Chapter Nine: Year 300, 6th Day

[BackworldTraveller]

Admin: Claim to Criminal Damage Restitutions?

[joertexas]

Admin: Claim to Criminal Damage Restitutions?

Pretty much. Also, anyone outside the hull might want to get back inside in the next minute or so. Just sayin'...

[The Bindoner]

Arnwolf, close the cargo hatch! The Queen’s manoeuvring and Hoshiko is not clamped down.


In a calm but emphatic voice: Assana, there is a pod-launch hatch near the passenger airlock, please open it for me. The cargo hatch needs sealing too, if you could.

[ateno]

In loud understandable speech

"The tongs are a breaching machine, after they open, they will then flash bang. Wait for the last bang, about 5 seconds, then acquire and and fire. Who ever does not have a weapon, follow me."

Pranit grabs his shotgun reloads and scrambles to his feet, heading for his stateroom.

"Follow me. There is a blasting sphere and a Cutlass in my room, in the open case. I'm going to give them a surprise."

He then grabs his LI/IR goggles turns them on and attaches then on his forehead, ready to slam down.
He changes his clip out to the full one. loaded one had 5 rounds left, one other full one left
"If there is smoke and not sure of your target, Challenge is 'App', response is 'mujhe', 'Moogehe'. Don't got out of room unless you have to. The Sphere is a one time throw weapon, twist to activate, its charged. Armor is there if one of you want to take the time.

Leadership:
Wahoo Effect 7, Noor and Maggie may have 2 extra dice to roll. Miya, Assana and Ulrika may have one.

He grabs the table and puts it on the side in front of the elevator.
Then crouch's down at the side of the elevator, pulls off the thermite grenade from his calf and puts it in his left hand, shotgun in right, waiting for the sound of the salad tongs breaking thru the door.

[BackworldTraveller]

Combat turn 19
Pranit
Pranit can feel the hum through his feet - and as he leans on the wall he can hear movement on the other side. What's going on isn't clear as Assana's commentary has ceased for the moment.

Noor & Maggie, , Assana and Ulrika
Noor appears in the door of the crowded stateroom. Her request for the laser sees Assana having to break off what she was doing and untangle the battery pack and power cable before passing the weapon out. She returns to the hacking console just in time to relay: Ulrika says that that's made them jump - she thinks you hit one.

Miya and Zid
Zid and Miya are still struggling into suits. They are interrupted in this by having to pass Assana's Laser to Noor.

The Drivers
Absolutely nothing from this pair

Indrani and Tiberius
The pile of chairs extends somewhat when the announcement about "Nudging" the air raft is received. For "Nudge" read "Crash"? And all that loose furniture!

Nālani
Nālani recognises the thrum through her suit immediately. Her requests to Assana just get brusque "OK"s from the teenager. Hopeful, she clips herself to the safety lines and edges her way towards the drop-pod launcher's outer hatch.

Arnwulf
Moving quickly across the cargo bay, Arnwulf gets to the ventral edge of the opening and swings around on the grabs, finding his feet on the ladder. Unslinging his captured auto-rifle, he lurches upwards one handed seeking to get a sneak shot at the air-raft as it manoeuvres into the opening - It's not there yet, only the nose is clear of the roof's mesh - But he estimates where the occupants would be sitting and fires through the bottom of the vehicle seeing a neat row of holes appear right where he'd hoped they would. The vehicle seems to jerk, but there is no sudden flame or plume of smoke - just paint-chips glittering as they fall.

And the whole ship moves under his feet. Not by much - with that, Arnwulf realises that he can feel a buzzing through his suit. The engines are running! Someone has started moving the ship.

Reven
Reven finds the BIG RED BUTTON and presses it

START

And the HSE-1008 M-Drive starts to gently hum, a slight resonance at 60Hz only just audible - but more felt through the heels.

Instantly alarms start to ring: Cargo Door open. Hull Breach in Bridge Fresher.

Reven turns them off.

The sliders are moved gently upwards and the hull creaks as the stresses of several years in a docking cradle unwind to be replaced with new stresses from the ships drive field. Balanced nicely, the vessel is ready to undock.

[joertexas]

Combat turn 19
Balanced nicely, the vessel is ready to undock.

Indrani keys the comm. "Reven, take us out through the bay door, quarter power, please." She switches to the all-hands channel. "All hands, stand by for acceleration, brace for collision. All hands, brace for collision."

She turns and goes to the emergency locker to extract a rescue ball. "just in case, we will run into a stateroom and get into this."

[Stirling]

Tiberius O'Hare

"Indrani. You demonstrate complete incompetence in trying to fly the craft out of a hangar. You have broadcast your surrender to the crew and told them to lay down their arms. Now you want to flee into outer space.

Stand down and countermand the order to fly. Immediately."

I insist.

If necessary by pointing my gun across the room at her head.

I am not going to let some idiot crash and burn, especially when in character I own a quarter of the ship.

[joertexas]

Tiberius O'Hare

"Indrani. You demonstrate complete incompetence in trying to fly the craft out of a hangar. You have broadcast your surrender to the crew and told them to lay down their arms. Now you want to flee into outer space.

