppa'>>4110816Trying to get the covvie high? How about hotboxing the prowler after we are clear?
"Can you get the door open? I need to link up with my marines and get back in contact with my ship." You asked the ODST officer, while you had questions for him, you didn't want to spend time on it while you were dirtside. Playing twenty questions wasn't high on the list of priorities with a covenant fleet bearing down on you."Of course, hold on for a second," Antoniewicz said, before putting his helmet back on and doing up the latches. He clicked the pressure seals back on and didn't talk for a full minute. Once he was done, he turned his attention back to you. "What's left of my unit and some of the more capable armed civies will join us up there. No offense sir, but I'm not taking any risks.""None taken." You assured the lieutenant as he lead you out of the room, and back to the stairs. You went up one more time, and into a corridor that was being cleared of its improvised defenses. You walked past the survivors and through another armored door, and into what seemed to bee the entrance area. More improvised defenses had been set up, and these were actually manned. Five ODSTs and a handful of armed ONI personnel were all sat behind around a meter and a half of assorted crap. One of the ODSTs looked up at you and reported in as you entered the room. "Everyone 's here boss, the fifty's locked and loaded too.""Alright, let's get this show on the road." You stated as you drew your pistol and flicked the safety off. Antoniewicz took up a position next to you and drew his SMG as the locks on the armored door flicked off, and the massive chunk of armor plating slowly slid upwards.>roll 1d100
Rolled 1 (1d100)>>4111062Something bad happened, didn't it?
Rolled 83 (1d100)>>4111062Dice, don't fuck us now.
>>4111074IT DID NOW.
Rolled 71 (1d100)>>4111062Well, here goes nothing...
Rolled 32 (1d100)>>4111062
>>4111074
>>4111074And we have no marines now...And maybe no prowler...
>>4111074yep time to leave this place
>>4111062I know this is bo3, but does that include critical failures so long as we pass a certain threshold?
>>4111108IIRC a crit fail just nullifies the highest roll when we were using 1d20?
>>4111108>>4111110Single 1s nullify the highest roll, they're not an automatic fail.
>>4111110Big yikes if that the case. This is a really bad spot to get a critfail.
>>4111115Then this isn't the absolute worst thing to happen. Thank you for clarifying.
>>4111115But...that kind of ruins the mojo of the quest if we're not constantly fighting the adversity of shit dice. 1 on a d100 is fair for a critfail. 1 on a d20 was just fucking us constantly.
>>4111158Would everyone be OK with making nat1s on a 1d100 to be automatic critfails? And if so, do you want that to take effect now, on the next roll, or in the next thread?As it stands, 1-5 on a 1d100 roll is a critfail that voids the highest roll, but still leaves a chance for a successful roll with the 3rd dice. Setting nat1s to be auto critfails may not seem that big, but keep in mind that up until now, auto critfails haven't been a thing in this quest.
>>4111181I'm fine it, however that without any provisions it'll prove a problem. Especially with our RNG.
>>4111181Hmmn, put that way and given the high lethality of UNSC on Covenant ship battles... I guess having different rules for ground combat and space combat would be a bit much?
>>4111181Let's not, our luck has been bad enough without critfails already. It's not like we've been crushing through dicerolls the quest
>>4111190What provisions would you suggest?>>4111191Given how infrequently ground combat is gonna happen in this quest, there's no point having two separate systems.
>>4111222>Captain's got Marine spec.>In the middle of a ground combat mission.>'Infrequent ground combat'Considering that's the setting of most Halo games, I'm gonna be a little skeptical there. Let me rephrase. "Infantry action" work since it covers boarding operations and we have a habit of losing Marines a lot?
>>4111228And all of those will add bonuses in combat in the current system, but the added complexity of having another dice system that will be used relatively infrequently can confuse players. And that's something I don't want.What would you want to have as the separate "infantry action" system.
Slowly, the massive armored door began to move out of the way. The torturously slow movement of the complete block of metal meant that you spent a lot of your time watching at ankle-height to see if there was something there. Thankfully, it didn't take long for a set of human feet to walk into view, their owner dropping onto his belly so that he could get a look inside the room."Good to see you again sir, sarge is just downstairs, I'll comm him up here." The marine yelled over the sound of straining motors and alarms. You nodded and returned your pistol to its holster as the rest of the defenders of the entrance zone put away their weapons. You were about to ask the lieutenant if there was anything you could help out with when something was thrown through the gap beneath the bulkhead door and the floor. The marine yelled again as he threw more stuff in. "Here's your gear sir!""We'll leave you to gear up sir. The last thing we want is for you to get injured because you weren't wearing your gear." Lieutenant Antonwicz left you to gear up as his men left the room to help everyone else in the base to get moving. You quickly strapped your armor over your sodden clothes, before checking your shotgun. By the time you were satisfied with your work, the door was only halfway up, so you made yourself busy by shoving parts of the improvised barricade out of the way. By the time the door was fully open, you had cleared a decent enough path through."Good to see you made it captain. XO was starting to get worried." The sergeant greeted you as he entered the room on the other side of the now open blast door."Sergent, anything happen while I was away?" You asked the sergeant as you walked through the doorway, walking the meter-long distance with just a bit of haste. Getting crushed by a good few tons of battle armor wasn't on your agenda."No sir, it's been quiet." The marine sergeant replied, before looking back at the slowly growing group of survivors, and then back to you. "Do you want to head back to the prowler now, or should we move everyone as a single group?">Move everyone as a group, you can't divide your protection.>Head straight to the prowler, you need to get back to the bridge.>Other (write-in)
>>4111340>Move everyone as a group, you can't divide your protection.
>>4111340>>Move everyone as a group, you can't divide your protection.
>>4111222>ProvisionsMaybe crit fails count if another roll doesn't meet success criteria? I think SCQ does something similar. If we're all fine with keeping it as it is then I think a single nat1 negating top roll is good too.>>4111340>Move everyone as a group, you can't divide your protection.
>>4111340>Move everyone as a group, you can't divide your protection.Get out of here, now...
>>4111340>>Move everyone as a group, you can't divide your protection.>>4111222Every time we use a 1d100 1's should count as Crit-fail. Any other dice like 1d20 should just nullify the highest roll. Just my thoughts
>>4111340>>Move everyone as a group, you can't divide your protection.>>41111811's should be natcrit fails, just as 100's are crit successes. Our luck is incredibly shitty in this quest, but that's just life for a UNSC Captain.I've seen some quests run 1-5 is auto fail and 95-100 is auto success, but that seems more janky
"We'll keep everyone as a group. The last thing I want is for our firepower to be spread out if those hinge-heads come back." You decided to take the more cautious approach rather than running back to the prowler. Of course, there were other benefits to it, like having more bodies to have on your side in a firefight.The sergeant nodded and sent half of his squad to watch the entrance down into the room. He then ordered the other half to help the survivors gather their stuff and get ready to move. It didn't take long for them to finish up, as many of them only had what they could carry. The slowest people to leave were the wounded, as in many cases they had to be helped out by other people. You watched as a few people were carried out on stretchers, their legs and lower torsos wrapped up in bandages. You saw a good mix of people, but only a couple of scientists. You'd have some questions for them later, but for now, you left them to their guard and medic postings. You waited until the group's size had stopped growing, before speaking. "Alright, is that everyone?""All present and accounted for." Lieutenant Antonwicz assured you. You nodded as the medics made their final checks and the stretcher-bearers lifted up their charges, everyone was ready to move on your order."Alright, sergent, lead us out of here." You gave the order to leave as you readied your shotgun. You took up position only a few people behind the pointman, putting yourself near enough to the front to seem like a real leader, while still being safe enough to not be taken out by a landmine or to be the first person to get cut down in an ambush.>roll 1d100
Rolled 15 (1d100)>>4112903
Rolled 42 (1d100)>>4112903
Rolled 64 (1d100)>>4112903
Rolled 56 (1d100)>>4112903
Your group of people moved as one, with the marines taking up the lead and the rear, the ODSTs just behind them, and the civilians and wounded in the middle. The marines moved slowly and cautiously, with their rifles leveled as they went around corners. You carefully followed behind them, keeping your weapon ready but not raised. You followed up the stairs and towards the surface, pausing after ascending each flight of stairs in order to give the stretcher-bearers a chance to keep pace. After ten minutes, you managed to get everyone to the surface, where you slowly made your way through the destroyed base."XO to control, can you hear me sir?" Your comms crackled to life almost as soon as you reached the surface, revealing the voice of your XO."I hear you XO, is everything alright?" You asked Dyad for an update on what had happened since you had taken your plunge."Nothing so far sir, though Diana has found some severe damage to the base's camera systems." Dyad explained, you were about to ask her how the data transfer was going when a call from the front of the formation caught your attention."CONTACT FRO-" The pointman managed to get only part of his warning out before something invisible smacked him to the ground. Something shimmered just a couple of feet to the right of where the marine had once stood, and the second man in the line sprayed a few rounds at the shimmer. His rounds pinged off something, and the shimmer gave way to the foe beneath.Revealing the hulking, red armored form of an elite special forces soldier.>Kill that elite! You need to clear a route of escape. (roll 1d100+10)>Find some cover! That elite won't be alone. (roll 1d100)>Look out! More of those bastards will be around here. (roll 1d100-10)>Other (write-in)
Rolled 3 + 10 (1d100 + 10)>>4113047>>Kill that elite! You need to clear a route of escape.
