Characters: All
NPC: All
Location: Miishakaal, en route to jump point
System: Ikhog
STATUS: The Qa Livk has an outbound velocity of 288,000 mph. It
has 180,954 miles to go for safe jump distance. ETJ: 38 minutes.
Miishakaal has an outbound velocity of 130,909 mph and is 281,997 miles
from safe jump distance. ETJ: 129 minutes.
The Ueknou is still decelerating and has a velocity of 124,364 mph and is
92,742 miles from Miishakaal.
The pursuing Buccaneer has a velocity of 235,636 mph and is 60,016 miles
from Miishakaal.
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The Buccaneer has ceased accelerating.
Gvarokh says to the crew, "Hold up on the firing guys, I'm going to try and
stall them."
He hails the Buccaneer with audio and video. He waits for about 30 seconds
before he gets a reply. He keeps his solar glare shield down to hide his face.
When he finally gets a connection, he's taken aback. The corsair captain is
human! He looks to be middle-aged with grey peppering his beard stubble and
short hair. It's hard to tell his body type as he's wearing a vacc suit.
The corsair captain speaks first, in Galanglic. "Coward. You don't even have the
decency to show your face."
Gvarokh is further taken aback, for of all things he could be angry about, or
say, or threaten, or even think, he is worried that he can’t see my face. Weird.
He then replies in perfect Galanglic, “I had no idea faces were so important
when people are trying to kill each other. I thought it was preferable to keep
the enemy faceless and unknown.”
"I prefer a visual when dictating the terms of surrender. It lets people know I
mean business."
With that, Gvarokh drops the glare shield, showing his luscious Vargr face.
The corsair captain laughs. "Oh man, I gotta hand it to the Vilani. Quite clever
of them to send vargr into vargr territory to rescue some humans. No wonder we
never got tipped off that you were coming. Can't imagine why you'd work for them
though."
Gvarokh ignores him and continues, “You and your comrades have fought valiantly
and tenaciously. However, I request that you stop the pursuit at this time.”
"Stop now? We've taken out your jump drive, my guns are almost done charging for
the next volley. Why the hell should I stop now?"
“How about we at least stop shooting at each other right now? This ship already
has millions of credits worth of repairs it will need, and the two damaged
raiders are going to need millions of credits worth of work, too. Every shot
either of us take at each other will only add to that total. Your ship is
pristine right now. Every shot we hit with is going to be millions more of work
required. Each shot you hit with is going to decrease the value of the potential
capture.
“So, I figure we both need a cooling off period.”
He chuckles. "Are you trying to negotiate? Cause it sounds like you are. Look,
I don't care if I have to take your ship apart and sell it for scrap. The only
reason why you're not dead already is cause you've got those plasma turrets,
though I'll be damned if I know how you got them. But that doesn't matter right
now. All I need to know is, are you ready to surrender?"
Gvarokh would do a face-palm if he wasn’t wearing a vacc suit. He sighs and then
says, “You don’t get it, do you? We have already taken two of your ships apart
and you still haven’t stopped us. I tried to make it easier for both of us, but
you just can’t seem to wrap your head around it. Let’s see who can dismantle
whose ship first.”
The look on the corsair captain's face is one of incredulousness. Gvarokh cuts
the link before he can say anything more.
To the crew, Gvarokh says, "Ok guys, fire away."
Simrii sighs, "Silly monkey."
Vincent blurts out, "Berserker Barrage! Sorry guys, I just get excited when I
can shoot at assholes!"
Characters: All
NPC: Chuck, Uengghae, Kagfak
Location: Miishakaal, en route to jump point
System: Ikhog
Vincent and Simrii start firing on the Buccaneer.
Vincent hits the dorsal side of the cargo bay (it's two decks tall) on the
starboard side midway down. Judging from the location it narrowly missed the
starboard maneuver drive. The residual plasma burns into the deck, some of it
drips out the ventral side.
Simrii's shot hits fairly close to Vincent's, just forward by 12 meters. While
it isn't near the starboard maneuver drive, the residual plasma does drip out
the ventral side.
