Sterbelicht - One Sacrifice At A Time Against The Galaxy (40K)

"Alright, they have returned," Thule-2000 growled, clenching her fists as she stared at the blob of contacts outside the system, a grimace of disgust and professional hatred tugging at her facial augments. "My girls stand ready to kill them all; just say the word, Admiral," she continued, her eyes flicking over to K-531, their quadrupedal form shrouded in the heavy white-blue robes of the Star-Mechanicum covering all but six of their arms, two locked in prayer as another held a lit thurible and the last three were busy repairing a damaged bionic limb of a waiting crewmember.

+++Your zeal is admirable, Thule-2000, yet you must remember to temper it with the coolness of logic.+++ They spoke, deft movements replacing a damaged component before continuing with a bit of cleaning. +++These ships have been recorded with abnormal emissions and irregular power-output. Why? Damage? Faulty Components? The result of a mutiny by a crew seeking freedom?+++

"Most likely another try with bombs," Sensor Specialist Magito Iki piped up, their electronic voice laced with a distinctly Corcrat drawl. "Imps have never been known to care about the crew as far as our records go, and what better way than to fuck up than by trying the same trick twice?"

+++Hrm, a likely theory, yet I believe a more sinister purpose is inherent in these ships.+++ K-531 supplied, beckoning the waiting crew over before fitting them with the repaired limb once more, mutters of prayers underlying their louder, active, voice. +++They are no less capable of learning from their mistakes and gathered information than we are, and it would be unwise to try and act upon such ideas. It is far more likely that they are Fire Ships.+++

"Fire Ships?" Thule-2000 questioned, an asking glance thrown the way of Magito, receiving shrugged shoulders in return.

+++Fire Ships are vessels filled with plasma bombs and other incendiaries, flown by suicidal crews into enemy formations and detonated. These explosions circumvent shields and can destroy Destroyers outright if caught and scour the armor of most Cruisers to the skeletal structure if not prevented.+++ Eyes stared at K-531, surprise, disbelief, and growing concern within them. +++Thus, it is likely that these ships are intended to infiltrate the system and reveal themselves near our fleet when theirs commences combat. Destruction of the local SDF alone would be dangerous to our defenses...+++

"Shiiiiit..." Thule-2000 groaned, leaning back, thinking hard. "Can we destroy them first? We have the range with our lances, don't we?"

"...or," Magitos hesitantly began. "Or we try to board them." Now, eyes turned to look at him. "Hear me out. These ships should know where their fleet will leave the Warp, as we can already guess when, thanks to their piss-poor comm-discipline, and if we board them, place them in the right location, and let 'em fly..."

+++Such a tactic would require voluntold crew, or Servitors programmed for the task. Using volunteers would carry a too-great risk of such crew trying to martyr themselves.+++ K-531 mused, looking at the blob of contacts some months out yet with interest and intrigue.

"It's a possibility. I would rather have them destroyed than risk it. But it's not like my sisters won't get to reap their pound of scrap either way; Neon won't know what hit them now that all our Task Forces are here." A malevolent grin spread across her face. "Calling it merely thrice the firepower than the SDF would be an insult."


Neon Attacks Once More
[] (Write-In your Battleplan)



AN: Clear Statements: You know roughly when Neon will attack, the rough stellar direction of where they'll appear, they have no idea what your Libra's can do, no idea what your Aries-S can do, and have no idea that you know of their possible-Fire Ship Tactic. Ambush Time.

Also: The Star-Mechanicum is your Mechanicum now subsumed under the Star Child. Rejoice!