Rolled 69 + 10 (1d100 + 10)>>4113047>>Kill that elite! You need to clear a route of escape. (roll 1d100+10)buckshot to the face
Rolled 96 + 10 (1d100 + 10)>>4113047>Kill that elite! You need to clear a route of escape. (roll 1d100+10)
>>4113053I swear I'm going to get us killed>>4113056>>4113073>79>106That's some good shit.
Rolled 23 + 10 (1d100 + 10)>>4113047>Kill that elite! You need to clear a route of escapeAnd move ass. Have all the others outside the prowler (rambler two and crew guards + engineers) on alert and falling back to board.The prowler has limited PD right? Have them activated and ready to support us.
You didn't dive for cover, instead, you snapped your shotgun up to your shoulder as the elite charged. The marine who had shot it had to dive out of the way as the elite produced and activated an energy sword. The second man in the line -an armed engineer- wasn't so lucky, and was hacked in two from shoulder to hip, the heat and shock of the injury killing him in seconds. The elite barged past the fourth man in the line after slashing his rifle in half, the marine choosing to sacrifice his weapon and vertical stance instead of dying. And that gave the elite a clear shot at you, the civilians, and the rest of the column, which he could probably have just fired indiscriminately at with his plasma rifle if he hadn't been lacking in the brains department.And you were about to make him lack a lot more.You fired first, the 8-gauge slug thundered down the barrel and caught the elite just as he was about to pass the fourth man in the line. The round smashed into the sheild and shattered it. The hardened jacket of energy flickered for just a second, before popping out of existence as the slug blew straight through. Like a MAC round popping the shielding on a covenant warship. The round had deformed and lost almost all of its energy by the time it had blown through the shields, and as such it simply bounced off the elite's torso without stopping it. The elite roared and bounded the few feet between you, but you had pumped a new shell into your shotgun before it reached you. At such close range, you didn't need to do much in the way of aiming, especially with the relative size of the elite's head.You yanked the trigger again, and the elite dropped to your feet. Its entire head turned to chunky salsa inside its elongated helmet.You didn't have long to enjoy your kill, as the twinned sound gunfire and plasma fire indicated that there were more elites to deal with. You looked back to see another elite lean out from behind a wall and fire indiscriminately into the crowd. Many of the marines and ODSTs ducked out of the way, but a few of the civilians weren't so lucky."Control to XO, we've been engaged!" You yelled over your radio as you ran over to the nearest marine and hauled him into cover, he had managed to snag the rifle off the armed civilian that the elite had killed, but none of that meant much if you let the elites keep you pinned down.>Charge the closest elite! You need to make the best use of your shotgun. (roll 1d100)>Break off and flank them! They won't be as likely to notice one guy. (roll 1d100+10)>Advance and spread out! You're sitting ducks for grenades here. (roll 1d100)>Get everyone out of here! You're in a damn killing field. (roll 1d100)>Loot the elite! You need to get something good, and fast. >Other (write-in)
Rolled 37 (1d100)>>4113153>Get everyone out of here! You're in a damn killing field. (roll 1d100)When you're in an ambush, you keep moving to push through. And where are the base turrets?
Rolled 89 + 10 (1d100 + 10)>>4113153>>Break off and flank them! They won't be as likely to notice one guy. (roll 1d100+10)8-guage is a hell of a drug.>>4113157Also this, where are the turrets at?
>>4113153>>Get everyone out of here! You're in a damn killing field. (roll 1d100)
Rolled 17 + 10 (1d100 + 10)>>4113153>Break off and flank them! They won't be as likely to notice one guy. (roll 1d100+10)
Rolled 12 (1d100)>>4113160Dropped my dice.
Rolled 81 + 10 (1d100 + 10)>>4113153>>Break off and flank them! They won't be as likely to notice one guy. (roll 1d100+10)
Rolled 92 (1d100)>>4113153>>Charge the closest elite! You need to make the best use of your shotgun. (roll 1d100)
There wasn't time to organize a plan, in close-range fighting like this, plans took far longer to make than to be countered. You had to get active in this fight, and you would have to be pretty quick about it. As such, you took the initiative and bolted through the street where the stealth elite had come from. You ducked low, moved relatively slowly and used the ruins of the base to hide as much as possible. However, you kept your head on a swivel and kept an ear out to keep tabs on where the shooters were located. While you knew for a fact that your people were probably dying, you couldn't move any faster, you didn't want to trip any Covenant motion trackers.This tactic paid off when you reached the next corner. You stopped and lent around with your weapon raised, and you found yourself once again staring at a quickly moving elite. The elite had probably noticed the death of his comrade and was moving to cover his position, but he hadn't expected to encounter any contact yet. You were able to get a shot off first, the shotgun kicked in your hands as the 8-gauge slug was sent into the elite. The shot shattered its sheilds but didn't stop it at all. The elite responded by raising it's plasma rifle and sending a wild burst right at you. You had to duck back behind the corner in order to avoid getting your face boiled off from a direct hit.Thinking quickly, you backtracked to a shot-out window and scrambled through. You entered the burned-out hulk of the building the two of you were fighting around and slowly cut across to the window that the elite had run past. You were halfway to the window when you heard the elite round the corner and spray wildly at where you had been sat. You took the cue and ran a couple of meters left between you and the window, you lent out just as the elite was turning to raise his rifle at you. This time the elite fired first, but his shots went wide, splashing the wall and the ground around you. Your shot, on the other hand, was far more accurate, as it punched straight into the elite's chest. The shot staggered the elite, and a second one put it down for the count.You slung yourself out of the window and advanced on the elite. You fired a third shot into the elite's arm as it tried to raise it's rifle again, and your massive slug practically blew the elite's arm off. You weren't satisfied with this, and you fired another shot into its gut as you got closer. The elite made a choking noise and tried to reach for something on its belt, but you finally put it down with a shot straight through the skull.>CONT
>>4113251You stepped over the elite's corpse, and back around the corner to take cover. You considered your next option as you loaded your shotgun.>Keep up the pressure! If you can force them to abandon a flank, your men will be far better off. (roll 1d100)>Pull everyone out! You've made enough of a hole in their ambush to get your people out with some margin of safety. (roll 1d100-10)>Loot the elite! What the hell was he reaching for. (roll 1d100+20)>Other (write-in) ==================================>Load slugs! They've done a fair amount of work for you thus far.>Load buckshot! You can be far more liberal with your use of buckshot than with slugs.
Rolled 84 + 20 (1d100 + 20)>>4113253>>Loot the elite! What the hell was he reaching for. (roll 1d100+20)>Load slugs! They've done a fair amount of work for you thus far.
Rolled 95 + 20 (1d100 + 20)>>4113253>>Loot the elite! What the hell was he reaching for. (roll 1d100+20)>Load slugs! They've done a fair amount of work for you thus far.
Rolled 98 + 20 (1d100 + 20)>>4113253>Loot the elite! What the hell was he reaching for.>Load slugs! They've done a fair amount of work for you thus far.
>>4113256>>4113261>>4113268This is too good... we are getting super shitty rolls soon
Rolled 5 + 20 (1d100 + 20)>>4113253>Loot the elite! What the hell was he reaching for. (roll 1d100+20)==================================>Load slugs! They've done a fair amount of work for you thus far.
>>4113253>Loot the elite! What the hell was he reaching for. (roll 1d100+20)>Load slugs! They've done a fair amount of work for you thus far.Our rolls finally pay off. We might be a shit captain, but we'd excel as an ODST.
You quickly reloaded your shotgun with some of the slugs you had left, by your count, you were around halfway through your stock of slugs after this reload. Granted, the fight would probably be over before you ran out, but it still put you in a bad position if you had to start engaging targets at long range. You had to rectify that pretty damn quickly, and the best way to do that would be to get looting.You first started by grabbing the elite's plasma rifle. The bulky, blue weapon would give you a bit of long-range capability, but its main draw would be that it could drain shields far better than your pistol, and had a far better rate of fire than your shotgun. You stuck it into your webbing and secured it in place with a strap before moving onto the elite's body itself. You started with the alien's belt, you reasoned that he was probably reaching for something explosive and you turned out to be correct. You found a pair of plasma grenades sat on the elite's belt and secured by magnetic locks. You pulled them off and pocketed them before rooting around for other things that you could use.And after a couple of seconds, you hit the mother-load.>You found a temporary cloaking device. >You found a shield gauntlet.>You found a bubble shield.>You found something else (write-in)
>>4113365>>You found a shield gauntlet.
>>4113365>You found a shield gauntlet.