Stand down and countermand the order to fly. Immediately."

I insist.

If necessary by pointing my gun across the room at her head.

I am not going to let some idiot crash and burn, especially when in character I own a quarter of the ship.

If Tibbs brings that weapon up, he'd best use it. I recommend a head shot, because he won't get a second chance.

"Relax, Tibbs. It's obvious now that surrender isn't an option, and no one heard it anyway. The bay door is half open, so we're just pushing it out of the way. We *are* in outer space - I'm just taking us away from the station's structure a little. You can fire me later, but not while hostiles are threatening us." She turns and looks at him with a completely expressionless face, her eyes locked on his, with the two kitchen knives held in reverse grips in each hand.

[The Bindoner]

As she works her way carefully to the pod-bay door Nālani contacts Assana again: Assana, the ship is taking off, I do not know why. Pirates must have control of the drives. If you have to choose, close the cargo hatch first. I can hang on, Hoshiko cannot save herself. Seal her in.

[ateno]

Pranit realizes they could not care and they could be in vacuum below.

*Who knows what they did to get in.*

Pranit reaches for his vacc suit and grabs the extra air supply and tubing. He makes sure the valve is off, stands up where he is, places the cylinder in the head hold of his undersuit, letting the reinforced plastic tube hang.

He listens very closely to the elevator with his ear on the wall.

Loud enough so people in my deck can hear.

They are on the bridge and below us, taking off has freaked them out.

Pranit takes a large breath and breaths slow and steady. Stretching out his back and shoulders.

[Bluetongue]

Arnwulf

Climbing the ladder to a point I want to get level to the raft and continue to shoot anyone inside, preferably boarders and turret gunners.

How far away is the raft? Can I board it?

Arnwulf fires assault rifle [2d6+2]=5+2=7 [2d6+2]=9+2=11 [2d6+2]=10+2=12
Arnwulf fires assault rifle [2d6+2]=10+2=12 [2d6+2]=5+2=7 [2d6+2]=6+2=8

Arnwulf damage from assault rifle [3d6]=12 [3d6]=6 [3d6]=11
Arnwulf damage from assault rifle [3d6]=11

[BackworldTraveller]

Arnwulf

Climbing the ladder to a point I want to get level to the raft and continue to shoot anyone inside, preferably boarders and turret gunners.

How far away is the raft? Can I board it?

Arnwulf fires assault rifle [2d6+2]=5+2=7 [2d6+2]=9+2=11 [2d6+2]=10+2=12
Arnwulf fires assault rifle [2d6+2]=10+2=12 [2d6+2]=5+2=7 [2d6+2]=6+2=8

Arnwulf damage from assault rifle [3d6]=12 [3d6]=6 [3d6]=11
Arnwulf damage from assault rifle [3d6]=11

Range: 30m straight up at the start of the turn but descending through the opening in the roof mesh-structure after which it will be obscured by the hull of the ship as both it and the ship move as it heads over to the other side (unless your shots cause it to malfunction).

[SpinwardMarch]

Maggie

She feels the slight movement of the ship and dashes to the closest available bunk to brace herself. Next will undoubtedly come the "crunch."

This will at least slow the invaders. Hope the ship holds up.

[BackworldTraveller]

Combat Turn 20
It's now 9 minutes since the whole fiasco started and just 2 minutes since the first borders appeared on the roof!

Queen of the Belt - Crew Deck -End of Foray Round 20.jpg (254.61 KiB) Viewed 341 times

Pranit
The sound of the door-opener being deployed isn't rattling through his head (his ear being pressed to the wall) but sounds like it's coming from just above him. It seems the guys in the shaft are heading to the bridge first. A temporary reprieve?

Maggie
Ever cautious, Maggie heads into Reven's stateroom and climbs into teh bunk...If the ship is going to crash, the bunk is a good place to crash in.

Noor
Noor clips the powerpack to her belt and readies the laser pistol. It's an old model, but said to be reliable.

Assana and Ulrika
Assana is still trying to give a running commentary:
They have one guy trying to open the Bridge lift door with the salad tongs, and they've disabled the camera in the middle lift section so I get a terrible view of decks 3 & 4 lift shaft. They've thrown something into the bridge - its fogged half the room!

What Ulrika?

The grav raft's been hit again and its fallen through the door and swerved to avoid whoever's shooting at it.



Zid and Miya
The cabin isn't really big enough for 5 people, two of whom are trying to get into Vacc Suits. But both are progressing.

Indrani and Tiberius
The action appears to be two floors up.
Carry on with the barricade?

Nālani
Listening to the commentary from Assana, it isn't clear she's heard her - but then the door to the drop pod launcher opens. Slowly, and aware of the drop below her, she starts to climb in.

Arnwulf
Climbing the ladder one handed while shooting at the air-raft above him, Arnwulf sees his shots hitting where the seating area should be. The raft lurches through the opening in the hanger doors and slides sideways out of sight - blocked by the bulk of the Queen's hull as it moves across the hanger.

