Snowfire
Polyglot of Chimera
- Location
- Wordcats
Not at all. Learning isn't actually relevant to the current actions, and catching my mistakes is something that is always appreciated.
Thanks!
The Practice War [Complete]
- Thread starter Snowfire
- Start date
- Original Sci-Fi
Not at all. Learning isn't actually relevant to the current actions, and catching my mistakes is something that is always appreciated.
Thanks!
Mandabar
Waifu of choice is Rem. Give that girl some hugs!
- Location
- Florida, USA [Yes. Florida *FacePalm*]
I'm just shuddering here in my chair in terror at this point (About this election).
Anyways can't wait till tommorow(today) to see how this action goes. Feels like we are near the end of this long mini-turn.
Mini-turn: Shadows of Sorrow - Part 6
Snowfire
Polyglot of Chimera
- Location
- Wordcats
"I wish I could trust that hope, Lucas. If it were anything else, I might. But this is bigger than anything else." You sighed heavily, then opened the circuit to include Captain Stewart. "Get ready to go loud, Captain. Kirstin will direct your breaching parties."
"I…yes sir." You though you actually surprised him. "Where will you be?" He asked.
"Using one of our codes to work out what we're about to walk into." You said, continuing quickly before he could interrupt with any objections. "We have to know what's in there, and if we go loud with good intel we should be able to get me to the interface node before whatever is in control of this subnet locks the others out."
"Aye sir." He chuckled. "We'll get you there with time to spare."
"Kirstin, I know you don't have the full image…"
"But this is something I can do." She replied, relief readily apparent in her tone. "Thank you, Marcus." You knew how heartfelt that was, you were giving her a task that she could complete.
"De nada," you replied, loading up the first code and syncing your broadcast frequency to the subnet's. "Just have them set to go when I clear the interface again."
"We'll be ready." She said. "Just get me the rest of the picture." You nodded, ducked into the secure perimeter formed by Taiho and one of the fire teams, and hit transmit. There was a moment of complete stillness as you held your breath, a space of milliseconds as the transmission was registered. Then information flooded in, and the physical world faded into less than a distraction.
For a moment you felt utterly lost, as your transceiver struggled to keep up with the sheer amount of data pouring into it. That the hub network could stress the bandwidth on a communications system better suited for a command ship was a sobering thought, but you tried not to dwell on it beyond tactical implications.
The first of many doors swung open before you, and you passed through the vast gates that had locked you out of the world of data all around you in the guise of a valued tool. You took a moment to look around, taking in the vast fortress repository towering around your presence. The guards hadn't noticed you, but you could tell that your disguise was a fleeting thing. It had passed you through the gates, but you would need to add your skill to it if you were to gain access to the maps and pictures you needed.
Explaining how you moved when connected to your suit interface and a network environment was complicated at the best of times. Those environments usually lacked anything a normal human would be able to identify as up or down, let alone anything else. For you it was a lot easier, but this architecture was still very strange to you. Enough similarities though, and being inside and unknown helped a lot.
That way.
Moving towards the archive, you felt a tension rise around you, a piercing attention that tore at the careful cloak wrapped around your true identity. This was not the normal direction for those you appeared to be, and it wasn't long before a challenge flashed up ahead of you. That was what you'd been waiting for, and you struck in the same instant, putting everything into a single moment of chance.
Intrigue + Living Gateway + Network Supremacy + Access Code vs Intrigue + Infowar Subroutines + Alert
(26 + 32 + 10 + 4 + 10 vs 12 + 40 + 15 + 5 = 82 vs 72. Success)
You didn't manage to catch the part you had really wanted, but you got to what you needed. A grasping piece of your presence flipped a connection on the challenge program, and it obediently approved your presence and then shut down. You knew that the shutdown wouldn't hold for too long, the alert level in the hub was too high, but it would be long enough.
You swept into the archive silently, no alarms blaring at your entry, and looked around hungrily for the data you needed. The soft entry was a good thing, but even then your time here was limited. The main system presence rotated its attention between these areas on a semi-random basis, and it would see through your cloak like it was nothing. But you were going loud anyway, so there was little need for much subtlety.
You tore through the files like a whirlwind, searching for the connection paths and information you needed. A schematic was easily found, and it was the work of moments to download that and pass it to Kirstin, but the sensor and tactical data you needed was being difficult. Which supported the opinion that this was a trap, to your mind. You weren't used to pulling this data together on your own, however. That's what Kirstin always did, why you had her as part of your team, but she was needed elsewhere right now.
Which meant…you glanced around, feeling out the space around you for the presence of the main presence. It was a lot closer. And that meant you didn't have a choice anymore. You had a feed pathway, and your own abilities would be more than enough to break it open. You had hoped that going loud in here wouldn't be necessary, as it would blow your cover completely, but you needed the data.
You pulled in your presence again, preparing for the fight to come, and then leapt. A wall of shining light interposed itself between you, somewhere behind it a guard leapt up. You didn't care, you were searching for the gate. You sank deeper into your Focus again, reaching into the fabric of the translated data construct to find what you needed. Still no alarm yet, but that could change very fast.
