Off topic: Spacefarers (a sci-fi RPG)

[Captain Trek]

OOC: To answer your question, Himura, the Indomitable (as well as the Merchant's Pride and her escort) are considered to be out of play as their creators (SilverWingedSperpah and Da_Higg, respectively) have left the game.

The Indomitable warped out well before the rest of the ships were transported to the new universe and the Merchant's Pride may be assumed to have left the area (only to be destroyed by the Xargon, presumably).



IC: "Some of our torpedoes are being absorbed by some kind of gravitic shielding," Kevin reported calmly. "The vessels don't seem to be equipped with standard deflector shields, however..."

"They're returning fire!" Tabatha called out.

The bridge shook slightly as the antimatter from the enemy cannons was dispersed by the Adelaide's shields.

"The second largest enemy ship is firing beams of anti-matter at us..." Tabatha reported. "Shields are holding..."

"They've broken into several attack groups," Kevin reported. "They're trying to separate us, destroy us each individually... with 3-to-one odds or worse against us..."

The Adelaide shook again as more anti-matter cannons opened fire.

"Incoming fighters!" Tabahta shouted

"Attack pattern delta!" Henry ordered. "Flak the fighters with the dorsal main phasers!"

Pattern delta was a combined phaser/photon torpedo salvo. The ventral phasers fired in long, controlled bursts, orange beams slicing through space like sinister nadion whips, whilst photon torpedoes began to fire in a regular spread from both forward launchers, targeted not only on the Carnage itself, but also on her escorts. The dorsal phasers, meanwhile, broke into a series of short bursts, which would be distracting, if not downright deadly, to the incoming fighters.

Through all this, the Adelaide did not itself move to close with the Carnage. It stayed close to the other ships...

"Open a general transmission to the allied ships," Henry ordered as the salvo began.

They weren't really allied ships at all, but Henry felt that they would have to at least act like a fleet to have any chance of survival...

"Channel open sir," Albert replied a second or two later.

"This is captain Baker to all allied ships," he said. "I'm not sure if any of you have noticed, but they're trying to split us up and destroy us individually... Don't fall for it, I recommend we stick together..."



OOC: By the way, cue the cool battle music.

[Himura.Kenshin]

Oh, by the way, there's a couple more weaknesses I've thought up...

Hint: Balck holes themselves can be as harmful to those that they're designed to protect.

[Natch]

OOC: All info on my ship can be found on page 2. Also, I have a lot to catch up on. For the sake of my fingers, we're all assuming that the Drill Bit has so far has heard all transmissions, and is currently defending the Sword of Ragnorak.

IC: The T-12 Drill Bit was doing an impressive display of acrobatics around the damaged flagship, intercepting some shots, and taking direct hits from others. The Latair, being so ancient, had long since abandoned deflectors in trade of pure armor.

The armor is special in that it is made of capracrien(Ka-prak-re-in), a metal compisite that will actually take any and all harmful energy and turn it into kinetic energy, which is then evenly distributed through all the armor. This even distribution means little damage is imparted to the ship as a whole, and no one area will ever become weaker than another.

Captain Noldum was at the main console, letting the ship's crew do the work of handling the ship. A beep sounded, signaling an incoming transmission.

"This is captain Baker to all allied ships," he said. "I'm not sure if any of you have noticed, but they're trying to split us up and destroy us individually... Don't fall for it, I recommend we stick together..."

Captain Noldum broadcast to the piloting crew to stick near the allied ships, and avoid getting drawn out. He took a moment to wonder why he hadn't been aimed at yet.

He figured that he was just lucky.