A quick look at the elite's arm garnered you something very useful, if not unique. An energy gauntlet.Usually standard equipment for Jackals, the energy shield was attached to the elite's arm in a stark departure to what seemed to be their norm. You guessed that it was part of a sword-and-shield combo similar to the types used in medieval Europe, but you couldn't see a sword on his body. Either way, it was almost the exact same as the kind used by jackals, so it was already known to UNSC RnD groups. Which was a blessing, as you could use it however you liked. You unstrapped the emitter from the elite's arm and attached it to your own. If things got bad, you could just snap the shield on and soak some fire. Though it would only be a temporary solution, as it would probably get you quite a lot of attention from the enemy. If your other bits of stolen equipment didn't do the trick."Captain! Captain where are you?" Lieutenant Antonwicz called over the radio as you finished affixing your gauntlet. From the strained tone of his voice, he was probably having a hell of a time."I'm roughly north-west of your location, what's your situation?" You replied as you peeked out from around the corner, looking back the way the elite had come from. You saw nothing there,"Multiple casualties, the elites are pushing on us from multiple angles!" The lieutenant replied before the channel was washed with static, probably from a plasma grenade going off near the lieutenant. When his voice returned, he had apparently decided on what you should do. "You need to go, sir, we can't risk you getting captured!">Outflank the elites! Time to see how they like being on the defensive. (roll 1d100+10)>Reinforce your marines! Nobody's getting left behind on your watch. (roll 1d100+10)>Fall back to the prowler! The lieutenant's right, you can't be captured.>Other (write-in)
Rolled 100 + 10 (1d100 + 10)>>4113518>>Reinforce your marines! Nobody's getting left behind on your watch. (roll 1d100+10)
Rolled 54 (1d100)>>4113518>>Outflank the elites! Time to see how they like being on the defensive. (roll 1d100+10)Negative lieutenant. When they shift focus to me you drop the hammer on the double. Captain out.
>>4113518>Reinforce your marines! Nobody's getting left behind on your watch. (roll 1d100+10)>>4113525Action hero Captain Wells
>>4113525Damn I am chillin with the dice gods today.Fucking Spartan material right here
>>4113518>>Reinforce your marines! Nobody's getting left behind on your watch. (roll 1d100+10)
>>4113518>>Reinforce your marines! Nobody's getting left behind on your watch.Took a nap and came back to Captain America.
>>4113518>Reinforce your marines! Nobody's getting left behind on your watch.
Motherfucking-A, we should've been a damned squad leader on the ground with these rolls. Why can't we be like this in space?Though I guess it's technically lore accurate, better on the ground, whooped in space.
>>4113707If we were a grunt then we'd have died in the second thread with how shit our rolls normally are. Though this is a nice change of pace.
Rolled 70 + 10 (1d100 + 10)>>4113518Also, pretty sure he needs three rolls, guys.
Rolled 41 + 10 (1d100 + 10)>>4113622>>4113777One critfail coming up.
"Negative, hold the position. I'm heading over." You replied to the ODST, before turning back to rejoin the formation."Captain. That's a-" Antonwics tried to protest, but you cut him off before he could give his opinion on what you were planning."If you continue that thought, you're getting left behind." You cautioned the lieutenant, before cutting the channel as you Thinking quickly, you pulled out a plasma grenade, tapped one of the activation buttons, and tossed the device at one of the elites. The grenade flew like a comet through the air and stuck fast to one of the spec-ops elites as he tried to take a shot at your men. The elite had only a few seconds to realize that he had been stuck before the grenade exploded. More importantly, however, the blast collapsed the bit of cover that the elites had been trying to use as cover. The blast cost the elites one of their flanking routes and bought a bit of time for your troops to either rally or retreat.You didn't spend any time to watch your throw, instead, you spent the time sprinting into cover next to your lieutenant. The ODST simply stared at you for a couple of seconds, before then asking. "Ever considered the helljumpers sir?""I might just take you up on that." You acquiesced, before popping up and taking a shot at another elite, punching a slug into it's shooting-arm. You dropped back into cover, just a second before return fire stitched through the air where your head had once been. You took the chance to ask the ODST about what had happened while you had been gone. "What's the situation.""Multiple casualties, but only a few people have been killed outright. It looks like they're trying to hamstring us with wounded. So we're stuck here, and we have no idea how many of them we're being engaged by." The lieutenant explained, before popping his SMG over the top of the cover, and blindly spraying at the elites. He probably didn't hit anything, and he definitely didn't kill any of them. But the extra fire added to the wall of lead being sent their way."How many shooters do we have?" You asked as you looked back at the assorted dead from when the elites had first opened up. You saw a few too many of them still bearing weapons."Including both of us, we have four helljumpers, six marines and a handful of armed civies. Though if they were actually using grenades then those numbers would be way down." Antonwicz explained as he put his SMG on the ground, and swapped out the magazine. He couldn't do it with one hand, but being in a static position allowed him to take his time.>Push up! Unlike them, you can be more liberal with your use of grenades. (roll 1d100+10) >Hold position! You need to get support from Rambler two. (roll 1d100)>Fall back! Getting everyone to safety takes priority here. (roll 1d100)>Other (write-in)
Rolled 61 + 10 (1d100 + 10)>>4114568>Push up! Unlike them, you can be more liberal with your use of grenades. (roll 1d100+10)
Rolled 41 + 10 (1d100 + 10)>>4114568>>Push up! Unlike them, you can be more liberal with your use of grenades. (roll 1d100+10)
Rolled 81 + 10 (1d100 + 10)>>4114568>>Push up! Unlike them, you can be more liberal with your use of grenades. (roll 1d100+10)
>>4114568>You cautioned the lieutenant, before cutting the channel as youAs you what? As you what!?>>4114577These fucking rolls, we are truly blessed in ground combat.
>>4114583Knock on wood but I think we'd have done pretty admirably as a grunt.
>>4114583Remember that hell jumper at the beginning of the quest? I bet if she saw us in action her panties would be wet.
>>4114583If we manage to survive the war maybe we should swap over to the Spartan IV program kek
You took a couple of seconds to think up your next course of action, before realizing that you weren't in a position to either retreat or hold your ground. So that left you only one option, and you switched over to the general network in order to give the order. "Alright, everyone listen in. I need everyone with a shotgun and two other people with rifles to get ready to move, we're going to go uproot those fucking hinge-heads.""There isn't much terrain sir, we'll get cut down pretty quickly." The marine sergeant pointed out, and while there wasn't a lot of cover between your men and the elites, you still had a plan to deal with them."I was just getting to that sergeant. I want everyone with shotguns and some of the people staying behind to prime some grenades with either short or impact fuses. Try to get the grenades behind where the elites are firing from, it should force them to stay down while they wait for their shields to recharge. We can use that time to either sprint into cover, or to get right up in their grills.""And if they push us back? They can annihilate us in CQC." One of the ODSTs asked as lieutenant Antonwicz passed you a pair of frag grenades. You took the grenades and quickly set the electronic fuses to impact detonation, you pocketed one as you gave your reply."Without shields, they go down like anyone else. Prime your grenades and throw on my mark." You ordered, before pressing the button to prime grenade and counting it down. The small light behind the red activation button telling you that the device was now armed. "Three, two, one, MARK!"As one, five people tossed a barrage of hand grenades at the entrenched elites. The fire from both sides cut off almost immediately as one side took cover and another made the area safe for their advancing comrades. The grenades went off almost as one, and you vaulted over the ruined section of the wall you had been taking cover behind. You ran full-force towards the Covenant line, keeping your weapon up and ready to shoot anyone dumb enough to get up. A pair of elites did, and you managed to get a shot off at one of them. The elite you targeted lost its shields from your shot, which opened the way for a wall of assault rifle rounds to take the alien's head off. The second elite went down in a similar way, but not before managing to shoot one of the advancing riflemen. You didn't stop for cover, you pushed forwards past the mounds of rubble that would probably protect you from any return fire. Everyone with shotguns did the same, while more riflemen moved up behind you. The elites didn't get up to take more shots, so you decided to root them out. You pulled your second frag, pressed the button, and called the magic words before tossing it. "Frag out!">CONT
>>4114929This got some movement from the elites, but it was too late. The grenade landed inside a destroyed building and showered the inhabitants with deadly shrapenel. It was soon joined by another from one of the ODSTs. Your men were safe from the blast thanks to the remains of the building that had thus far been the enemy's salvation, and they wasted no time in advancing into the ruins with shotguns ready. The elites in the building were either dead, dying, or about to be one of the two. You lent through a windowframe and finished off one with a blast to the chest, as the other humans finished off the other aliens in the building. But something was off, there were far fewer bodies in the building than what the volume of fire had suggested. And even worse than that, some of the bodies had been jackals."Push forwards! Some might have escaped." You ordered your men further forwards, while you were sure that an inspection of the dead aliens would reveal multiple plasma weapons per shooter, you still wanted to make sure that there were no more survivors. You gave hand-gestures for a marine and a civilian rifleman to follow you, and they soon fell into lockstep behind you. You advanced through the building, and out into a street on the other side, taking some of your men with you. A section of broken masonry shimmered, and you dived to the side just in time to avoid an energy sword to the chest. You brought your shotgun up and blasted the shimmer at point-blank range. Sure enough, the shimmer flared as the stealth elite's shield soaked the shotgun round. The elite promptly dropped the act and revealed itself.Your blood ran cold as you realized that you were facing a zealot.The elite grabbed your shotgun, and you had to practically shove yourself off it just to avoid the elite's activated energy sword. You fell hard on your ass, leaving the elite to tower over you as it tossed your weapon away like a heap of trash. However, he didn't take the chance to end you quickly. Instead, the marine and the civilian both opened fire on the alien officer. The elite ran at them, catching the marine with a brutal back-handed strike that sent her flying into a nearby wall. The civilian wasn't so lucky, as he took an energy sword to the chest. You looked for your shotgun and found it lying a couple of meters away. But you knew you wouldn't be able to get to it before the elite managed to finish you off. You needed to think, and fast...>Get the shield up! Let's see the fucker try and cut through that. (roll 1d100)>Dive out of the way! You don't want to risk getting an energy sword to the chest. (roll 1d100)>Other (write-in and roll 1d100)====================>Pull your plasma rifle! Time to give the fucker a taste of his own medicine. (roll 1d100+10)>Pul your pistol! 12.7mm SAP-HE will put him down without burning you. (roll 1d100+10)>Dive for your shotgun! You're not about to settle for anything less than the best.>Other (write-in and roll 1d100)
Rolled 65, 3 + 10 = 78 (2d100 + 10)>>4114931>Get the shield up! Let's see the fucker try and cut through that. (roll 1d100)>Pull your pistol! 12.7mm SAP-HE will put him down without burning you. (roll 1d100+10)
Rolled 44, 78 + 10 = 132 (2d100 + 10)>>4114931>Dive out of the way! You don't want to risk getting an energy sword to the chest.>>Pull your plasma rifle! Time to give the fucker a taste of his own medicine.