I am a key.
Intrigue + Living Gateway + Network Supremacy + Access Code + From the Shadows vs Intrigue + Infowar Subroutines + Alert
(99 + 32 + 10 + 4 + 10 + 5 vs 67 + 40 + 15 + 5 = 160 vs 127. Solid Success)
There.
You touched the wall just so, and it shattered. Some sharp and lethal flashed out from your presence, and the guard sputtered out of existence as you raced past it. Behind you, another alarm flared to life and the burning glare of the system presence swung towards you. But too slowly, too slowly. More walls tried to rise, but you blew through them before their foundations could solidify. Your presence bloomed out again, and data poured in. You didn't even look at it, there wasn't time. Every piece of your focus taken up simply acquiring it, and passing it on. You felt Kirstin's presence expand through the link, sucking in the data and adding it to her picture.
Fire started to follow your footsteps, and you sped up, even as it wrapped around before you. Almost time to go, but you needed one last thing. You had sensor locations, tactical data for the area you were about to have to break open, but now you knew what was there. Less than you'd expected, but more than you'd hoped. But there was a final piece of the puzzle, just ahead of you.
A lock slammed down around it, the full power of the system descending to protect its last secret, but you weren't having any of that. Your presence folded back in, and your entire Focus slammed out into the lock. All around, the fire closed in. Above you, icy power rained down. But what mattered was what was in front of you.
I am a key!
The lock came undone, your hand ripped the data free, and another very physical hand slammed down on your hard disconnect. The last thing you saw of the virtual space was fire engulfing it, then you were blinking away the afterimages as the interface spooled down.
"Kirstin." You said, and the familiar presence appeared in the circuit. She was busy. "Did you get it?"
"Enough." She said quickly. Another would have seen the shortness as an insult, but you knew better. She was finding doors.
"Are we ready?" You brought Captain Stewart in before you asked. "Or do we need to alter?"
"Breaching charges are in place. Setting final objectives now." He said. "The codes on the models are different from the others we've been fighting, so we're going to be a bit more careful in our aggression. Your combat-Focused volunteered to go in with them." You nodded faintly, then sent an affirmative ping. Of course they had, and it wasn't as if you could really stop them.
"Go."
The detonations sounded as one, and the first fire teams were moving before the debris finished arcing up or out. Energy fire blazed back and forth across the spaces, your teams having to be far more careful in their fire in places. There was an objective here, and they couldn't afford to damage it. That made it harder to kill the enemy, and you smothered a curse as one of the soldiers vitals flatlined.
Tahio barked something in his mother tongue, then leapt forward in concert with Lucas. Fire spread from their weapons, and you saw threat markers vanish off of the display, even as the fire teams fought to cover them. A laser grazed the edge of Lucas' armour, advanced composites puffing into dust, but also ablating the energy pulse. He dropped, but didn't fall. It was controlled, and his weapon fired three times in the space it took him to hit the deck.
"Now!" Kirstin snapped over the net, and the next group went in. You checked your carbine again, how many times had you done this, and brought up the full tactical systems of your suit. The units in there were a lot more resilient, and quite a bit faster, then the ones you'd been up against so far. Nothing you couldn't handle, but you were losing more than you'd have liked. It wasn't more than you could afford, even though you cursed that statement for the blood being spilled in the name of necessity.
The second wave knew exactly where their targets where now, bought with the lives of their comrades, and their fire swept the compartment with a hail of particle and flechette fire. It wasn't pretty, but you were in.
"Captain, movement from the in sectors." One of the rearguard teams reporting in. "Lots of movement. We're sealing the passageways and moving back as ordered."
"Understood. Get here fast." He turned to you. "The interface is intact. We'll hold as long as we can." You saw him try not to look at the corpses of his own on the ground, then face it before looking back up. "Go."
"We'll get it done. Just hold."
"We will, sir. First squad, I need," he dropped out of the circuit, and you shook your head as Taiho helped Lucas to his feet. Their status readouts both flagged as clear, and a gentle ping from each of them informed you that you needed to focus elsewhere.
"Sir." You jerked up as another voice intruded into the circuit. You tried to place it. "Lieutenant Adia." The speaker identified herself, and you nodded jerkily. "I have the Concorde for you, sir." Your eyes went wide, and you sent an acceptance ping. No time to thank her, you'd do that later.
"Marcus." Vega's voice. It was good to hear, even if strained.
"We've made it to the interface point. About to enter. Transmitting our tactical status." You said quickly, hoping she'd understand what you needed. A silly thing to worry about, given what she was.
"I have a return from Commodore Zikmund. I don't know how long this line will stay up, the station is fighting us on it, but the spoof is holding." You let out a shuddering breath as she confirmed that there was still a chance to win this. That you weren't doomed. The data packet popped into your system, and you unpacked it quickly, looking it over with half a mind as the rest connected your suit to the secured node access point in tandem with Kirstin.