STATUS: The Qa Livk has an outbound velocity of 288,000 mph. It
has 156,954 miles to go for safe jump distance. ETJ: 33 minutes.
Miishakaal has an outbound velocity of 130,909 mph and is 271,088 miles
from safe jump distance. ETJ: 124 minutes.
The Ueknou is still decelerating at 1G and has a velocity of 117,818 mph
and is 94,105 miles from Miishakaal.
The pursuing Buccaneer has a velocity of 235,636 mph and is 51,289 miles
from Miishakaal.
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The Buccaneer fires first. One turret hits. The port lateral cargo lock
floor is punctured. The residual energy burns through the deck ceiling but
doesn't damage the already punctured fuel tank.
The Ueknou misses.
The Buccaneer flips over and begins decelerating at 3G.
The Qa Livk jumps ahead of schedule. With any luck, it will make it back
to Vilani territory safely.
“Uh, guys, this guy is going to try to dock with us under plasma fire.
Incredible.
“We have two choices: Keep fighting or pretend to surrender. If we pretend to
surrender, Kagfak will relay the surrender claiming to have killed me. I know
that if we keep fighting, they will get at least four more shots on us. If we
fight, there is no guaranteed we will be able to jump. If we surrender, there is
no guarantee we will win. If we do win, we just upgraded our ride.”
Dougok replies, "I think we should just take them out in a volley of fire rather
than risking a boarding action."
Vincent adds, "I am confident in my abilities, at this range we can start to
pick the ship apart. Give us a couple of shots at them, it would be nice to
upgrade, no?"
“Well, don’t forget that if we are going to upgrade, we want to stop shooting
NOW, as we are then just smashing up our new ride. That’s why we need the
decision immediately. Otherwise after two rounds it will have no bridge and no
turrets. Not a good ride anymore.
“So, the issue is to continue the fight, which means we will never try to take
over the corsair, or surrender immediately and try to take the corsair over with
hand-to-hand combat.”
While the crew would prefer to keep firing the turrets, they continue to prepare
for a boarding. Chuck suggests that they take a chance on the misjump instead
now that the Qa Livk has gone.
Gvarokh decides to keep firing for now and tells the gunners to aim for the
turrets. He asks Vincent if he can hack the Buccaneer at this range.
"I can try to piggy back on a comm signal, but it won't be easy."
In the meantime, the gunners open fire. Vincent takes out a turret but Simrii
misses.
Gvarokh tells Kagfak to open a channel to the Buccaneer. He has two
minutes before the Buccaneer and the Ueknou can return fire. The
Buccaneer captain makes him wait 30 seconds before responding.
"What?"
Once the communication is established, Vincent gets to work on his hack.
Gvarokh says, "I wish to discuss the terms of surrender."
"I already told you there would be no discussion. Power down your turrets..."
"No, I am not talking about my surrender to you. I am talking about your
surrender to me."
The Buccaneer captain emits a scoffing sound and terminates the
connection.
"Did you get in, Vincent?" Gvarokh asks.
"Nah. There wasn't enough time."
One shot from the Ueknou hits the forward cargo lock exterior door,
rendering it inoperable.
One shot from the Buccaneer hits the starboard fuel purification plant,
rendering it inoperable.
The gunners fire another round. Simrii misses again and swears up a storm. Vincent hits, knocking the Buccaneer down to two turrets.
Neither the Ueknou nor the Buccaneer fire on Miishakaal. The Buccaneer has altered its orientation to be perpendicular to Miishakaal. and is firing its thrusters to introduce a vector that will push it away from Miishakaal.
STATUS: Miishakaal has an outbound velocity of 130,909 mph and is
216,543 miles from safe jump distance. ETJ: 99 minutes.
The Ueknou is still decelerating at 2G and has a velocity of 78,545 mph
and is 106,650 miles from Miishakaal.
The pursuing Buccaneer is no longer decelerating. Its outbound velocity
is 196,364 mph and its radial velocity is 19,636 mph. It is 17,489 miles from
Miishakaal.
