Time passed so far: 3:30 (min/sec) (2:15 passed last turn)
Amenra
Do an aileron roll under Dino’s engagement in order to close on, and track Taepilus. Try to aim, lock-on, and fire at Taepilus. If no lock-on is possible before the end of the turn, then take my best shot. Then try to roll around a smaller asteroid and get behind Karthus.
If Taepilus stops being a valid target, attack Karthus or the next closest enemy instead.
Jamming your engines to full throttle, you rush beneath Dinosawer, doing an aileron roll as he and Squidhead close in on each other. Taepilus is at the far side of it all, but you can see him clearly - the light from the nearby star is reflecting off the aft of his ship, and his engine thrusters are visible as a cyan glow. You grin and pull the trigger.
... Except, nothing happens for a moment. Then, one of the screens on your right light up. "Damage detected; top engine overheated." No sooner does it say this than you suddenly find yourself spinning dizzily out of control in Taepilus's direction. ((successful aux roll)) You hurriedly equalize your thrusters, your hands flying across the controls as you nullify the lower engine as well and try to pull out of the spin. "Hema, did you hit me with your field manipulator?!" you call out incredulously. "I know it wasn't Taepilus - he's not even facing towards me!" This is absolutely ridiculous. You had a PERFECT shot! Why did Hema have to screw this up? Grumbling under your breath, you spin around, searching for Karthus. He has to be around here somewhere, right? You narrow your eyes, looking for him - he seems to have used that damnable Blink teleporter again. That thing is way too powerful. You're surprised Tartarus even gives it to people, given how they seem to have a penchant for killing off their own troops.
And then you see him. He's ported to right behind where you were before. His ship is in full light of the star, even though he isn't moving - it's a bright, shiny speck far off to the north. A smile crosses your lips, and you turn in his direction, gunning the throttle. He appears to be aiming for you... well, you can aim for him too.
As you approach him, he continues to miss - or simply not fire - and you decide to go roll around a smaller asteroid to get behind him. Sounds simple enough - the only trouble is, all the smaller asteroids are in a huge, chaotic, tumbling clump of boulders over on your left - it looks like it'll be a tight squeeze. Trying to relax, you guide yourself in that direction. There's no way he'll think you survived anyway, right? Lowering power on the engines, you get ready.
The first gap is narrow as heck; you squeeze through; the two massive boulders crash together behind you, but you can't even afford a look back, twisting and spinning through ever narrowing gaps, following natural paths through the field as tiny pebbles ping against your hull. You're tense, jumping at the controls as you realize you might be in over your head. The boulders nearer the center of the field tumble, rocking, grinding against each other with a power you can hardly wrap your mind around - a boulder narrowly misses colliding with your cockpit, and you throw yourself into a roll just in time to slide past it with a space of only centimeters, sliding smoothly into the next gap -
- and then you're out, into a natural quiet, empty space. You rein back on the throttle, letting yourself slow to a halt with you reverse thrusters. Through a little hole in the field, you can even see Karthus, sitting there, facing to your right - where you just came from. He doesn't seem to have any idea you're in here. Why would he, after all? Even YOU are somewhat surprised you survived that little adventure. Still, he's just sitting there - this would make for a perfect shot.
You creep forwards, lining him up in your sights. There's no way you could miss this shot. None at all. He's
so close, and he's not even moving. He doesn't have a clue you're there. Bracing yourself for the inevitable impact of railgun slug on his cockpit canopy, you pull the trigger.
...but nothing happens. "Damaged detected," the warnings flash again.
"HEEEEMMMAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!" you yell, grinding your teeth in outrage. Your gun is
definitely damaged, and it's probably
his fault.
BFett
BFett starts flying back to Dino’s last known position. While in flight, BFett hacks Fawkes’s CASKET and installs a virus which disables Fawkes’s cockpit controls. If BFett is able to see an enemy ship he shoots his Neutron Beam Projector and Particle Gun at the ship once both weapons are within range.
You turn, headed over the central asteroid. You're planning on helping Dinosawer out with his fight against Squidhead - but you don't want to waste the time in transit.
Of course, that's easier said than done. If you're concentrating on a hack, you'll likely end up running into enemy fire. So, cautiously, you slow your ship down to a halt in a spot that looks particularly safe, and try to hack Fawkes' CASKET, planning to install a virus to disable his cockpit controls. You set up QuTran and get your upgraded version of Redline Pro running, and start digging into his mainframe. His firewalls are a little above standard, but you're a pro hacker.
Annnddd that's about when you realize you're hacking a lot more than just cockpit controls. By hacking the cockpit controls - the central hub of the computer - you're hacking everything at once: engines, thrusters, computer, PSI Unit, comms, weapons systems, thrusters - everything. As you should've expected, it has the highest level of protection. You get shut down almost immediately.