[Temujin]

Hiron listened as one of the allied ships commed there "fleet". He then turned to the tactical screen again, watching as the Xargon closed. He had seen this too many times, and these cannons were new. He remembered some of the "old" Xargon weaponry, thing powerful enough to slag an entire planet. He had witnessed one of these slaggings

OOC: Person who is playing the Xargon(Forgot your name, sorry), I can describe the FTL system I have already referenced the Xargon having, though ifyou want to make your own or use another go ahead. This one just explaines how they can cross galaxies. It also fits with the Xargon tech. my ship uses it as well. It basicaly takes points A and B, plots out all gravity inbetween those points, and then manipulates it so the points are right next to eachother, and moves through. Obviously it takes some serious calculating skills to jump galaxies, which is why the Astari is stuck here.

IC: Hiron reviewed their run over the doomed cruiser. Its black holes had turned in on the ships as they had chased the Astari across its hull.

" Signal all ships. This is Captain Hiron of the Astari. If we can get close enough to those ships, those gravity generators will turn in on themselves. I have fought these people before. The key thing is too keep moving, and focus your fire on one ship at a time, overwhelm its defensive gravity generators, or as I call them, shields, and then destroy it, move onto the next one."

" Helm, we will engage the enemy more closely."

" How much closer."

" Point Blank should suffice. Have the Grav Cannons prepped for Black Hole Mode, I want a hole punched through there defensieve net."

" Aye sir."

OOC: Descripition of weapons:

Grav Cannons: These work similarly to zero point energy generators. By taking the energy inherit in space and focusing it, they can cause a domino effect and basically push an amount of energy across space. It looks like a blot is flying, but in actuallity, energy is pushing energy, so that the energy that hits an energy ship is not actually the same as the energy that is fired. They can also be turned on too black hole mode, condesing an area of space into infinite density for a short period of time.

Particle Beams: This graviton beam creates a tunnel and then bombards its target with exotic sub-atomic particles going at very high speeds.

Plasma Missile: These missiles upon impact effectively fragment, sending millions of pieces of superheated gas everywhere. Very good at destroying weapon turrets and fighters.

Gauss Cannon: Fires large shells that have been artificially or naturally been compressed to the same level as the materials within Neuton Stars. Very dense and good at destroying capitol ships. Rather Innacurate.

Railgun: Same projectiles as Gauss Cannon, just smaller and fired several thousand times faster.

[Captain Trek]

The Adelaide began to reverse. One of the strengths of impulse engines, as opposed to other kinds of sub-light propulsion, were that not only did they allowed one to decelerate and accelerate quickly, but they also allowed a Federation ship to fly backwards with almost the same speed and maneuverability as if it were flying forwards. The ship banked as it backed up, engaging in partial evasive maneuvers, all the while still lashing out with its powerful phaser arrays.

"Shields are down to 87%!" Tabatha reported as the ship was rocked yet again.

"Incoming transmission!" called Albert. "On speakers, sir..."

"This is Captain Hiron of the Astari. If we can get close enough to those ships, those gravity generators will turn in on themselves. I have fought these people before. The key thing is too keep moving, and focus your fire on one ship at a time, overwhelm its defensive gravity generators, or as I call them, shields, and then destroy it, move onto the next one."

"I've scanned the gravity shields on those ships," said Kevin. "I'm pretty sure that would work..."

"Possibly," Henry agreed. "But how could we do it without splitting off from the rest of the fleet?"

"What about the Runabouts?" Dante inquired. "They're pretty tough little buggers... I'm sure they could do it..."

Hnery thought for a moment.

"Very well," he finally said. "Bridge to shuttlebay..."

"Shuttlebay here," came the reply.

"How soon can you reconfigure the Runabouts for combat purposes?" Henry inquired.

"It'd take a moment to rig up the torpedo pods, sir," the deck crewman replied.

"Then get to it!" Henry insisted. "None of us have more than a moment, please try to make haste..."

"Aye sir," the crewman replied. "We'll have the Lofty and the Gambier ready to go as soon as possible... Shuttlebay out..."

Another spread of photons burst fourth from the Adelaide's launchers...

[Natch]

OOC: Okay, whose turn is to post?

I'd go, but it's not my style to leave people behind.

[Captain Trek]

OOC: It's not anyone's 'turn' really... If you feel you have something you could contribute, just go ahead and post...