Rolled 59, 75 = 134 (2d100)>>4114931>Get the shield up! Let's see the fucker try and cut through that. (roll 1d100)>Tape him into a cocoon (roll 1d100)
Rolled 31, 47 + 10 = 88 (2d100 + 10)>>4114931>Get the shield up! Let's see the fucker try and cut through that. (roll 1d100)>Pull your pistol! 12.7mm SAP-HE will put him down without burning you. (roll 1d100+10)
>>4114943>>Tape him into a cocoon (roll 1d100)wait what
>>4114963We brought ductape with us.
>>4114964A single (1) roll, and it's regular duck tape.You would have better luck trying to shove it down his throat.
>>4114967duck tape his mouth shut?
>>4114967Oh well, it was worth a shot. It would have been funny if it worked.
>>4114967You whip out the energy shield and turn it on. The zealot bashes on the shield until it gives out. But you where ready. You pull out the lucky duck tape out of your back pocket and and shove it right down the mouth of the zealot. Its eyes widen, confused and surprised, mixed with anger.
Rolled 60, 38 + 10 = 108 (2d100 + 10)>>4114931>Get the shield up! Let's see the fucker try and cut through that. (roll 1d100)>Pull your plasma rifle! Time to give the fucker a taste of his own medicine. (roll 1d100+10)
>>4114931>>Get the shield up! Let's see the fucker try and cut through that. (roll 1d100)>Pul your pistol! 12.7mm SAP-HE will put him down without burning you. (roll 1d100+10)
Rolled 34, 57 = 91 (2d100)>>4114931>>Get the shield up! Let's see the fucker try and cut through that. (roll 1d100)>Pull your plasma rifle! Time to give the fucker a taste of his own medicine. (roll 1d100+10)FUCK YOU, SPLIT CHIN
You brought the shield up and snapped it on. The disc of magnetically contained plasma snapped into being between you and the elite. If the zealot had been surprised, you didn't get time to savor it as he promptly slammed his energy sword into the barrier. Your arm was knocked down as the force of the swing hit you, the two overlapping forms of shaped plasma held each other for maybe a second, before your stollen gauntlet collapsed, the plasma dissipating as the safety system in the gauntlet took the unit offline. And while the shield had held up long enough for you to dodge the swing, the burning sensation from the gauntlet coming close to overloading made you severely regret your choice. And more importantly, it left you exposed.You barely had to dodge his return swing, but even then you didn't manage to escape unscathed, as the blade managed to catch you in the side. You bit down on your own tongue to stop a scream as the plasma blade burned you very badly. You didn't have time to evaluate the injury, but just from the feeling alone, you knew it was bad. Thankfully, however, the elite wouldn't get that second chance without a fight. In the time it took the elite spec ops commander to injure you, you had already managed to pull your stollen plasma rifle with your right hand. The elite's return swing left it open enough that you managed to get a long burst into the elite's shields. Popping it with the first few shots, and delivering a good few hits that burned away ad his armor.And stars filled your eyes as the elite responded with a brutal kick to your injured side. The force of the hit sent you sprawling, your midsection a ball of pain. This time you couldn't stop from crying out in pain. And with the adrenaline temporarily knocked out of you, all of the aches and pains and injuries hit you at once. From the lingering coldness in most of your extremities from your swim and subsequent lack of properly heating up, all the way to the burns on your arm from the overheated shield gauntlet and the energy sword strike to your side. And this time, it threatened to overwhelm you.>Roll 1d100
Rolled 100 (1d100)>>4115066
Rolled 13 (1d100)>>4115068HAHHAHA>>4115066
Rolled 85 (1d100)>>4115066Ha HAHAHAHAhaha...nat1
>>4115066>>4115068R-R-RIP AND TEAR!
You writhed around on the floor in agony as the pain threatened to overwhelm you. You had suffered your knocks in life, but nothing compared to the feeling of your right kidney essentially flash-cooking while still inside you. The pain on your left arm was pretty bad as well, and the two combined to lock your brain entirely. You gave no resistance as the zealot towered over you, already in a prime position to end your life. But he didn't do it instantly, instead, he silenced your scream of agony by grabbing you by the throat and lifting you up. You grabbed his wrist in return and tried to hoist yourself up, hoping to relieve some of the pressure on your neck. But there was nothing you could do as the elite cocked his sword arm back."Pathetic. You will join the rest of your worlds in the wake of the great journey." The zealot gloated as you tried in vain to punch its hand off your neck. You didn't know if it was simply due to the trauma, or the lack of oxygen, but all of a sudden the pain was gone.And replacing it was rage, rage purer than anything you had felt before.Before the final blow could be struck, you planted your right foot on the elite's waist, and brought your left leg up and kicked at the elite's sword arm, the blow caught it in the elbow and knocked the arm back just long enough for you to make your play. You let your left hand drop, and in under a second, it had come back up with six and a half inches of specially treated steel. You jammed the blade into the elite's wrist, causing it to roar in pain as yu buried the blade deep within. There was a sick popping sound, and the alien released you. You dropped to the ground and scrambled back as the elite took the time to pull your knife from the wound. You got back to your feet as the elite popped his wrist back into position from where you had dislocated it from pure rage. In your chest, your heart hammered like a drum. And while the elite seemed dumbfounded that a single human had managed to wound him, your blood cried out for retribution.And you would not deny it.>Draw the plasma rifle! You're gonna put the fucker down with his own tech. (roll 1d100+10)>Get your shotgun! You started this battle with it, and you're gonna send him straight to hell with it. (roll 1d100+10)>STAB HIM! If that fucker is so obsessed with stabbing things, then you'll turn him into a pincushion! (roll 1d100+10)>Other (write-in)
Rolled 79 + 10 (1d100 + 10)>>4115121>STAB HIM! If that fucker is so obsessed with stabbing things, then you'll turn him into a pincushion! (roll 1d100+10)
Rolled 25 + 10 (1d100 + 10)>>4115121>STAB HIM! If that fucker is so obsessed with stabbing things, then you'll turn him into a pincushion! (roll 1d100+10)
Rolled 89 + 10 (1d100 + 10)>>4115121>STAB HIM! If that fucker is so obsessed with stabbing things, then you'll turn him into a pincushion! (roll 1d100+10)Fucking hell.
>>4115131Unbelievable.
>>4115121>>STAB HIM! If that fucker is so obsessed with stabbing things, then you'll turn him into a pincushion! (roll 1d100+10)Yeah there's no shot we're not becoming a Spartan IV after this shit
>>4115121Stab one of is eyes and then punch or push the knife inside is skull
>>4115125>>4115131The power is strong with this one.we need to go Spartan.Maybe aim for the eyes, after stabbing him in his groin
>tfw qm left us on a cliffhanger at the apex of our fight
>>4115391Blueballed. Guess we'll see what happens tomorrow.
