Second Star on the Right

[SilentPsycho]

Frakking nebulae, and frakking machine spirits! Austirn thought angrily to himself. To him, the fact that an overgrown ball of gas would cause him this much trouble annoyed him. Pacing the bridge in annoyance, he moved to an internal communications panel.

"Engineering. Kalyn, do whatever you have to do to get the lances working properly. And while you're at it, see what you can do about these sensors. I'd rather not have to resort to looking out a vision port and looking for the enemy with a telescope."

Before he got a response from Engineering, he cut the link. He paced towards one of the exits, turning his head to Lieutenant Kawolski, "Inform me of any major changes or when we get out of this bowl of soup. I'll be in my quarters."

[Captain Seato]

Engineering gives Captain Austirn a positive, though static-heavy, response before he cuts the connection.

"I'm not sure we can even find our way out at this point, captain," Lieutenant Kawolski replies with a grin. "It's enough to keep abreast of Sword of Righteous Fury."

"I wonder if they're having the same trouble we are," he says, looking at the intermitently static-y bridge screen showing the dark, looming shape of their sister ship.

[Lord Jacobus]

"Magos, Can we rig up some torpedoes with sensors and comm systems so that we may use them as forward probes?" Apawet asked into the comm. He glanced out one of the viewscreens toward the Custodian. He took another gulp of Cofee and waited for the Magos to respond.

[Captain Seato]

Oddly enough, the report from the Magos is almost unintelligible due to static.

"I cannot and will not perform such an action, on the grounds it would insult the torpedo's Machine Spirit!"

The members of the bridge crew happen to overhear the Magos's words and give their captain worried looks.

The looks of people with something to hide.

[Lord Jacobus]

"Magos... i am sory, i did not think that it would offend the machine spirits, i was merly wondering that is all" He looked around the bridge at his crew. "What?" he snapped "you have work to do, so get to it, your shift change is in the hour." he turned back to the comms. "Magos, would it be possible at all, to create a probe so that we may navigate through the nebula more easily?"

[Captain Seato]

"No, captain," the Magos replies, his irritation carried through the static-filled transmission.

"You should already know that we're almost clear of it anyway."

[Lord Jacobus]

"very well Magos, inform me if anything goes wrong with" He turned back to the viewscreen and continued to drink his cofee.

[Captain Seato]

The passage through the nebulae is uneventful for the two ships.

As soon as they exit, their systems return to full capability.

Suddenly the sensor operators on both ships raise the alarm; two contacts ahead, to port.

[Lord Jacobus]

"Conn, Sensors 2 targets desgnaiting Seirra one and Seirra two of the bow" Called out the sensor chief. "Sensor, Conn, Can you make and identification on them ?" Apawet Responded.

[SilentPsycho]

The automatic doors barely had time to open before Captain Austirn had burst on to the bridge. What the hell? When it rains it pours... With the vessel now on alert status, Austirn allowed the lax in protocol for the bridge crew to get on with their tasks. Without breaking step, he began to bark off orders quickly.

"Mister Dengar! I want a identification on those two vessels immeadiately!"

"Aye, sir," the sensor officer answered, peering closely at his display screens closely through his spectacles.

"Mister McCoy, get the lance decks and shields charged, and torpedoes loaded!"

With a dark grin, the weapons officer responded, "With pleasure, sir."

Commissar Sato began to move over to discipline McCoy, but Jerimiah held his hand out in front, speaking lowly, "Can't fault him for his enthusiasm, Commissar."

Simultaneously, he pressed for the, now very familiar, internal comm system. "Tech-Priest Kalyn, I hope you can rouse the machine spirit properly for this."

"As you wish, Captain," can the heavily staticed reply, which ended quickly, as the connection was closed. The cogboy knows what needs to be done.

"Miss Yar, open a channel."

Looking for the confirming nod from the young woman, Austirn straightened himself, pulling his uniform straight. Might as well give this a shot.

"Unidentified vessels! This is the Imperial starship Custodian Eternal. You have violated Imperial territory. Power down your systems and prepare for boarding or you will be fired upon."

Considering the area of space, it was madness to suppose that these vessels could be of any other origin, but Austirn decided there was no harm in trying a hail. At the very least, it could buy precious few extra seconds for the systems to come online.

[Captain Seato]

"Contacts tagged as Sierra one and Sierra two, respectively, aye," the sensor operators call out.

"Captain Apawet, contacts have launched attack craft and are powering up engines, weapons and shields," the sensor officer reports.

* * *

"Scans identify the ships as Nelson and Nazca, captain," he says. "Devastation class cruisers."

"Carriers," the first officer notes. "Long range lances, port and starboard. I bet they're going to try to cross our bows, Captain Austirn."



OOGM:
1. Be sure to order any maneuvers you wish to make in your posts, so I can include them in the updated maps. I didn't think of that, but your ships would still have forward momentum, so your ships have still moved, but only one hex forward.

[Lord Jacobus]

"all ahead flank, Load all tubes and open main doors, make ready for fireing torpedoes. Gun crews to their stations. Lets get hese basterds" Apawet smiled as he roared out orders, his crew snaping to. The lights on the bride blikned and switched to red lighting. "Nav, execute 10 degree turn to starboard and bring us dead on with target Seirra one" Apawet orderd. The engines roared as they accelerated to a full speed. "Magos, gime what ever power you can to engines then on my mark switch to port shields, i intent to Broadside thos basterds" He said into the comms.

[SilentPsycho]

Austirn stared at the contact screen. Fiddling his chin, he gave an agreeing grunt.

"You're probably right, Mister Kawalski," he replied, "Let's make sure they don't get that chance."

Without breaking glance with the contact screen, the Captain began to bring the first parts of his plan into the real world.

"OK, this is how it's going to work, people. Mister Odle, I want us to go forward with everything the engines have got. Mister McCoy, fire torpedo salvoes as quickly as they're loaded. I want their course to be plotted to force the enemy vessels to break formation. Alert the turret crew and armsmen they're about to get company."

[Captain Seato]

Ten degrees? the helmsmen wonders. His back is still sore from an earlier whipping, so instead of asking for verification, the young man turns the ship ever so slightly to starboard.

Meanwhile, Nelson's bombers continue to close on Sword of Righteous Fury, leading their mother ship.

The crew grab hold of any nearby stanchions as the call goes out, "They're firing lances!"

The enemy lances slam into Sword of Righteous Fury's shields.

* * *

"Captain, they've crossed our bow," the first officer cries out in alarm.

"Enemy lance decks opening up, captain," Sensors reports.

Custodian Eternal shudders as the terrific energies are diffused by her shields.

* * *

Crewmen on both ships shake off the effects of the lance strikes.

The reports back to both Captains Apawet and Austirn bring a momentary relief. No major damage to either ship.




Attack roll against Custodian Eternal
Attack roll against Sword of Righteous Fury

This post has been edited by Captain Seato on Aug 25 2006, 07:25 PM

[Lord Jacobus]

"Sir, Shields abblated the energy of the strike, enginering repotrs minimal asthetic damage" Calls out one of the crew cheifs. "Sir there directly in front of us!" Yells the sensor operator. Apawet Stands up,"Now, fire torpedoes! and reloaded all tubes" he oders, his crew seeing his devius plan, by turning 10 degres ad making himself look incompetante, he made the enemy underestimate him, know they were lined up directly ahead of him. "Helm, 45 degree turn to port, Weapons, as soon as you have an accurate lock... open fire on target Seirra (thats the Nelson by the way)!"