Having reached the roof of the Cargo hold, he can see Nālani slipping into the open pod-launcher, but is quickly made aware of the guys on the catwalk - he's hit twice - his suit takes the blows (1 point of damage to STR or DEX - your choice) but there's a crack right across the face-place that looks concerning! Arnwulf is definitely going to need to perform suit maintenance when he stops fighting. I think you are also out of ammo from this clip

Reven
Phase two: Disconnect the cradle. The "Clunk" is unmistakable as it releases and the ship bobs a bit as Reven carefully balances the forces trying to pull the Queen to the floor of the hanger.

The cradle's withdrawal past the ships protrusions appears incredibly slow...

...And there is movement inside the hanger as the air-raft lurches through the gap taking fire from somewhere. It slides across the nose of the Queen missing the bridge roof by only a small margin, steadying slightly just over the pilot's position on the bridge.

[ateno]

"I'm heading to my stateroom. They have gas or smoke "

Hands the shotgun to the Delivery man. "Hold this."

Starts to don armor, [1d6]=3 rounds to put it on.
Round 1 done

Check to see if I switch arms and legs while in a hurry:
[2d6+4]=8+4=12

He takes the O2 container out and will strap it to his belt when his pants are on.

Thought to self "Well with the smoke or gas we have atmo."

Grabs his combo mask.

Yelling "Who wants a Cutlass?

[SpinwardMarch]

Maggie

I will take the cutlass. At least I can use that. Hope there is a mask somewhere in here.


Melee: Blade+2.

[The Bindoner]

Nālani gratefully slips into the cover of the podbay. Looking back as she reaches for the control panel she sees Arnwolf climb up from the cargo bay.

Arnwolf! In here, quickly!

She braces herself against sudden lurches of the ship and waits for Arnwolf to reach safety with her.

[Bluetongue]

Arnwulf


I would have like to have jumped onto the raft and boarded it but it seems to slip from view before I can make near it.

Reloading as a minor action, he shoots the people on the balcony. He is getting a bit pissed now. Just how many people are there?

Might be six less now ....

Arnwulf fires assault rifle [2d6+2]=9+2=11 [2d6+2]=7+2=9 [2d6+2]=8+2=10
Arnwulf fires assault rifle [2d6+2]=11+2=13 [2d6+2]=9+2=11 [2d6+2]=12+2=14
Arnwulf damage from assault rifle [3d6]=10 [3d6]=14 [3d6]=10 [3d6]=3 [3d6]=13 [3d6]=12

[cybersavant]

Reven
Phase two: Disconnect the cradle. The "Clunk" is unmistakable as it releases and the ship bobs a bit as Reven carefully balances the forces trying to pull the Queen to the floor of the hanger.

The cradle's withdrawal past the ships protrusions appears incredibly slow...

...And there is movement inside the hanger as the air-raft lurches through the gap taking fire from somewhere. It slides across the nose of the Queen missing the bridge roof by only a small margin, steadying slightly just over the pilot's position on the bridge.

Reven Stiilpahth shifts his view from the cradle creeping away to the flight path of the air raft, ready to adjust the Queen's flight once clear of the cradle.

[BackworldTraveller]

Combat turn 21
Pranit
Pranit heads towards his cabin, looking for his armour.

Maggie
Maggie hears the shouted question but from her bunk, figures that no one is going to bring it to her.


Noor
Noor watches Pranit move away from covering the lift exit, but is interrupted by Zid saying her name "Do you want a filter mask?" she's asked? Zid, part clad in a vacc-suit is holding one towards her.

Assana and Ulrika
We've lost the air-raft. It had 6 or 7 in it and its inside the bay! They only had 1 person left in the lift shaft when I lost the last camera. I guess they aren't using them to watch us now!

Zid and Miya
The donning of Vacc Suits keeps going - id interrupting the climb into the glorified plastic bag to offer Noor the superfluous filter mask.

Indrani and Tiberius
The action appears to be two floors up.
Carry on with the barricade?

Nālani
From inside the pod-launcher, Nālani can see the walls start to move as the ship backs off the docking cradle. Arnwulf bravely reloads with the bullets from the roof scattering around him - sees him shoot upwards and sees him stagger almost to his knees as he's obviously hit (again).

Arnwulf
Arnwulf is finding the whole exercise of finding the ammo clip and reloading exhausting, but he manages to do so and fires upwards, One of the targets vanishes, and the second is lifted off the walkway and topples over the edge - pinwheeling as he falls somewhere between the Queen and the bay wall - taking a strange route as the ships grav drive interacts with the falling body. The final catwalk shooter able to get a clear shot hits again, and again the suit leaves little to show for the hit (STR:-1 again). And then the hammer falls - the sniper has shot from somewhere and he's knocked forward (DEX:-5). n.b. There is only one guy left on the catwalk that you can see and he shot (hitting) and scooted to cover.

(n.b. this is now leaves Arnwulf with the 1st 3 stats as 410 - any extra hits and he's going down. Worse, his suit's leaking from the back somewhere behind his right elbow)

Reven
The cradle has retracted and the ship is free in the bay - balanced on its grav drives it can now manoeuvre inside the bay to make the safest exit or blast to make the fastest. The grav vehicle has slipped further to port and dropped down level(ish) with roof of the crew deck - just above the level of the crew airlock.