Frowning, and feeling annoyed and agitated at how your hacking skills seem useless, you start back towards Dino, mulling over what could have been. After you give it a little thought, though, you realize you could've just disabled his engines. That would do about the same thing - leave him stuck where he is. You could've disabled his thrusters and kept him from turning - he could've flown forwards, and maybe turn slowly, but what good would that have done him in a fight? And yet, you went for hacking everything at once. You might be pro, but you're not
that pro. That would require a level of expertise pretty far past what you can handle right now.
At least Foreigner's comm chatter is still coming in.
[Squidhead] (crackle, sputter) Fawkes, Foreigner, if you can keep amenra (crackle) and hema off me, im probably going (static) to be able to deal with dino, and if not, im probably the only one who can act in both worlds, the VR and the real world.(crackle)
huehuehue. But back to serious business, BFett and the Doctor are behind you, you should probably turn around to face them and be prepared to avoid BFett’s neutron beam cannon, when you see it charging,(crackle) try turning (crackle) left, you avoiding by going towards the rock isnt a move he’d expect.
[Taepilus] Crap! That sounded pretty nasty over there, Squidhead. I’m not sure whether I should try to microwave the bastards from my current position and risk getting hit from my back by Chaozz and the other guy, or should I go to the other side of this small boulder and wait to ambush their second division.
[Squidhead] They know where we are, they have the same map as we have, ambushes without moving before are pretty pointless.
[Taepilus] Yup, forgot that for a second. So, how should Karthus and I deal with those other two? We’re obviously outgunned back here. Also, the hack Foreigner mentioned, they might be monitoring our communications. I could try and encrypt my end of the wire, but only if I have enough time to also get out of harms way/am able to microwave Hema/Amenra from this position.
Well, I’m faced with a difficult choice, gentlemen. Either go back and get my ass hurled into an asteroid by Chaozz, go ahead and get filled with holes by Amenra, or stay here and suffer both fates simultaneously.
Or I could try to get to Foreigner and microwave them from that position if the rest of you keep them occupied. Decisions, decisions, decisions. If anybody thinks they know the best course of action, I am listening.
[Squidhead] If you fly towards Foreigner they’ll hole you even more as you fly through open space there
[Taepilus] Yes, I’ve noticed that too. Looks like my best course of action would be to get out of the shadow and get them in my line of sight to microwave them while you, Foreigner and Karthus keep them occupied. I’ll probably get destroyed by the other two coming in from behind, but at least I’ll try to take one of the bastards down with me!
Well, looking at our loadouts, I suggest the following:
Karthus and Foreigner could try to attack Amenra while you deal with Dinosawer, considering both are heavily armed and she wouldn’t be able to respond to both at once since they’re coming in from different directions.
Meanwhile, Fawkes could attack Hema so that he can’t give supporting fire to Amenra.
I could go left, in front of the long boulder and try to aid you with the MFM from a distance while you deal with Dinosawer.
[Taepilus] I might potentially have a better idea, bear with me.
Perhaps, as an alternative, we could send Fawkes and Karthus to hold off Chaozz and BFett, while Foreigner and me go up against Amenra and Hema. Considering Hema has no great skill using the MFM, he probably won’t be a threat, so it is effectively a 2 to 1.5 battle. If we do this, we get the benefit of protecting our rear, but also lose the benefit of totally outnumbering these 3 here. Do any of you have any input on this?
[Karthus] I think the first plan is better, if we can way outnumber one group then we can take them out, then it's only bfett and Chaozz left.
[Taepilus] I’m also leaning towards the first plan, for now. So it’s two votes for the first plan.
[Foreigner] I can’t be sure about the extent of the hack, so MAINTAIN TOTAL RADIO SILENCE AND ACT INDEPENDENTLY.
You hear Pink Floyd begin playing over the comms.
[Foreigner] Hello, BFett. I know it must have been you. How is life on your side of the fence? Must be good, huh? By the way, what do you think about that hot chick you’ve got in your squad? Wouldn’t you want to... be left alone with her for a little while? Oh well, anyway, catch you later mate!
...and then his comms fall completely silent. Not just "nobody's talking" silent, but "comms are completely shut off" silent. It irritates you even further. Why?!
Why do you always feel useless? WHY? It's just messed up. It's like nothing you do even matters.
"Idiots," you mutter. "Back on the Tartarus, here on the mission, everywhere." You've had enough of these idiots... and it's time for them to pay.