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When the ETA for the next volley of shots from the corsairs came and went,
Gvarokh gave the order to cease fire. He tells the crew, "The Buccaneer is
doing exactly what I told him to do if he wanted to live. We're going to take
advantage of this opportunity and switch from boarding prep to damage
assessment. I want Vincent and Simrii to monitor the Buccaneer closely. If they
fire on us again, take out their remaining turrets. I'll give you further
targets from there."
Vincent replies,"Cap'n, I don't mind taking out the other turrets just to be
safe if you'd like. No need to take any chances, they might be planning
something devious."
Gvarokh declines. "They might, but I doubt it. Breaking off like I ordered was
a pretty big message. If we fire, they will be compelled to return fire. We
really can't afford to take any more hits."
Characters: All
NPC: Chuck, Uengghae, Kagfak
Location: Miishakaal, en route to jump point
System: Ikhog
STATUS: Miishakaal has an outbound velocity of 130,909 mph and is
183,816 miles from safe jump distance. ETJ: 84 minutes.
The Ueknou is still decelerating at 2G and has a velocity of 39,273 mph
and is 117,286 miles from Miishakaal.
The pursuing Buccaneer is no longer decelerating outbound. Its outbound
velocity is 196,364 mph and its radial velocity is 78,545 mph. It is 1,125 miles
behind and 7,364 to port of Miishakaal.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Buccaneer is now coasting. Gvarokh instructs Kagfak to monitor its
movement. If he sees any change in its status, he is to report it immediately.
The damage assessment comes in. Besides the obvious holes in the hull, the port
lateral cargo lock exterior door is fused shut due to slagged mechanism. Most,
if not all, of the gears and servos will need to be replaced.
The forward cargo lock will work but it will not seal. It can be repaired here
but will require attention to detail. 3 hours.
The starboard fuel purification plant will need some new parts. It can not be
repaired here. It will also not function. However, the port fuel purification
plant can be used, though it will take twice as long.
The punctured fuel tank can be repaired, but must be done from the outside.
Including the two hull punctures, this is a 6-hour repair job. Haste will speed
this task up but make it more hazardous.
The jump drive damage is too severe to be repaired here. New parts will be
required. Fortunately, the starboard module is operating just fine and will
provide the ship with jump-1 performance.
Lakir asks, “Guys, with a position of 1,125 miles behind and 7,364 to port,
what's the chances of them getting good hits on us as we run out? That douche
didn’t seem to be the surrenderin’ type.”
Vincent says, "Pretty damn good, which is why I offered to take out his
remaining turrets."
Gvarokh says, "No, we're going to hold off on that for now. He knows that if he
starts firing again you guys will tear him apart. So long as he abides by my
terms, we'll leave him be.
"Once we reach safe jump distance, we're going to microjump to Aekhotsroeg,
which is one of the other gas giants. We'll swoop in to a moon with some decent
craters, land, and patch the holes in the fuel tank and the hull so that we can
top off our tanks, fill the bladder and pressurize most of the ship."
STATUS: Miishakaal has an outbound velocity of 130,909 mph and is
151,089 miles from safe jump distance. ETJ: 69 minutes.
The Ueknou has eliminated its outbound vector and is now headed inbound
at 2G.
The Buccaneer is decelerating at 3G at a 45 degree angle so that it is
eliminating its radial vector and outbound vector at the same time. Its active
sensors are turned off.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Gvarokh tells Kagfak to keep a watchful eye but does not engage it. He
pressurizes the passenger deck so that the rescue ball refugees can climb out
and stretch.
The Buccaneer eventually eliminated its radial vector and oriented itself
to give its outbound vector full deceleration. There have been no signs of
deception. He must've accepted defeat.
Gvarokh lets everyone know he's going to power up the jump drive. Some people
are crossing their fingers, others offering up silent prayers.
Gvarokh gives the word that he's enaging the jump drive. And then he does.
Next: Microjump to Aekhotsroeg