At this point, anyone with a sense of self-preservation would have backed up and started shooting. A plasma rifle at almost point-blank would have ended the elite's life fairly quickly. Another option was to simply hobble it with the plasma rifle while you got your shotgun to finish it off the olf fashioned, human way. But your mind was not thinking about self-preservation, there was nothing rational going through your mind as you kicked off and barreled straight at the zealot.You started moving just as the elite dropped your knife. You caught the blade in mid-air just seconds before you barreled into the elite. Normally, an average weight human charging full-force into a one hundred and fifty kilogram alien would result in said human bouncing off like a basketball. However, you used your momentum to jam your knife into one of the wounds caused by your plasma rifle, and when that coupled with the alien's unprepared stance it resulted in the two of you going down with a crash. Next on the agenda was taking out the elite's ability to use its sword. So you stabbed the zealot in the hand that held it's sword, the disabling wound wouldn't kill the hulking horror, but it would stop it from using its sword against you. The elite yelled in pain, grabbed you with its outer wounded hand, and threw you off, causing you to land hard on your injured side. But you were up well before it could capitalize on the space advantage, and you jumped on it again. This time you went straight for the kill with a curse on your lips. "FUCK YOU!" You screamed into the zealot's face as you stabbed it in the right eye. The elite roared as you drew the knife out and jammed it into its other eye. You alternated your stabs between each eye as you screamed again. "AND, FUCK, YOUR, GREAT, JOURNEY!"You weren't making any headway, some kind of hard cartilage between the eye and the brain was preventing you from pushing the blade to its hilt in your weakened state. You still had a bit of time to think as the alien blindly flailed around. You jammed the knife into one of the alien's eye sockets before reaching down and grabbing something hard from your belt. You hefted the small medkit in your hand and raised it up as high as you could, before bringing it down as hard as possible. You hammered the combat knife in as deep as it could, finally punching past the cartilage and into the soft brains of the alien officer. You didn't stop, instead hitting the knife's hilt sideways, levering the blade around inside the zealot's brain cavity. Almost instantly the zealot stopped resisting, but it kept mewling and breathing as your improvised lobotomy robbed the alien of motor functions. And with one final hit, you smacked the knife hard enough that the already damaged blade finally broke away. The hilt and bottom three inched of the combat knife went flying one way, leaving the rest of the blade embedded in the alien's head.>CONT
>>4116453You rolled off the clinically dead elite and stopped for a second to catch your breath. The pain once again flared up, but it was more of a pressing feeling rather than a sharp spike. Part of you knew that was not good, but at the same time, you just felt too tired to care.>roll 1d100
Rolled 72 (1d100)>>4116455ACTION HERO
I seriously hope the cameras on the Pale Horse are picking this shit up.
Rolled 100 (1d100)>>4116455
>>4116472>>4116455BORN TOO COMPETE, NEVER RETREAT, GHOST DIVISION.
Please tell me someone saw this and made a vid
>>4116472Bro my fucking sides. This one spit of ground combat is the best luck we've had in the entire quest so far.
>>4116472>>4116474RESIST AND BITEhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iGtEH1i78sI
Rolled 30 (1d100)>>4116455Also we still need three rolls, despite the 100.
>>4116472Holy shit. These rolls.... anon, good on you.This thread has had more 100s than the rest of the quest put together
>>4116472Yes. Bless this thread. Bless ground combat.Once we return to space combat we are fucked though.
Rolled 38 (1d100)>>4116455Captain Norman Wells, the most badass mother fucker on deck.
>>4116609>>4116576I really hope we have this fight on camera
>>4116619Same. Gotta push ONI to get some extra compensation.
>>4116619I think the ODST helmets have Cameras on em
Before your brain could fully commit to losing consciousness after suffering massive trauma, you raised one of your arms just high enough and dropped it onto your injured side. The sudden, sharp lance of pain caused you to yelp, but at the same time, it knocked the sleepiness out of your mind. You had enough time to open up the personal medkit and pull out a morning call canister. The single-use injector -officially designated as eTG-change- contained a cocktail of simple painkillers, synthetic adrenaline, and cellular regenerators. The effects of the stim were almost instant, as the stim made you feel as if you had just woken up after a long nap. The new surge of energy would keep you up and mobile for a decent amount of time, and while you'd need a specialist drug to keep you conscious for a longer period of time, you still had enough time to tend to your wounds.The first thing on the agenda was a shot of polypseudomorphine to handle the pain. Staying consciously meant nothing if you were immobilized by pain, so that had to be addressed first. The small injection was enough to give you some time to tend to your more injuries and get you moving, and better yet it wouldn't react with any of the other chemicals you had already pumped into your body. Once that was done, you grabbed the thing you'd need to pack your sword wound. The small can of biofoam would pack the wound up in a tight and clean package, and that would do your chances of survival a whole lot of good. You pulled the safety pin out of the can and clicked the nozzle into position. You shuffled the can around in your hand, before gently inserting the tip into the slash wound. You braced yourself for a couple of seconds, before pressing down the tab to spray the chemical foam into the ruins of your lower liver and guts. And even though had taken some heavy painkillers, you still felt the pain of the expanding foam. The feeling of thousands of tiny ants crawling and biting at your wound was intense for a few seconds before it quickly dissipated as the local painkillers in the foam and the dose of polypseudomorphine snuffed the pain. You grabbed a pair of stick-on dressings, and stuck them over the wound, before then wrapping over the wound with basic bandages.>CONT
>>4116780Your left arm was less damaged, but it was still bad. The burns to your forearm from when the shield gauntlet had overheated had remained untreated, and you were about to pay the price for that. You had to start by peeling the ruins of your sleeve and the shield gauntlet off your arm. The gauntlet still hummed with power, so you assumed that it was still functional even if it was a bit scorched. Your sleeve was worse off, as parts of burned skin stuck to it. You carefully peeled it off, cloth and skin coming off in patches. You sprayed on a wound cleaning drug, before lathering on as much medi-gel as you could. You built up a thick coating over the burned section of your arm, before wrapping it up as tightly as you could with bandages and battle dressings. Your hand was still fine, and you could move it about with only minimal pain, so you left it free. You didn't put the shield gauntlet back on, instead, you stuffed it into a free pocket as you shakily got to your feet. It took a couple of seconds before your world stopped spinning, and once it was done, you considered your next moves.>Loot the zealot! As a special operations officer, he should have something you can make use of (roll 1d100+10)>Sit down and rest! Your men will come for you eventually. (roll 1d100)>Regroup with your men! You're still responsible for your marines. (roll 1d100)>Other (write-in)
Rolled 3 + 10 (1d100 + 10)>>4116785>>Loot the zealot! As a special operations officer, he should have something you can make use of Fuckin stoked. Lets loot and scoot.
Rolled 27 + 10 (1d100 + 10)>>4116785>Loot the zealot! As a special operations officer, he should have something you can make use of (roll 1d100+10)This mission has been one hell of a ride.
Rolled 65 (1d100)>>4116785
Rolled 90 + 10 (1d100 + 10)>>4116785>Loot the zealot! As a special operations officer, he should have something you can make use of (roll 1d100+10)
>>4116806Hell yeah
Wow. Too bad we're on an ONI op. This would have made for a hell of a propaganda article or recruiting vid.And hopefully we'll be able to tell our kid brother about it.
Does the fact that I forgot the modifier in >>4116805 mean that >>4116806 's roll is taken?
>>4116874You also didn't choose an option
>>4116874You randomly rolled, and didn't vote lad.
>>4116874Considering you didn't choose an option, I'm actually hoping that's the case.
>>4116874I really fucking hope so
>>4116875>>4116876>>4116877>>4116882Don't try to do homework and post at the same time>>4116785>Loot the zealot! As a special operations officer, he should have something you can make use of (roll 1d100+10)
>>4116956Whats homework?
>>4116967something college students are cursed with
At what point should the Cap expect to see his exclusive invite to a Spartan program?
>>4117075soon. when more ground combat happens
>>4117075I really want to see him lead a boarding party
You glared over at the dead zealot. The Covenant officer had gone down... surprisingly easily. Sure, it had killed one of your subordinates and had almost killed you and another marine. But an officer in a special operations outfit should have absolutely dismantled you, and maybe even your entire marine detachment. You had only just beaten it -through the use of some very brutal and cruel tactics on your part- when it should have taken you apart with little effort. Part of you regretted the fact that it would probably get redacted along with the rest of the mission, but then again, the fact that you weren't dead was good enough for you.Well, that and the spoils.You carefully descended on the Zealot's corpse, taking care not to disturb your wounds too much in the pursuit of profit. The first things you grabbed were the elite's mundane weapons; a plasma rifle and some grenades. You had to use your knife to cut away the muscles in the zealot's wrist in order to pull the energy sword out of the alien's hand, but you'd be fucked if you left the battlefield without the weapon that had almost killed you. At this point, you were starting to look more like a walking armory than a soldier. You'd have to offload some of your kit onto other people at some point, but for now, you stuffed the duplicate plasma rifle onto the other side of your rigging to where the first one was attached and shoved the grenades and plasma rifle wherever you had empty space.Running through the elite's pockets and pouches earned you a very interesting item. You pull what looked like three orbs meshed together into a single device from the elite's belt. You assumed that it was some kind of data module from the ports built into the alien device's side and carefully pocketed it. You pulled some kind of folding-frame tablet from the elite's pocket and extended it, when a holographic display was projected into the frame, you quickly shut it off and pocketed that too.You made one last check to see if you had forgotten anything...>Write in
>>4118649>take his helmet>take a finger as a memento
>>4118649Not sure how to write-in this one given it's ambiguity. But i'm assuming you mean a player decided thing.>HeadLets cut off his head and mount it. With one of two energy swords, we're 2/3s the way there to being Legendary.
>>4118680The only thing I can think of offhand is that Zealot armor contains better cloaking, shielding, and internals than most other Covenant armors and if we were to acquire all the armor he is wearing for ONI, we would have a very happy handler debriefing us.