There's not much moving beyond the asteroid, now that you've arrived. You think you see a glitter of metal off to your left, but there's not much there. There
is, however, someone off in the distance, accelerating
straight towards you - unless you're wrong, it's Foreigner. Your lips twist into a snarl, and you spur your ship forwards with a powerful burst of the engines. The distance closes; you ready your hands on the controls for your neutron beam projector. You've always wanted a chance to test it, and it looks like now is the time. As you close in, you see the Tesla arc projector mounted atop Foreigner's ship begin to flicker with light, emitting a faint glow - he's getting ready to fire. His ship begins to glow red in several places, just as Dr. Cha0zz radios that he's firing his microwave manipulator. Hoping you're close enough, you ready the neutron projector, aim, and fire.
The muzzle of the weapon, suspended above your cockpit, begins to glow, increasing in intensity, brighter, and brighter, as the very metal of your cockpit begins to vibrate with potency. And then, seconds later - it fires. A colossal beam streams out, overbearingly bright, completely engulfing Foreigner's ship as it approaches. Just then, electricity arcs across your ship as Foreigner's Tesla projector courses its immense power towards you. Your console flashes, throws sparks and smoke, the engines behind you burn out and the only thing still firing is your neutron beam, firing away in complete disregard for the havoc Foreigner is trying to wreak. It can't be stopped. The seconds tick away - three - two - one - and the beam fades away in a whisper.
Kills: 1
What's left of Foreigner's ship streams past you, and you turn your head to watch it - sparking electronics, crackling electricity, the molten remains of an engine, glowing white hot. Of the cockpit itself, there's almost nothing left - not even a charred corpse. It's actually difficult to tell where the cockpit was - the smoking, blobular mass is misshapen and irrecognizable. Then, on a sudden whim, you wonder - what about the antimatter in the engines?
No sooner does the thought cross your mind than Foreigner's ship explodes in an incandescent fireball that crumples your ship - for an instant you feel as though your skin burns - it
burns -
- and everything goes dark.
Deaths: 1
~~~
You slowly awaken in the VR chamber. After unhooking your PSI Chair, you look about the room. It's almost pitch black except for a screen at the end of the room opposite the door, and the console in the center. The screen flashes with different views of the battle going on within the minds of your platoon mates all around you, and you sit watching it for a moment, before other movement in the room catches your eye. You squint through the darkness, and see Foreigner sitting on the far side, just getting up from his PSI Chair. It looks like you managed to kill each other.
Dr. Cha0zz
Send my drone towards foreigners last known position, if it doesn’t find foreigner there let it fly circles around the last known position until it spots foreigner. Once my drone spots foreigner, let it fly to his blind spot and use it to stalk foreigner from a distance.
Then I move my casket so that I get a visual on foreigner (using the drone data to locate him) and I use my magnetic field manipulator to smash foreigner into an asteroid (or in another enemy if there’s one close enough) followed by a shot from my microwave field manipulator with settings to ‘deadly’.
While flying towards a position that allows me to take a shot at foreigner, use the asteroids in such a way that they shield me from fire from the other enemies.
If an enemy comes into melee range before I reach foreigner: use my robotic arms to throw him away (preferably against an asteroid) and then continue my attack on foreigner
If an enemy comes into melee range after I have attacked foreigner and that enemy seems like he is going to attack me, use my pincers to damage his weapons (try to rip them off).
At any time, if I’m shot at I’ll try to dodge the shots. (If I hear them talk about shooting me, try to alter my flight path in such a way that I would evade the possible attackers)
Also, I use my enhanced spectrum cam to get around easily in the dark side of the asteroid field, to make sure that I’m not ambushed and to improve my accuracy when firing (it’s easier to fire at something that you can clearly see)
If for whatever reason I still can’t get to foreigner, attack another enemy that is at that moment in my line of sight.
If it looks like foreigner is going to shoot at me (or he talks about using his tesla-weapon in his comms) (and I’m in range of his weapon), quickly detach one of my scout-drones and fly it forward in his direction far enough so that the arcs of his tesla arc projector can’t jump from the drone to my ship. ((the drone gets hit and I don’t))
After all the above, find cover on the dark side of an asetroid.
You send your old drone - the last one you had used - back towards where Foreigner was last sighted. There's a bit of travel time in between there and the central asteroid, but your drone is a speedy little thing; it arrives there in short order. He's leaving his old hiding spot, headed towards - well, Hema and Dinosawer, it seems like.
You set the drone to stay somewhere out of the way so Foreigner can't see it. "Let's go get him, Jimmy," you say, gunning the engines.
"You got it, Dr. Cha0zz," your AI replies a little too swiftly. A slight smile creeps across your lips - it's too obvious that it's an AI. You could design a better one, if you knew how to program. But that's not your forte.
Traversing the giant asteroid is just as slow as last time, but it isn't too long before you're just breaking over the dark side, looking out over the dark expanse of space on the far side. BFett has almost caught up with you at this point, and you're trying to figure out where Foreigner is.