[Anarki]

Well, I guess I'll go.

----------------------------------

Tal-Ket turned to the technician talking to him.

"Commander, incoming transmission."

"Onscreen."

"This is Captain Hiron of the Astari. If we can get close enough to those ships, those gravity generators will turn in on themselves. I have fought these people before. The key thing is too keep moving, and focus your fire on one ship at a time, overwhelm its defensive gravity generators, or as I call them, shields, and then destroy it, move onto the next one."

"It seems that I was right in making the decision to move much closer."

"Plasma beamers are in range, Commander."

"Open fire. Deploy Shieldbreaker assault drones. Destroy them."

[Arcalane]

The Asimov's shields crackled and rippled, a visible spheroid of energy around the massive carrier repulsing the antimatter assaults. Had they been "lower tech" military weaponry, the Asimov probably wouldn't have lasted long - but environmental shielding, on the other hand, was a beauty to behold, especially combined with higher-grade shields. It was only through sheer luck, however, that the MTDS "Bastion" and NovaTech "Hazmat" were compatible. The "Hazmat" resistance amplifier effectively reduced a shield's 'standard' resistances, and instead focused it on defense against environmental hazards. This made the shields extremely resistant to anything and everything found near anomalies, which could often render "exotic" or other unusual weapons useless.

Antimatter resistance was an added plus, though.

The Asimov's fighters continued to weave about the capital ships, the Broadswords dogfighting and covering the Typhoons as they made their attack runs. The Asimov's ion cannons also continued to fire, raking at the Razor's Singe, gradually (if slowly) working to turn it's armour into slag.

Finally, several small radar signatures detached from the Asimov. Not much bigger than MHD, detailed scans would reveal the nature of the launches; similar mechanical "marines" armed with grapples, hull cutting equipment and packing more strength than a platoon of industrial earthmovers combined. Normally quite slow under their own propulsion, these focused and deadly - if suicidal - warriors hopped and swung from fighter to fighter, picking off Xargon fighters that weren't being harassed by the point defense guns. Grippers would rip and tear through plate armour as if it were tissue, and all sorts of cutting gear would slice in, tearing open hatches for the marine to violently disembowel the fighters of internals and crew before hopping to their next victim.

~~

Meanwhile, on the Asimov's bridge, MHD and Doctor Michaels were conversing.

"Shields taking paint damage. Seems to be antimatter weaponry."
"Bah. Those idiots should know better; antimatter is not a toy."
"Nor an ideal weapon in many circumstances. The power requirements to generate antimatter - even in tiny amounts - are far better spent on existing weaponry."

MHD nodded.

"Exactly. The creation, containment and delivery system costs far outweigh the destructive benefit. The last recorded use of antimatter by any known civilization was--"
"Three years ago, during the Paravax war. A minor surface-conflict between two clans of a low-technology race that ended in the destruction of the entire planet."
"--yes. The Paravax-Cataline Clan themselves tried to fire the gun, did they not?"
"Indeed. It appears, however, that their mysterious benefactor had not taken into account their curiousity. They had tampered and removed a series of limiters--"
"--that would have reduced the device's power tenfold, to that of a 20th Century Terran nuclear device."
"Instead, the shell exploded during the loading sequence, vaporizing the entire planet."
"And wiping out the Paravax along with it. Though I suppose they shan't be missed. What is it with all these crazy insectoids that seem hellbent on killing each other, or everyone else?"
"It's a territorial psychological malfunction, I believe."
"Really?"
"Well, once they advance to the necessary size, mass and evolutionary stage, one would assume they would advance in intelligence and social aspects, but instead their original structure tends to strengthen. Instead of seeing simple intruders as hostile, they regard all as hostile, paranoid that any would bring about the downfall of the hive."
"The Kit'Chong are an interesting example to the contrary."
"Indeed! It's almost strange that they could become intergalactic merchants. And yet here they are, puttering around the galaxy and trading with anything that can be traded with."