>>4118697True. We're pretty late into the war but I can't imagine a whole lot of Zealot armors have been scavenged wholesale. I'm a little leery though, small chance there could be some sort of self destruct mechanism in it.
>>4118649>Comm Dyad or someone for a sit rep because we're a few minutes from fall out and pretty badly hurt.Get them to drag this thing's corpse in for study.
>>4118710I'll back this if we are, in fact, actually 1-4 minutes from the prowler. But we still probably have a team to reinforce again, and time is only marching ever forward...
>>4118710Agreed. If we're close lets take the body. If not then a it's helmet.
>>4118710Agree.Also make sure we grab our shotgun. It did serve us well.
>>4118830We should keep that shotgun with us always. It's perfect for repelling boarders too.
>>4118710This. Keep the helmet as a trophy if we're not in range
>>4118710+1
>waiting for OP's Post
>>4120640I am growing deeply concerned
>>4123425Don't be. The past several days have been peak Thunderhead posting. Usually there's a lot more time between posts.
You coughed as you reached up and tried to activate your helmet's communications suite, the system crackling into life as you connected to the local battle net. You could have spent a couple of seconds trying to discern everything that had happened for yourself, but instead, you went right to the person who was coordinating things in your place. "XO, this is control. Can you hear me?""Boss? Fucking finally, we've been waiting for you to respond for a while. What's your situation?" Dyad asked almost immediately after you spoke. Now, you may have been mistaking things due to the pain and the painkillers, but she sounded almost relieved to hear from you. You shook your head as you walked over to where the elite officer had thrown your shotgun, the weapon had bounced off a wall and come to rest next to it."I was about to ask you the same thing." You admitted, before giving her a basic update. You stifled a groan as you carefully knelt down to pick up your weapon. You gently picked the weapon as you gave your update. "Just killed off another elite, though he went down hard. How is everyone else doing?""It looks like the elites fell back to bait us into a trap. We have multiple casualties among the other pursuit teams, though only a few fatalities. I'm sending rambler two to provide reinforcements and medical support." Dyad explained everything that had been happening since you had ordered your men after any alien stragglers. You nodded as you made your way over to where the only other survivor in your fireteam lay. The marine hadn't been shot by the alien, but with the force of the hit she had suffered, the injuries wouldn't be obvious."Captain, your biometrics are reading that you are wounded. Please sit down and await medical support." Diana announced over the radio tactlessly. Though you guessed that it was probably because she thought that she wanted to take the chance to also inform Dyad that you were injured."You're injured? Captain, what happened?" Dyad asked, concern lacing her voice."We just encountered an elite officer, zealot class. He almost punched my ticket." You admitted as you knelt down next to the marine and accessed her biometric readout, almost immediately you were told that she was suffering from brain hemoraging. It was unsurprising, given that a good portion of her helmet had been caved in, though the helmet's impact-absorbing design had probably saved her from being killed outright. You didn't have anything to handle it, so you told your XO. "The rest of my team wasn't as lucky. We have one armed civvie dead and a marine suffering from a brain hemorrhage, get that medic over here stat.""A zealot? Are you sure?" Lieutenant Karmann asked, the small spook further clogged up the line. Though from the small gasp from your XO, she was just as surprised.>CONT
>>4124110"Armour configuration matches and his shields soaked more damage than the others we encountered. Smart and vain too, he taunted me rather than going for the kill." You pointed out as you followed your AI's medical advice and sat up against the wall that the injured marine had been flung into. You felt good enough to move around, but you felt that a lot of that was down to the drugs in your system rather than being medically intact."This changes everything. Regular spec-ops teams are bad enough, but zealots are a sign that the Covenant are very interested in this mission." Karmann stated as you inspected your wounds. If you were perfectly honest, you didn't care much that the mission had gotten any worse. With the mission already in tatters, you didn't want to see if it could get any worse."Boss, stay there. I'm directing the helljumpers and a medic to get you." Dyad ordered, and you decided not to try and push the issue. Instead, you simply had something to add."Have someone find a cart of something, we need to recover the corpses too. ONI will want the armor, especially the zealot's armor." You ordered, before cutting the line. You lent up against the wall and inspected your trusty weapon to pass the time. Aside from some dust, dents, and scratches, it seemed fine. You shoved another few slugs into the weapon, before laying it across your lap.A few minutes later, the helljumpers arrived, lead by Lieutenant Antonwicz. The ODST officer walked over to the corpse of the zealot, before giving you a concerned look after seeing just how it had died. "Damn squid. You sure you don't have anger issues?""Adrenaline is a hell of a drug." You chuckled as the medic scrambled over, you quickly gestured towards the knocked out marine. "Help her first, she's got a brain bleed."The medic nodded and injected the marine with something before instantly turning his attention to you. You grunted in discomfort as he poked at your wounds. The medic added another set of bandages over your torso wound but seemed satisfied with what he saw. "We'll have to give you a proper look back at the prowler, but you look like you're good to move around on your own.""Well, we'd better not waste any more time." Antonwicz decided, before offering you his hand. You grabbed his hand, and let him hoist you to your feet.>roll 1d100+20
Rolled 90 + 20 (1d100 + 20)>>4124113>inb4 we stand up and die
Rolled 70 + 20 (1d100 + 20)>>4124113
Rolled 45 + 20 (1d100 + 20)>>4124113
You waited around for a few minutes as the medic and a conscripted civilian put the knocked out marine onto a stretcher, and picked her up. From there, you were quickly whisked straight back to the prowler, nobody was willing to risk keeping you in such a dangerous area. You kept up with the ODSTs, though you noted that it was taking a lot more effort to simply move around. You'd need something to keep you awake, but for now, you could keep up with them. And even better, the injured marine started to gain consciousness as you moved. You had to order her to stay still, as she tried to get up and move around.Even though you were worried about the possibility of enemy snipers, you encountered nothing as you made your way back to the prowler. You found the prowler well-armed, in spite of the fact that everyone guarding it lacked full combat training. Armed crewmen had set up sandbags, armor plating, and a couple of deployable barricades had been set up too. You quickly made your way into the protected area and looked up in time to see your XO make an appearance."Jesus, you look like shit." Dyad commented as she walked down the ramp. Unlike you, she wasn't wearing any armor. You didn't know if that was due to a lack of spare sets, or a belief that the danger had passed."You should see the squid, he's even worse off." Antonwicz stated, before ordering his ODSTs to take up guard positions around the prowler, you left him to it as you walked up and into the prowler.>Go to medical! You need a more permanent fix to your wounds.>Go to the bridge! You still have a mission to run.>Other (write-in)
>>4124180>>Go to medical! You need a more permanent fix to your wounds.Make sure we're alright first, don't want to collapse on the bridge or something
>>4124180>Go to the bridge! You still have a mission to run.
>>4124180>>Go to the bridge! You still have a mission to run.
>>4124180>Go to the bridge! You still have a mission to run.Get our zealot loot and everyone still alive aboard and get the hell out. We can get to medical after. The Covenant is going to be mad as HELL that a human killed a zealot, and I don't think we have long before we see their response.
>>4124180>Go to the bridge! You still have a mission to run.Ask an orderly to come to the bridge to do whatever they can
>>4124227I agree with this reasoning
>>4124180>>4124227If our stealth capabilities are restored then backing. It's time to go.
>>4124227Did we finish our mission or get the new plating on the prowler?
>>4124312Getting the people was our mission, as was uploading the virus. Check and check.We needed the stealth to get in, we don't necessarily need it to get out.