"Does this help, Dr. Cha0zz?" Jimmy asks. The screen in front of you switches to an infrared view, and you see Foreigner quite clearly, glowing a bright red - the only bright spot in the darkness. "Found you," you whisper, firing up your magnetic field manipulator, just as BFett flies past you. "Let's see if we can't smash you against a rock."
The controls for the magnetic field manipulator seem somewhat different than those for the microwave manipulator - even after inputing the variables as carefully as you could, it seems to miss completely... so you fall back to the microwave. Your hands fly, and within moments, you're ready to fire. And you do. You're quite pleased to find that Foreigner's ship begins to glow dully red in the distance - as though you managed to heat the thinner portions red-hot. You must've landed a pretty good hit.
As you try to park yourself in the shadow of the asetroid, you see a bright white glow in the distance - right where BFett and Foreigner are. A huge arc of electricity leaps away from their position, setting the surface of a smaller asteroid near them crackling before everything fades to darkness.
And then, a few seconds later, there's a blindingly bright explosion, and then another - bright enough to burn its image into your mind. You blink, widening your eyes as you try to stare into the darkness, but all you see is the frozen picture of the blast. You stare at it, almost unable to accept that this was rendered so well in a VR engine. That was antimatter, you're almost certain - and there was a lot of it, too.
Dinosawer
Code: Select all
Target priority for this turn: Whoever is shooting me/decides to shoot me > whoever shoots an ally/decides to shoot an ally> Karthus > whoever is closest> others>Foreigner
If a target is unavailable, refer to that to decide who I shoot
I’ll turn to Squidhead and strafe to the right to evade when he shoots at me (hoping he blows of that loose arm completely),
while firing my electrolaser aimed at him in his cockpit.
If that didn’t kill him,
and he has already fired (or is unable to),
Fly back into melee range and stab his cockpit with my scythe.
otherwise wait until he has fired and then do the above.
If that still didn’t kill him
I’ll shoot with a single plasma ball from my Quantum cannon.
After that, fly up from the battlefield a bit (but still in the asteroid’s shadow)
Quickly look for a way to eject my damaged robotic arm, if there is one, use it.
If there’s a group of two enemies or more close together,
rapidly launch a remote mine into the middle of the largest group, and detonate it when it reaches them (so more then one gets hit by the blast).
Else:
launch a molten shell at someone’s drives.
If I still have unused weapons at this point:
use them on an enemy/enemies. (single burst for the quantum cannon unless I get in short range).
Do *not* engage Foreigner in melee.
When Foreigner decides to use his Tesla arc abomination:
quickly fly closer to enemies (but *not* in front of their weapons), so he can’t hit me with his Tesla
without hitting his allies OR fly out of range - whichever is easier.
When fired at, strafe to dodge. I like my aileron rolls, but in this case they’d have me slapping that loose arm on my hull. Unless I managed to eject it, in which case, aileron roll-strafe to dodge.
You hang back for a moment, watching Squidhead as he begins to accelerate you. He's charging? Really? He saw what you did last time you got in melee range. Is he insane? ...Well, actually, you did always think him a little... unusual. Maybe this is just a symptom. Without waiting any longer, you arm your electrolaser, firing at him - but you're pretty sure that this time, you missed entirely. And he's still coming. Just then, Squidhead fires at you with his quantum cannon - you dodge, strafing to the right, and it passes right by you. It's a single shot - it'll take some time to recharge. Feeling pretty good about your dodging prowess, you jam the accelerator. You're going to rip him wide open with your scythe, right down the center of his cockpit.
Then your luck goes from bad, to worse. Suddenly, the space between you, Squidhead, and the asteroid arcs with electricity - and with a smoky, electrical smell, your CASKET falls completely silent, just as another plasma fireball streams past your canopy - an even narrower miss. At least it looks like Squidhead's ship has lost power too - in fact, the smoke pouring from beneath the opened cockpit canopy makes you feel like perhaps Squidhead's ship was even less capable of handling Foreigner's arc projector.
But you're still on a collision course, and with no gravity - or inertial dampening - in the cockpit.
You try to reboot the thing, and to your immense relief, the ship looks like it's getting ready to start up again. You feel the gravity kick in - and that's when your luck falls out entirely. Squidhead's ship collides with yours - even with the inertial dampeners, you fly forward, your seat belt almost choking you through your spacesuit as it keeps you from hitting the controls...
Your head spinning, you open your eyes again, blinking. The entire right side of your ship seems totally demolished, along with your right robotic arm and the scythe. You're also careening through space, and probably lucky you survived - he seemed to expect you to dodge right again when he ejected. But Squidhead is nowhere to be seen - and your ship has lost power again. "EMERGENCY POWER FAILURE", the screens blink at you. You simply reach forwards to reboot the ship - that should work, right? For a moment, you struggle to figure out what you're doing wrong; why the power won't start. You're sure it's not damaged beyond repair... right?
