Privateers, Pirates and Mercenaries!

OOC

Spoiler:

Tetra:
"Coaxials at 80%!"
The Hades' Gates guns blaze, and shortly after the lead Bird of Prey blows apart into two segments, with one flying in and hitting the Hades' Gate's port outrigger before harmlessly deflecting off the deflectors in a dozen more pieces.
The next two BoPs fly by, strafing the ship's hull while still taking a serious beating from the Hades' Gate's guns.

J-Red:
The fourth BoP wheels around to face the Dark Flame, and charges in, its remaining main gun firing wildly.
However, this proves to be futile, as the ship soon loses its remaining armament, followed shortly by its nacelles.

"Reopen comms to the Hades' Gates!" Captain Hawkins orders. "Captain, the fourth Bird of Prey has been disabled! All weapons are dead as are the engines systems. Awaiting your orders."

"Assault team, on standby; helm, bring us in to boarding range. Dark Flame, shift your attack to the main convoy, but don't get over your head. We have these ships handled,"

"Aye sir!" Captain Hawkins replies. "You heard the cap'n! Target the main convoy! Let's finish this!"

J-Red:
"On it!"
The Dark Flame moves in for the fleet, with the Wreker following nearby and opening fire.
"They're returning fire!"
Six of the BoPs who remained with the convoy, sitting in place, send volleys in the direction of the Dark Flame and the Wreker, lighting up their shields brilliantly, while the two pirate ships pound them as well.

Meanwhile, the last two BoPs lock onto the damaged freighters with tractor beams, and begin dragging them off, while the other two freighters follow.

Tetra:
"Assault teams ready to board!" "We're in position for boarding!"

One of the bridge crewers turns around quickly. "Sir! Sensors indicate the convoy ships are preparing to warp! The Wreker's got one of the undamaged ships still in warp interference, but the other one is in the clear, and the other two freighters are being towed!"
"Coaxials charged! Firing solution acquired!"

"Those other two Birds of Prey are rounding about and heading for our rear thrusters, Captain! They're set for a ramming trajectory with our starboard flank!"

"Assault teams launch; I want that ship intact. Intensify rearward firepower, focus on their engines, bridge- anything to immobilize them," Talvis' left arm gripped it's armrest noticeably tighter as the right one opened a clear box installed on the front of its. In the box were two buttons, each directly linked to the ships's primary coaxial cannons, and the list of possible firing solutions. Talvis selected one solution for each weapon- both targeting a separate towing Bird. "Wreker, Dark Flame, be advised: we're firing the coaxial. Stay clear of the projectile's arc. Focus your fire on the last remaining freighter- disable it, do not destroy. Hades' Gate, out," And with that, he pressed the buttons.

Captain Hawkins strides up to the forward viewport and examines the Eden's Corsair's prey. "You heard him! Get our butts out of the firing arc!" All cannons target the rest of the enemy ships, IQ, see if you can get that main cannon online!

"Sir, you know that we have been unable to unlock the..." IQ begins.

"Just try! We haven't for a while, so now's as good a time as any!"

Nik: Two simultaneous tremors rock the shuttle you're in, as the Hades Gate fires off two rounds from its Coaxial guns. Then the troopship drops, nearly knocking the motley bunch of pirates inside off their feet before the inertial dampeners can compensate for the sudden G-forces.

A minute or so later, warnings sound, indicating that the shuttle will soon impact against the target ship. The shuttle's co-pilot fires up the boring device attached to the front of the ship, and a beam of energy lances out, striking the Bird of Prey's hull and searing through it. Moments later the shuttle impacts against the spot, crushing through a layer of near-molten armor plating like an anti-tank shell through butter. The entire crew is thrown forward none too gently as the shuttle smashes through the warship's interior, finally settling a stop.

"Move it! Get a move on! We gotta take this ship!" The hatch blows open, and the assault begins...

Tetra: The two cannons fire, releasing bright flashes that last for an instant from the bow. An instant later, both Birds of Prey glow brilliantly as their shields buckle under the sudden strain, and then the two ships erupt into flames, their warp cores propelling chunks of hull in all directions.
"Direct hits, Captain!"

J-Red: The Dark Flame's cannons open fire, raining blows on the next of the two remaining freighters. However, before it can sustain any significant damage, both freighters reach the end of their path, stretching out then vanishing in an instant as they enter warp. Meanwhile, the remaining six Birds of Prey encircle the other two freighters, clearly not ready to give up yet.

After the drop, Tom completes his routine and readies his weapon. Once the hatch eventually opens, Tom lets two or three fellow pirates exit ahead of him before stepping out of the shuttle. Upon exiting with his rifle at the ready, he tries to see what's in the room, what there is for cover, and what lies beyond.

Talvis gripped his chair's arms yet tighter; complete victory was slipping away. Quickly composing himself, he tapped his comlink- "Flame, Wreker, disable the freighter's FTL engines and pursue the escapees. I don't care if they jump to Qo'noS itself, hunt them down. The Hades' Gate will deal with the remainder. Talvis out,"

"Aye sir!"  Hawkins replies. "Follow those freighters, helmsman!"