"So, what's the plan boss?" Dyad asked as you entered the hanger bay proper. You noticed that one of the modular bays had been converted into a triage bay, with crewmen moving around and preparing for the inevitable influx of wounded."Grab the zealot's body and recall everyone, we're dusting off." You ordered as you walked past the obvious medical area, you already knew where you wanted to go."Ok... and what about you sir?" Dyad asked with a fairly large hint of concern and confusion. She probably assumed that you were going to head straight to the medical area."Back to the bridge for me, there's still a mission to command." You told her as you walk out the stern-most door into the hanger, and took a right up the stairs. You knew that you wouldn't be able to keep on deck for too long, but it would hopefully be enough to guarantee that your people were safe."Captain, I must advise you that procee-" Diana tried to warn you, but you cut the AI off before she could continue."I'll get medical attention once we've dusted off. But until then, we need to get moving as fast as possible. The Covenant isn't gonna like that one of their officers got smoked." You assured your AI as you walked through the cryo bay, and past the dedicated med bay. At the very least, you'd be close enough to receive automated help from the med-bay's automatic surgery units.You walked into the bridge and instantly started barking orders, you knew you didn't have much time before the biofoam would break down enough to lose effectiveness. "Diana, cancel all corpse recovery orders for the spec-ops elites except the zealot. Pull everyone back and get ready to dust off. I want courses plotted for both stealthy and rapid orbital entry profiles.""The stealth coating is repaired and ready to go, sir, we can take off once everyone is aboard." The engineering officer called out and pre-empted your question. You nodded as you made your way over to where your improvised command chair was sat. You sat down just before your resident spook walked up to you.>CONT
>>4124386"Captain, I must protest this rushed evacuation." Lieutenant Karmann stated flatly. You gave him your attention as he continued with his protestations. "We have a great opportunity here to recover the armor of special operations elites. Recovering their armor, and the associated active camouflage systems built into them will give us a great chance to understand just how the system works, and how to counter it. Not to mention that leaving now kills any chance we have of recovering the scientists that were kidnapped, without them, we'll have no idea what the Covenant specifically came out here for.""I think I can help you out with the latter part." You stated as you pulled the stollen data module out of your pocket, the bulbous Covenant device instantly caught the lieutenant's attention. You passed it to him in an attempt to placate his concerns."That may be helpful, but that still doesn't change the fact that leaving immediately will rob us of the chance to get out with valuable equipment and information." Karman continued in spite of your attempts to placate him."I don't agree with taking the bodies sir, but why don't we check out the alpha site? The Covenant is likely to have sent forces there, and they might redirect them to reinforce their troops here." Dyad suggested, and you instantly didn't like it, as you were starting to run low on combat-ready men."Or they'll be sent from whatever ship dropped them off. They have to have been deployed from something, and it's likely that particular something is still around." You pointed out a hole in your XO's plan, though you understood her reasoningDyad didn't seem to be phased by your suggestion, but instead, she planned around it. "Maybe it is, but we can figure that out fairly easily. If they're in a rush, they might send a bare and uncloaked dropship over. We can then track its course and follow it to wherever it took off from." >Recover all of the bodies. Karmann's right, you can't leave such a chance behind.>Recover a couple of bodies. Karmann will have to settle with only a handful of corpses.>Recover the zealot. You don't have enough time to>Other (write-in)=====================================================>Fly straight to the alpha site. If troops are pulled from there, your chances of successfully infiltrating will be far higher.>Take off and wait. You may be able to track where the reinforcements are being sent from.>Boost up into orbit. You can't do anything else on the ground.>Other (write-in)
>>4124388>>Recover all of the bodies. Karmann's right, you can't leave such a chance behind.>Boost up into orbit. You can't do anything else on the ground.Grab everything and go. you spent too much time already
>>4124388>Recover a couple of bodies. Karmann will have to settle with only a handful of corpses.Use our runabouts to grab a few and then get everyone aboard.=====================================================>Boost up into orbit. You can't do anything else on the ground.Karmann is welcome to stay behind and grab whatever he likes if he feels that strongly about the issue, but we're on a mission and very vulnerable on the ground.
>>4124388>Recover all of the bodies. Karmann's right, you can't leave such a chance behind.>Fly straight to the alpha site. If troops are pulled from there, your chances of successfully infiltrating will be far higher.
>>4124388Why do I feel like this is the point where we go from rolling like a boss and making an intelligence coup to getting greedy and snatching defeat from the jaws of victory?
>>4124401Politics my dude. Politics.
>>4124388>>Recover a couple of bodies. Karmann will have to settle with only a handful of corpses.>Boost up into orbit. You can't do anything else on the ground.
>>4124388>Recover a couple of bodies. Karmann will have to settle with only a handful of corpses.>Boost up into orbit. You can't do anything else on the ground.We're not fitted for combat ops, or anything other than what we've already done.
>>4124395Changing to>>4124388>>Recover a couple of bodies. Karmann will have to settle with only a handful of corpses.
>>4124388>Recover a couple of bodies. Karmann will have to settle with only a handful of corpses.>Fly straight to the alpha site. If troops are pulled from there, your chances of successfully infiltrating will be far higher.
"We'll recover some of the more intact bodies, but I'm not wasting time to grab all of the corpses when the Covenant is bearing down on us. Because make no mistake, they will not simply let us get away without making some attempt to stop us. And with that in mind, we're getting back into orbit." You decided not to chance it, if there was one thing you could garuntee, then it would be that the Covenant would have been watching the biometric readings from their troops. There was no doubt in your mind that they would be out for blood, and you weren't too keen on giving any more to them."But what about the scientists? They are vital in helping to further our understanding of the artifact." Karmann protested abandoning the scientists that the elites had kidnapped, but you already had a reason to leave."There's little to no chance that we'll be able to recover them with our current combat strength. Keep in mind that we have just a little over one combat-ready squad out of everyone left here. We weren't outfitted for direct engagements with Covenant forces to begin with, and we're lucky we survived this one with only one squad getting mauled. We can't do anything more." You explained as you gestured to your wounded arm, all things considered, you were lucky to be alive. But that would mean nothing if you threw your surviving soldiers into the meat grinder. One zealot was bad enough, and if he had been posted on glorified guard duty, then that meant that there were probably more of them handling other parts of the operation."What about the rebels? They wouldn't like the idea of the Covenant having a spec-ops team here any less than we do." Karmann suggested, apparently deciding that if he couldn't get what he wanted due to a lack of capability from within ONI's forces, then the next best thing would be to throw in with the innies."That's assuming that they don't just kill us outright. Do you really think that they would blame the Covenant for the virus attack and not us?" Dyad spoke up, and you knew that if they found you responsible, then there was little to no chance that you would be able to escape from under their guns."Then we simply pay them in navigation data and send another virus attack when the Covenant show up. At the very least, we can simply send them targeting data for the location of the Covenant ship and let them kill it for us." Karmann insisted, and you couldn't help but feel conflicted about bringing the rebels in. On the one hand, the extra bodies would be useful. But on the other, Dyad was right. Not to mention that once they knew that the Covenant was planet-side, it wouldn't take an idiot to figure out what was going on.>Call in the rebels. You ought to give this one last roll of the dice.>Leave them out. You aren't going to risk this deal going wrong.>Other (write-in)
>>4124463>>Leave them out. You aren't going to risk this deal going wrong.Hell the fuck no. That would be jeopardizing a part of the mission we already completed.
>>4124463>>Leave them out. You aren't going to risk this deal going wrong.Big no, full stop. One in the hand, two in the bush. And the other thing in that bush is probably a pissed off Covenant ship.
>>4124463>>Leave them out. You aren't going to risk this deal going wrong.Fuck that.
>>4124463>Leave them out. You aren't going to risk this deal going wrong.Has Karmann ever actually fought the Covenant? I'm just curious.
>>4124463>Leave them out. You aren't going to risk this deal going wrong.
"I'm not jeopardizing our first mission to accomplish the second. What's to say that they don't just enter the navigation data manually?" You pointed out a hole in the spook's plan. You knew that the rebels wouldn't fall for the same trick twice, and if you couldn't delete the data, then you had no way to guarantee the vice admiral's mission."The only reason why we're out here in the first place is to recover those scientists. We'll be failing our primary objective." Karmann tried to argue that the original mission took priority, and while you were sure that's what the office though, you had far greater loyalty to the actual military hierarchy."The vice admiral's mission takes priority, if you have a problem then bring it up with him. But I'm jot sending what troops we have left into a meatgrinder just to recover some corpses." You killed the conversation right then and thereby pointing out the obvious. Even if you managed to get to where the scientists were being held, then it would only be because the Covenant had already killed them. Karmann seemed to get angry at your insinuation that the scientists were doomed, but instead of yelling, he simply stormed out of the bridge. You decided not to follow him, instead, you directed your attention to the closing stages of the mission.It only took around twenty minutes for the wounded to be carried into the prowler and for the more intact corpses to be gathered up. The marines gathering the bodies placed traps underneath the bodies that they left behind, a surprise for any covenant bastards that tried to recover their dead. By the time the final body was loaded in, everyone had been recovered and you were ready to lift off."Captain, I have identified a set of translation implants embedded within the zealot's corpse. I have been able to copy the information and reverse engineer a rudimentary translation system." Diana revealed as the prowler started to lift off, the thrum of the engines lifting you away from the surface of the planet was surprisingly soothing."Good work Diana, any luck on the data module?" You asked as you lent back into your seat. You were starting to feel the biofoam breaking down now, but from your guestimation, you still had a bit of time before you either had to top it off or go to the autosurgon."Lieutenant Karmann has been overseeing the preparation for hacking the device. I will begin momentarily." Diana answered simply, and you found yourself a bit surprised that the Lieutenant was being helpful. Though that was probably because he thought that the data module contained something that could help to get you to change your mind.>CONT
"Sir, do you want me to stay in the atmosphere while we wait for the decryption, or do you want me to keep us going?" Your navigation officer asked after overhearing the conversation. You briefly considered the merits of being able to respond to any information you managed to gain from the data, but then again, you had committed to leaving. And you didn't want to be hanging around in the atmosphere when the Covenant fleet arrived.>Stay in the atmosphere. If there's something you can work with, then maybe the mission will be back on. (roll 1d100+10)>Boost into orbit. You won't stop your plans just to decrypt a data box. (roll 1d100+10)>Other (write-in)
Rolled 90 + 10 (1d100 + 10)>>4124586>Stay in the atmosphere. If there's something you can work with, then maybe the mission will be back on. (roll 1d100+10)
Rolled 54 + 10 (1d100 + 10)>>4124586>Stay in the atmosphere. If there's something you can work with, then maybe the mission will be back on. (roll 1d100+10)Here's hoping, but... >>4124592 Ok, damn.