And then you see something moving off to your left - you look in that direction hurriedly just in time to see a set of metallic appendages grab onto your hull, the clinking of his tentacles traveling plainly through your CASKET's hull. You see him ready a laser rifle, preparing to fire - but just as he does, he gets swept off your CASKET by your dangling left robotic arm, spinning off into the void. He's still out there somewhere, though... it's not over yet.
Hema
Briefly look for a control to change the intensity of my Microwave field manipulator, evade enemies while doing so, if necessary. Should Foreigner move to attack while I’m looking for the control, cancel the search and proceed immediately to the next action.
If a knob is found, then I’ll increase the power and intensity of my MFM, if not, set it to deadly.
Then get within clear line-of-sight of taepilus, take aim, and fire with the intent of killing.
After Taepilus is taken out, charge Karthus with my pincers. Attempt to rip out or tear up his cockpit.
If I lose sight of Taepilus before I fire, I'll try to take out Karthus instead. First with my MFM, and then my pincers.
In case Karthus isn't there, charge Taepilus with my pincers after shooting him. Try to cause as much damage to him, and his cockpit as possible.
Attempt to dodge if fired at at any time.
You start to look for a way to change the intensity of your Microwave field manipulator, but as soon as you try, you see a glint over near a distant asteroid to your right - Foreigner. It's hard to tell from this distance, but you get the feeling he might be coming to attack.
You immediately break off from the search and gun your engines, attempting to get within clear line-of-sight of Taepilus. And it isn't long before you see him - a little bright speck flicking along at the edge of a distant asteroid. You smile, narrowing your eyes and rapidly inputting the settings to fire, and slam your hand on the firing button as soon as the manipulator is armed, hoping you'll hit...
Whether you do or not, you can't tell - you're distracted by a burst of electricity that suddenly lights up the exterior of your cockpit. Sparks fly, and lightning arcs across your robotic arms. And then, just as suddenly, it fades... as do your lights. You've completely lost power, and you're pretty sure it has something to do with
((successful auxiliary roll)) But you're a sitting duck, where you are right now. In a rush, you flick at the controls, trying to shut off and reboot the main generator. It's an easy thing to do, but something, somewhere, seems broken... but it's hard to tell what, exactly. Fortunately, you're soon able to get your ship up and running again - on emergency power. A feeling of grim determination surges through your chest as you gun the engines, starting to accelerate towards Taepilus once more. You hear what BFett is piping over the comms. Only worth half a crew member, are you? Oh, you'll show him.
As you fly forwards, you completely ignore the battle raging between Squidhead and Dinosawer - their ships collide, spinning out of control, but you ignore it, continuing onwards towards your target. They'll take care of each other anyway... and Taepilus isn't that far now. It looks like your microwave manipulator hit - Taepilus isn't moving. When you finally reach him, you lash out with your robotic arms, smashing your pincers downwards onto his cockpit, grabbing at his engines and trying to destroy them with a tight squeeze. You're not the best roboticist in the world, but you're at least making
some kind of progress. His rightmost engine is a little dented now... It's not much, but it's a good start.
You're
not worth half a platoon member. Maybe he'll remember that from now on.
Fawkes
Start issuing commands (Like on Page 9 below the picture) while moving west out of the hollow. Aim at Amenra’s Generator/Computer and fire a maximum of 3 shots (Stop if she´s disabled in any way). Then aim at Hema shooting a maximum of 2 shots. If both enemies are disabled, take position near the center of the asteroid (as viewed on the map). Evade enemy fire when possible. Also ask Foreigner to give a warning, should a enemy come over the asteroids ridge behind me so i can try to evade their fire.
From your hidden position in the asteroid crater, you start issuing commands. "Karthus, you need to blink behind Amenra and Hema," you tell him. ((+1 leadership boost)) You're happy to see him blink immediately into position, exactly where you'd wanted him - but even as he does, Hema and Amenra are already moving away. That's fine, though - Foreigner is already moving into position to attack them.
"Foreigner, fire your Tesla arc projector at Hema, Amenra, and Dinosaur!" you order - even as you speak, a massive bolt of bright-white lightning arcs over towards Dinosawer and Squidhead's ships, getting Hema as well - the rest of it gets drawn towards the asteroid, arcing and spitting sparks among the smaller pebbles and boulders orbiting slowly near the surface. Just then, a screen over on your right starts flashing - "HACK ATTEMPT DETECTED - SHUT DOWN" it says. Must've been BFett, but at least he failed.