{OOC} In other words... where do I drop out of warp at?{End OOC}

Nik: The room is filled with sudden shouts, both from the pirates and the Klingon welcoming party, and the hiss of energy weapons sizzling their way through the ship's slightly thin atmosphere.

With apparently slightly greater numbers on their side, the Klingons begin to reach the group of pirate boarders, and suddenly begin hitting their ranks and engaging in melee combat. Already you see three Klingons break past, charging for you...


J-Red: The Dark Flame and Wreker jump to FTL, loosely in the direction of the freighters that escaped, heading farther through the dense nebula...

One of the bridge crew suddenly shouts. "Sir, we got 'em on our scanners!" The Dark Flame exits FTL, slightly overshooting the freighters but not by much. Meanwhile the two freighters begin to reorient themselves, probably recharging their warp nacelles for the next trip; Also, the Wreker is nowhere to be seen, apparently having missed the freighters on their own sensors.


Tetra: The remaining six Birds of Prey, meanwhile, set to work trying to again tow the freighters, with two grabbing on with tractor beams while the other four place themselves between the line of fire of the Hades' Gate and the towing BoPs...

"Intensify forward firepower. Lock torpedoes on the towing vessels, fire when ready. All hands, fire at will. Helm, vector towards the retreating ships- they will not escape."

"Bring us about to give them a broadside!" Hawkins orders. "Target their bridges then their warp nacelles! We don't want them escaping this time!"

"Comms, contact our fighters and tell them to regroup with the Hades' Gates if we're not back before they're finished with their sortie."

Tom immediately drops to his left knee. Resting his rifle on his raised right knee, he fires off a series of shots - aimed at the softer parts of the enemies' faces - into the oncoming trio with his weapon hand while unbuckling his knife with his left hand.

OOC: IIIIII'M BAAAACKK! Where do I drop in at?

[OOC] Uhhh, you're probably on the boarding party? Dunno. [/OOC]

OOC: My character was hardly a frontline combat personel.

[OOC] In that case... ask Arik. [/OOC]

{OOC} Speaking of Arik, can we get some GM action over here please?{End OOC}

So, update, I'm pretty busy at the moment. I've been doing an online "introductory" class for college the last week-ish or so, as well as trying to start earning a little money via online crowdsourcing/freelancing sites. Tomorrow (Saturday) evening I might be able to get on and do some stuff, and Monday I'll be finished with my college class and will possibly be more free until college starts up mid-September.


Now. Assignments for people.

One- I think I'm gonna switch "game mechanics" again. Writing up decently interesting responses to everything takes too long, and I think I might opt instead for a simple-ish game mechanics system, so as to reduce the amount of storywriting creativity I have to put into this.

But I need ideas from you guys on what to use. The simpler the better, but I also want it to be either story-based enough or complex enough to still be fun and not monotonous/repetitive. So if anyone has any thoughts or suggestions on some mechanics for combat, that'd be awesome. I'll work on coming up with something too.

Two- I think I already assigned this job to somebody (Tetra or Dino, maybe? ), but I could also really use a few lists of "items" for you guys to purchase. I need a list of starships to buy, including warships and starfighters, a list of weapons you can give your ship, and then a list of other ship upgrades. Take whatever liberties you want in coming up with these, since you guys are probably more familiar with the main PCG-verse than I am anyway, and whatever gets added in should be fine.

Three- I'm also a bit bare on story, admittedly. I have some ideas on how to proceed, but if you guys have any suggestions to throw out it could help. (Though of course I'll add my own spin to anything I use to keep the story interesting and unexpected)


So, there you have it. I can keep the story going until the end of this one battle, so plot-wise we're temporarily okay.
Having a game mechanic system might be handy for this battle, especially for the boarding parts, but I can still string things along for as long as needed.
Aaand the item list can wait, but just keep in mind you guys can't buy new stuff until I have one. (Evil laughter )

[OOC] Item list? On it. I don't think I could do that alone, but I could certainly lay some foundations. Hey, might get me back into writing, so maybe I'll finally start really typing up all the Draugr stuff. And those PCG ships. And my summer assignments.

Huh-boy, this is gonna be an interesting next few weeks. [/OOC]

{OOC} 1. I have no clue on game mechanics. I guess whatever you'd be satisfied with doing in the long run works for me.
2. I am also of no use here, although I may be able to throw together some upgrades or infantry weapons if needed. Wouldn't really be ST accurate, though...
3. Um. We're privateers, pirates, and mercenaries. Something along "establish a primary base, raid for a while, start a crime syndicate, raid for a while, expand, raid for a while, profit" is all I can really think of. {/OOC}

OK, here's a sort of WIP list for both ships and weapons. Tell me what you think of each:

Ships:

Ship Weapons:

Keep in mind, these are all rough numbers; the weapons in particular I'm thinking of reducing the cost of, given the relative cost of the ships. Thoughts?