MHD lazily glanced over at the command console, then at the conference screen as the low hum of the ion turrets built up in the background.

~~

OOC: Don't take the antimatter thing personally, it's just that I hate seeing it thrown around like a toy given the supposed numbers and destructiveness involved, even if it is just technobabble.

[Anarki]

OOC: My ship uses antimatter weaponry, but it is not created on the ship - it's in form of ballistics.

[Captain Trek]

OOC: Well, despite that they use anti-matter in both their ships' power cores and their torpedoes, I like to think that Starfleet treats anti-matter with the utmost respect, particularly given that they are comparatively careful and cautious with how they conduct their space operations.

I don't much like seeing something so volitile carelessly tossed around like that either... but anti-matter flame throwers aren't against the rules and frankly, they're something a bit different, which is always good in a game like this...

[Himura.Kenshin]

OOC:

Well I guess I can be lumped in with the throwing around anti-matter. I really don't have much care for numbers and technobabble, and generally I just pick something that entertains me at the time and tie it in to my tech.

As a fifteen year old American, I am within the nation's top 5% brightest students (my age group, and non foreign, of course =P). However, the average intelligence of the top 5% in America corresponds to a much larger percent in many other countries .

To be precise, I don't have much knowledge on antimatter at all. Everything I know about it is from general use in sci-fi shows and forum talk (nothing too deep).

IC:

Karon 'Zan kept a constant stream of data running to the captain's display. As tactical officer, it was his duity to make sure that all commands were undertaken and that the captain was fully informed of the battle's proceedings.

"Captain. The Razor's Singe's cannons are appearing to have little to no effect on the large battlecruiser's shields. They seem to be specially immune to our method of weaponry - specifically, the antimatter cannons."

Zurox 'Xor watched the proceedings carefully, taking special note of the way that the damage seemed to be spread across the shields.

"Order the captains of the Death and Decay (light destroyer), Strife (light destroyer), and the Sacrafice[/i] (heavy corvette) to attack by code Gar-Zak'Qua. The remaining of the group is to flank the [i[/i]Razor's Singe Also, the flanking battlegroups are to plan at their own discretion."

Basically, the plan was for both light destroyers accompanied by the heavy corvette to surround the most forward located ships and open up their black hole generators as close to the enemies' hulls as possible. Thus, the shields would be weakened and they would allow more firepower to break through.

Silently, Zurox 'Xor wished that the Xargon hadn't relinquished their more conventional hyper velocity particle cannons in many of their new scout groups. Never mind, they won't be standing for much longer.

[Anarki]

OOC: I would personally think that an antimatter flamethrower would be highly ineffecient - it would just annihilate if some dust was floating in front of the cannon barrel, I would assume. So I based my ships to use antimatter stored in conventional ballistic ammunition via. magnetic trap.

Also, the Spirit of Battle is apparently on a COLLISION COURSE with the Death's Rose.

And lol @ 5% American smart.

[Himura.Kenshin]

OOC:
And lol @ 5% American smart.

. Duke did a widespread testing thingy. If you think about it, it's only one out of every 20 people D=. Just in my school - and it's a pretty high level school that's part of an international Meritas corporation - I'm atleast one out of every 40 [/cockiness] (Deserves a second ).

I am quite literally the textbook definition genius by birth slacker by choice (well maybe not genius =P). However, I do get my grades in - somehow (I really have not a single clue how I can with my huge procrastination skills. 4.75-4.85 freshman grades ftw =P =D.

[Captain Trek]

OOC:

I would personally think that an antimatter flamethrower would be highly ineffecient - it would just annihilate if some dust was floating in front of the cannon barrel, I would assume.

Actually, no, beucase matter and anti-matter mutally anihilate on a 1-to-1 basis. As such, if our 'flamethrower' comes into contact with space dust on its way to an enemy ships, the same (tiny) amount of anti-matter would be anhilated, leaving the rest free to hit the enemy ship...