And then, that just leaves Squidhead... "Fire at Dinosawer, Squidhead!" you order - but at this point, the order is kind of useless. His ship appears to be totally fried. Meanwhile, Hema is trying to smash Taepilus to bits with his pincers, and Amenra is sitting in the asteroid field behind Karthus. You take careful aim at Amenra first, getting ready to fire three shots from your railgun. One, two, three, you fire, in rapid succession. It's difficult to tell where they go, but you fear you may have hit Karthus instead of Amenra.
Amenra's in a difficult spot to hit anyway, so you figure you'll maybe hit Hema instead. You turn his ship carefully in his direction, making sure you're aimed well, and fire two more shots. That's five of your ten railgun rounds already - and you think both of them missed.
((future reference - firing the same weapon multiple times in a single turn makes rolls a lot harder unless you're at a very high skill level. For one shot, I roll the die and add/subtract your bonus. For two shots, I roll
two dice for each shot, and give you whichever roll was lower. For three shots, that's three dice. You fired five times in a turn. To get an unadjusted roll of 5, you would have to roll a 5 or 6 five times in a row - and that's for each shot. If they're different weapons, though, I don't do this.))
Foreigner
Damn it all.
Fly straight at Amenra and Hema, maximum acceleration. Fire the Tesla Arc Projector at the closest enemy; hope that electricity will leap and hit another one.
Play some Pink Floyd over the comms, low volume.
“Hello BFett, it must have been you. How is life on your side of the fence? Must be good, huh? By the way, what do you think about that hot chick you’ve got in your squad? Wouldn’t you want to...be left alone with her for a little while? Oh well, anyway, catch you later mate!”
Try switching off the comms and re-booting them; hopefully safeguards will kick in and wipe the memory, destroying the malicious code.
Fly over the asteroid (to position 2) and face whoever may come from there. IF the enemy is within range, try frying them with my Tesla Arc Projector; IF they are not, close the distance and fire at them. BFett is a priority target; he should be easy to recognise. Shoot him, hit him with robotic arms - anything.
Evade incoming fire.
Leaving your hiding spot, you accelerate towards Amenra and Hema, your engines going at full blast. They're both already leaving the area - Hema is heading in Dino's direction, while Amenra is gunning it - by the time you can get in range, she's already almost at Taepilus. "Damn it all," you mutter. You'll get both of them yet. Even knowing that Taepilus and Squidhead are likely to be affected too isn't enough to stop you - you're going to use that Tesla arc if it's the last thing you do.
At this point, Dinosawer is the closest; he's accelerating towards Squidhead. Looks like he's your first target. Throwing the appropriate switches, you start up your arc projector. "PAINTING TARGETS ... PRIMING ARC PROJECTOR" the related screens say. Meanwhile, you hear a light humming behind you, slowly increasing in intensity. You feel the hairs on your arms rise, even through the suit: it's an absolutely exhilarating feeling to wield so much power. You can
feel it, and it hasn't even fired. ...But it's time to. "ARC PROJECTOR PRIMED" flashes in front of you in yellow lettering. You make sure you have a clear shot at Dinosawer's ship, and pull the trigger.
You hear the crack of lightning; the lights in your cockpit dim and flicker for a moment. You see electricity crackling across Dinosawer's ship, far in the distance - across Squidhead's, across Hema's - but something else happens you didn't quite expect. Asteroids tend to be metallic, right? The Tesla projector seems to have painted it as well: the light dust along the surface glows and crackles as massive waves of electricity arc across its surface, melting orbiting pebbles and searing scars into its surface. It's a fascinating display, but the calculating portion of yourself feels unhappy that you just used so much of your arc projector's power on a worthless display.
Well, not
entirely worthless. Dinosawer, Hema, and Squidhead's ships are all sitting with darkened cockpits, apparently completely without power. You watch in amusement as Dinosawer and Squidhead's ships collide, throwing out a spray of metallic fragments that glitter under your headlights.
For now, you'll set it aside and talk to BFett. You know he hacked your comms, and you decide you might as well roll with it. Turning up the volume on your Pink Floyd album (as it turns out, you can "wish" for some things in the VR sim), you start talking over the comms. “Hello, BFett. I know it must have been you. How is life on your side of the fence? Must be good, huh? By the way, what do you think about that hot chick you’ve got in your squad? Wouldn’t you want to... be left alone with her for a little while? Oh well, anyway, catch you later mate!”
With that said, you shut off your comms completely, trying to reboot. There's some kind of odd disturbance around the small asteroid a little to your left - a number of smaller rocks and pebbles appear to be bouncing off of it, almost as if there was an invisible ship there, bulldozing everything. You don't remember anybody getting a cloaking device... curiously, you look around, trying to figure out exactly what's going on, as you switch your comms back on. The screens around you say the comms are clear, and so are the skies - at least, until you notice a ship coming towards you.