Rolled 61 + 10 (1d100 + 10)>>4124586>>Stay in the atmosphere. If there's something you can work with, then maybe the mission will be back on. (roll 1d100+10)
>>4124586>Stay in the atmosphere. If there's something you can work with, then maybe the mission will be back on.
>>4124586>>Stay in the atmosphere. If there's something you can work with, then maybe the mission will be back on. (roll 1d100+10)
Rolled 59 + 10 (1d100 + 10)>>4124586>Stay in the atmosphere. If there's something you can work with, then maybe the mission will be back on. (roll 1d100+10)
"Keep us in atmo, I want us to be ready just in case Diana finds something once she's gained access to the Covenant data module." You ordered, and pretty quickly the prowler leveled off into a holding pattern."Already done sir, I've gained access." Diana announced proudly, you couldn't see Diana's expression due to a lack of a holo tank, but from the sound of her voice, you could imagine a smug grin on her face."That quickly?" You asked your AI. If anything you were incredibly surprised that she was able to crack the system that quickly. Sure, she was an electronic warfare AI, but this was damn quick."Indeed. It would seem that the majority of the anti-intrusion protection on the device was simply the assumption that we weren't able to understand the language it's written in. Aside from that, it's a very rudimentary system. Regardless, what would data you like me to retrieve?" Diana explained, and you could see why the Covenant would settle for a flawed system if they were sure that the UNSC wasn't able to understand their language. Hubris seemed to be a chronic issue for them. Either way, you had an intelligence coup on your hands right now, so you decided to make the best use of it.>Fleet activity! How far away is that Covenant fleet?>Troop composition! How many of the bastards are still around?>mission objectives! Why exactly did they come here?>Other (write-in)
>>4124677>>mission objectives! Why exactly did they come here?
>>4124677>>Fleet activity! How far away is that Covenant fleet?
>>4124677>Fleet activity! How far away is that Covenant fleet?
>>4124677>Fleet activity! How far away is that Covenant fleet?God, knowing how much time we have opens up so many options!
>>4124592Absolutely incredible rolls this thread. What is happening?
>>4124998Eye of the storm. We're going to get eaten by jackals next thread.
>>4125003Nah we are gonna get a pet jackal instead.
>>4125111>become a Jackal's petFixed to actually be a negative.
>>4125114Is it though? I'm sure it's someone's fantasy to get enslaved by a ship mistress.
>>4125128>shipmistressI did not think that through but who would actually fuck a Kig-Yar as a UNDC admiral?
>>4125130Us?
>>4125130The UEG is a big place. I'm sure there's an alien fucker or two out there. Probably a few in ONI, too.
>>4125132Would you honestly risk Space AIDS just for some bird butt?
>>4125137Who knows it could be the Kig-Yar with the human fetish
>>4125137I don't think we would get infected by the flood from that.
OH NO!What the fuck have I spawned.Besides that, Elites are the true Waifu here.
>>4125241We've already done our share of penetration with an Elite. It was good for us, at least.
Getting weird in here, but alright I'll roll with it.
"Find out anything you can on fleet movements. When are they expecting their fleet to get here?" You decided to find out just how long you had left before the literal executioner's sword fell on Arcadia. You had to be out of the atmosphere by then, as your chances of boosting up into orbit without being detected during a glassing attack would be very slim. And last time you checked, jumping to slipspace while in the atmosphere was physically impossible."Understood, one moment please." Diana stated, before going silent for a few seconds. When she came back, her tone was very inquisitive. "Hmmm, a lot of the sentence structure is weird, and they're referring to units of measurement that I don't understand. However, comparison to the chronology of the actions they undertook following planetfall should give me a rough timeframe to compare with.""How long Diana." You insisted. You frankly didn't care too much about the intricacies of the Covenant callender, such nerd stuff was for the spooks. All you cared about was how long you had left."I would estimate half a day at least, a full day at best. But I'm afraid that I can't give you anything more than a rough timeframe to work with." Diana estimated, and you found it not very helpful at all. You needed something you could work with, and a variance of 12 hours wouldn't give you much reliability to work with.>Troop composition! How many of the bastards are still around?>Mission objectives! Why exactly did they come here?>Other (write-in)
>>4125928>>Mission objectives! Why exactly did they come here?
>>4125928>Mission objectives! Why exactly did they come here?
"What are their mission objectives?" You asked for another bit of pertinent information. You doubted that the Covenant had been keeping close enough tabs on Arcadia to know that the facility was there before they made planetfall. So you needed to know what they were here for originally."It would seem that their original mission objective was to -and I quote- survey the relic. I assume that by relic they mean the unknown artifact found by the crew of the Spirit of Fire, because they got very angry when they spotted ONI research teams surveying it." Diana explained, and you couldn't help but smile at how you had managed to guess the Covenant's lack of intelligence. Aside from that, however, you guessed that it was also predictable that the Covenant would be interested in the artifact that they dug up."And after that, they rounded on the ONI facility?" Dyad suggested, and Diana confirmed it."From the looks of it, they found the ONI facility and got permission to capture as many members of the science team as possible. The exact wording of the orders escapes me, but it seems to translate to making the heretics reveal their secrets or something along those lines." Diana explained, and once again you found yourself disliking just how overtly religious the covenant was. It really didn't give much in the way of clear-cut statements.>Find their deployments! Where the hell are they?>Troop composition! How many of the bastards are still around?>Boost into orbit! This intel is nice, but it won't stop you from leaving.>Other (write-in)
>>4126092>>Find their deployments! Where the hell are they?
>>4126092>Find their deployments! Where the hell are they?
"Where are their troops deployed?" You asked another question, this time focused on where their troops were deployed. While you hadn't committed to deploying again, a look at how many places they had deployed to would give you some insight into how large of a force they had deployed."As of their current orders, they split their deployed forces between the ONI base and what I can only assume is the old alpha site. They also have a small reserve force embarked aboard their ship, though given the fact that their ship is listed as mobile I cannot provide accurate positioning for where it may be located." Diana explained, and you finally found a little bit of sense in what the Covenant were doing. Of course, it still left you shit out of luck if the entirety of their forces was made up of elites. But it made sense that they would split their forces."The alpha site? Why would they be interested in it?" Dyad asked, wondering why the aliens would be interested in a mostly-abandoned base."I would assume due to it's small ONI presence and proximity to the alien ruins. From the logs I've recovered, it would seem as if they are using it as a forward operating base while they keep their ship hidden. They don't want to reveal it's presence when there are still a bunch of insurrectionist frigates in the area." Diana explained, and you felt a bit of relief that the Covenant weren't too willing to give up the presence of their ship. But even then, you still had to deal with the ground forces."So they're just as concerned about the rebels as we are. That's good to know." Dyad echoed your relief as you considered what to do next.>Troop composition! How many of the bastards are still around?>Boost into orbit! This intel is nice, but it won't stop you from leaving.>Other (write-in)
>>4126245>>Troop composition! How many of the bastards are still around?If it's predominately Elites then no point in sticking around.
>>4126245>Troop composition! How many of the bastards are still around?If it's anything but Elites or Hunters, then we can stage a rescue.
>>4126245>>Troop composition! How many of the bastards are still around?
>>4126245>Troop composition! How many of the bastards are still around?
"Can you find anything on what troops they have deployed?" You asked your final question, and this was the elephant in the room if you were considering deploying your troops. The Covenant probably wouldn't risk their ship getting shot down, so if you were going to put boots on the ground then it would be a good-old infantry fight."That will be tricky sir, but from what I can gather they deployed with an original force in the range of around forty individual soldiers, with an extra twenty in reserve." Diana estimated, and you were ready to pack it in right then and there. Your forces had only just survived an encounter with a dozen special operations elites and a zealot. You were in no way ready to fight a force of elites larger than that."So that means that we're facing around thirty of the bastards at the old alpha site and twenty more in reserve. Given that we only encountered twelve during our engagement at the ONI base, we're likely going to encounter around thirty of the bastards at the alpha site, and we have no idea what we're facing over there." Dyad put your thoughts into words and given her less than enthusiastic tone, you guessed that she shared your lack of enthusiasm with your chances of getting boots on the ground."Fortunately, I have been able to identify the Covenant name for the race we have identified as elites. From there, I have been able to establish that a majority of the elites deployed to the artifact site were relocated to bolster the forces deployed to guard the base. They apparently swapped places with a larger force of unidentified Covenant ground troops, so it may be safe to assume that the majority of their forces are made up of lesser units, such as grunts and jackals." Diana explained, and you found a small glimmer of hope in that assessment. The Covenant loved to field disposable troops like grunts and jackals to bulk out their lines, and while it didn't make sense to have them take part in such a sensitive operation, you guessed that old habits died hard. Either way, grunts, and jackals were far easier to kill than regular elites, numbers were about all they had to work with.Still, something was bugging you...>"Diana, when was the relocation order given?">Get ready to land, you're going for broke.>Boost up into orbit, you don't have the numbers for this.>Other (write-in)
>>4126386>>"Diana, when was the relocation order given?"I"m not liking this at all.
>>4126386>"Diana, when was the relocation order given?"
>>4126386>"Diana, when was the relocation order given?"We're gonna have the same +/- 12 hour variance aren't we?
>>4126386>>"Diana, when was the relocation order given?"