You recognize the build immediately - somehow you intuitively know.
It's BFett. "Coming to finish the job, eh?" you rumble, starting things back up as you begin to move towards him. You keep a keen eye on his CASKET - Mk II, looks like, from its smooth, sleek form. You figure you have a surprise left for him. Your arc projector still has a lot of power on it. Wouldn't hurt to let some more loose, right?
He's charging you, almost head-on. You fire up your arc projector - "PAINTING TARGETS ... PRIMING ARC PROJECTOR" your screens blink. You close in, watching him carefully. You're not sure what his plans are, but you sure know what yours are: you're going to toast him. He's still near the asteroid, but closing in fast.
Suddenly, screens start flashing warnings: "THRUSTERS OVERHEATED" "STARBOARD ROBOTIC ARM OVERHEATED" "PRIMARY RCS TANK OVERHEATED" - one after another, your screens flash, blink, scroll - through the cockpit glass, you see the thinnest armor on the front of your ship begin to glow a dull, muddy red, and then brighter, until patches are almost orange-hot. Then your cockpit window grows smeary: the effects of a microwave field manipulator. Whether it was Hema or Dr. Cha0zz, you're not sure... you just know your ship wasn't designed to take it.
But your arc projector is just fine. You adjust your grip on the controls, your trigger finger itching to fire the beam. "Not yet," you whisper. "Let him get a little closer..."
And then, you fire.
BFett's ship lights up with streams of electricity - you see sparks flashing inside his cockpit. The asteroid over to your left flashes and sparks as well - but then you see an even brighter point emerge: a dim circle above his ship. It grows brighter, and brighter, and brighter over the course of the next few seconds, until suddenly -
- the beam hits you like nothing you've even heard of. It's a few blinding instants of unimaginable brightness. Even closing your eyes does absolutely nothing to dim it: it's pure, unfiltered white. Instants later, it blinds you completely, and everything is dark - and then you feel a short burst of pain as you burn from existence...
Deaths: 1, CHIARA says... and that's all you hear.
~~~
You slowly awaken in the VR chamber. After unhooking your PSI Chair, you look about the room. It's almost pitch black except for a screen at the end of the room opposite the door, and the console in the center. The screen flashes with different views of the battle going on within the minds of your platoonmates all around you, and you sit watching it for a moment, before other movement in the room catches your eye. You squint through the darkness, and see BFett sitting on the far side, just getting up from his PSI Chair. It looks like you managed to kill each other.
Taepilus
Start flying westward, along the thin boulder. Once Amenra and Hema are distracted by others, get into a good position and start microwaving Dinosawer. If Squidhead is killed and Dinosawer is in a good shape and starts attacking me, fly towards the northern group. If the northern group was either unable to reform or, even worse, destroyed, flee towards and take cover behind the rock further westwards(the one which Foreigner is currently next to)
You start flying to the west, along the thin boulder off to the side. Fawkes is busy getting orders, and Foreigner is arguing with everyone and generally getting on your nerves. You're hoping you could microwave Dinosawer. It would be a pretty good thing for you to do right now, right?
Unfortunately, Amenra and Hema most certainly are
not getting distracted by the others. Amenra is headed in your general direction - you intuitively know it's her. Perhaps it's an effect of the VR sim? You're still flying westward, though - and she's following you. Karthus has already warped to the far side of the field - it's you she's going for. She's diving straight at you.
But then, just like that, she pulls off. She didn't even fire. Maybe she chickened out.
Someone sure didn't, though. Just then, your ship crackles with electricity, and you see parts of the side of your hull begin to glow red-hot. And then, your power goes out - all of it - only to flicker back on a few seconds later, flashing red: "EMERGENCY POWER ACTIVATED". Only Dr. Cha0zz and Hema have microwave field manipulators, as far as you know - and that's surely what this is the result of.
Then, you hear a loud crack, and your right robotic arm move jerks to the left slightly, as though something was pushing on it. It's soon followed by a second sharp crack, somewhere behind your head. It sounds like someone is firing railgun rounds at you... but who would be doing that? Amenra? She's nowhere in sight.
But you don't even have time to think about that - Hema's on you now. He was probably the one that toasted you with his microwave manipulator - and he seems to be taking it personally. He's going at you with his robotic arms, trying to crush your engines with your pincers - and you're sitting dead in the water.
Karthus
Activate blink drive to past Amenra far enough that i wont be hit by the Tesla. Prioritize avoiding fire and then shoot Amenra with my gauss untill Amenra’s disabled then shoot dino with my particle gun.
On Fawkes' command, you turn in the direction of where you last saw Hema and Amenra, blinking past them.
~~~
It's a perfect blink - you landed absolutely exactly where you wanted. You seem to be pretty good at this.
Or it's beginner's luck. Either way, you're where you needed to be. Firing the thrusters, you rotate your ship back around to get a good view of where Amenra was the last time you saw her - except she's not there anymore. You have to really, really stare out into the darkness for a moment to figure out where she went: it looks like she headed straight towards Taepilus. Still good - she won't have much of a target.
And so, for one reason or another, you take out your Gauss rifle, taking aim. Yeah, you're in a cockpit. Yeah, your Gauss rifle is a sniper's best friend, but isn't this a little silly? Or - perhaps you're trying to be stealthy... Either way, you put the scope up to your eye and look through it, sighting your target. Yesssss, there she is, only a kilometer away... you could make this shot... right?
You pull the trigger.
There's a loud cracking noise as the round smacks into your cockpit canopy, sliding and ricocheting into a gap near the front, above the control panel. Well, that qualified as a miss. Maybe another round will help... you reload your Gauss rifle. Amenra seems to be approaching you - it should be even easier to hit.
CRACK. Nope, another definite miss. Maybe a third... of course, maybe firing your Gauss rifle in an enclosed cockpit isn't the smartest thing you've ever done, but it's definitely not the dumbest, either. The only trouble is, this time, you can't seem to figure out where Amenra is at all.
And this time, you hear an even louder crack - the windshield itself. The hole is far too large to be a regular Gauss round, though: it looks like a railgun made it. You almost yelp as you realize how close the round came to missing your shoulder - it literally went
right above your right shoulder - there's a hole there big enough for you to stick a couple suited fingers in. The air has already evacuated the cockpit - you're lucky you were suited up.
You feel a second impact - this one hit somewhere behind you, or above you. Power is still holding stable, but the top engine seems to be doing poorly...
And you lean forwards, peering at the hole the first railgun round made in the cockpit canopy. You know what you want to do... you want to shoot... shoot your Gauss rifle in it.
Squidhead
Accelerates towards dino, ready to evade any incoming fire.
Jams the trigger (as good as possible), that the qcannon fires continuously.
Opens up the canopy and grabs the rifles, bracing for ejecting.
Nudges his accelerating ship towards a collision course, slightly off-center to give dino a single optimal direction for his evasive maneuver.
The ship turned in a way that squids cockpit lines up with dinos evasive vector.
Jumps out of the ship shortly before the collision/near miss, in the direction of dinos projected evasive maneuver.
Uses the thrusterpack to maneuver to dinos ship, trying to land next to his cockpit.
While on approach “on foot” fire the electrorifle on dinos scythe arm, trying to disable it.
If the arm gets disabled or the “landing” is successful, take the laser rifle and shoot on dino in his cockpit.
You accelerate towards Dinosawer, ready to evade any oncoming fire. He does fire - predictably - with his electrolaser. You guess where he's going to be firing and swerve to the side: he misses completely. If you had a mouth, you'd be smiling.
You need to jam the button for the quantum cannons - and the only way you can think of doing that is breaking it. You pick up your lasgun, and smash the butt of it against the firing trigger. The first hit doesn't break it, but the second hit certainly does. Looking ahead of the ship, you see that Dinosawer has started accelerating towards you.
Even better, you think.
Just then, electricity arcs between your ships, flashing across your robotic arms - seems like Foreigner fired his Tesla Arc. Dinosawer's lights go out - and so do yours. Electricity arcs across your control panel - you smell the sharp, pungent odor of smoke. Your screens crack; electricity arcs between them. You don't even have to run a diagnostic check to know. Foreigner managed to totally destroy your ship. Grumbling and spitting obscenities, you slide the canopy back.
This is just like Chilendorn.
Dinosawer's inertia is keeping him traveling straight for you - it's going to be a head-on collision, with you aiming a little for the left of his ship - right at his scythe. Perfect.
Just before the collision, you leap from the cockpit, firing your thruster pack full power to slow yourself down, as you watch the near-destruction of the two ships. Yours rips into the side of Dinosawer's, completely shredding the extended robotic arm, embedding the scythe deep within itself and ripping the whole assemblage off Dinosawer's CASKET - its shears off a large portion of the right side of Dinosawer's ship, smashing off one of the engines. Millions of tiny flecks of metallic debris spin out into space, floating gracefully away as Dinosawer's ship begins to careen slowly...
You fly over towards him and land, as best as you can, on the undamaged portion of Dinosawer's ship, right next to the cockpit, aiming at him with your lasgun. Just then, something hits you - some loose piece of debris, and it flings you back into space. You're not hurt, you don't think, and your thruster pack is still functional. You'll get another chance to try again.