TG1 was taking a beating up there, but they were still there and holding. You had…bad news for them, however. Something you wished you hadn't found, but also were very glad you had given its implications.
"You need to get away from defensive node, Vega. I don't care what you have to do, get the TG away from the node."
"Wh- oh." You could hear the shock in her voice, timed well enough for you to be able to tell she'd reached the part in the tactical analysis. "How did we miss, no, it doesn't matter." You actually smiled a little. She'd grown up a lot recently, to react so quickly.
"Just get clear. Nothing in TG1 can survive a hit from that, and with us in the access node the hub will stop holding back. If we can, I'll disable it on the inside."
"No." You blinked. "The star system is more important, Marcus." Now you winced. You'd hoped she wouldn't have caught that. "If it would compromise the mission, you let us burn. The Commodore will keep Concorde away, but some ships have to remain to keep everything quiet." A tiny pause, which you took to connect the final links to the node. "They all volunteered, Marcus."
"I…" you paused this time, even though you could sense Kirstin's impatience, and were very aware of the need to move quickly. "I understand, Vega. Handing you off to Captain Stewart."
"Luck." She said, as you brought up your interface again, this time hardwire connected.
"We make our own." You replied, but without the bravado that usually infected it. Too many people were about to die to be making jokes.
You sent the second code through the hardline, transferred Vega's transmission to the command circuit, and then dropped into your Focus. Kirstin's familiar presence appeared first, the suits networking to share processing power and support for what you were about to do. Both of you were falling deep into the wells of your Focuses, and you hoped it would be enough.
The gates opened again, and a different world took you away.
"I…yes sir." You though you actually surprised him. "Where will you be?" He asked.
"Using one of our codes to work out what we're about to walk into." You said, continuing quickly before he could interrupt with any objections. "We have to know what's in there, and if we go loud with good intel we should be able to get me to the interface node before whatever is in control of this subnet locks the others out."
"Aye sir." He chuckled. "We'll get you there with time to spare."
"Kirstin, I know you don't have the full image…"
"But this is something I can do." She replied, relief readily apparent in her tone. "Thank you, Marcus." You knew how heartfelt that was, you were giving her a task that she could complete.
"De nada," you replied, loading up the first code and syncing your broadcast frequency to the subnet's. "Just have them set to go when I clear the interface again."
"We'll be ready." She said. "Just get me the rest of the picture." You nodded, ducked into the secure perimeter formed by Taiho and one of the fire teams, and hit transmit. There was a moment of complete stillness as you held your breath, a space of milliseconds as the transmission was registered. Then information flooded in, and the physical world faded into less than a distraction.
For a moment you felt utterly lost, as your transceiver struggled to keep up with the sheer amount of data pouring into it. That the hub network could stress the bandwidth on a communications system better suited for a command ship was a sobering thought, but you tried not to dwell on it beyond tactical implications.
The first of many doors swung open before you, and you passed through the vast gates that had locked you out of the world of data all around you in the guise of a valued tool. You took a moment to look around, taking in the vast fortress repository towering around your presence. The guards hadn't noticed you, but you could tell that your disguise was a fleeting thing. It had passed you through the gates, but you would need to add your skill to it if you were to gain access to the maps and pictures you needed.
Explaining how you moved when connected to your suit interface and a network environment was complicated at the best of times. Those environments usually lacked anything a normal human would be able to identify as up or down, let alone anything else. For you it was a lot easier, but this architecture was still very strange to you. Enough similarities though, and being inside and unknown helped a lot.
That way.
Moving towards the archive, you felt a tension rise around you, a piercing attention that tore at the careful cloak wrapped around your true identity. This was not the normal direction for those you appeared to be, and it wasn't long before a challenge flashed up ahead of you. That was what you'd been waiting for, and you struck in the same instant, putting everything into a single moment of chance.
Intrigue + Living Gateway + Network Supremacy + Access Code vs Intrigue + Infowar Subroutines + Alert
(26 + 32 + 10 + 4 + 10 vs 12 + 40 + 15 + 5 = 82 vs 72. Success)
You didn't manage to catch the part you had really wanted, but you got to what you needed. A grasping piece of your presence flipped a connection on the challenge program, and it obediently approved your presence and then shut down. You knew that the shutdown wouldn't hold for too long, the alert level in the hub was too high, but it would be long enough.
You swept into the archive silently, no alarms blaring at your entry, and looked around hungrily for the data you needed. The soft entry was a good thing, but even then your time here was limited. The main system presence rotated its attention between these areas on a semi-random basis, and it would see through your cloak like it was nothing. But you were going loud anyway, so there was little need for much subtlety.
You tore through the files like a whirlwind, searching for the connection paths and information you needed. A schematic was easily found, and it was the work of moments to download that and pass it to Kirstin, but the sensor and tactical data you needed was being difficult. Which supported the opinion that this was a trap, to your mind. You weren't used to pulling this data together on your own, however. That's what Kirstin always did, why you had her as part of your team, but she was needed elsewhere right now.
Which meant…you glanced around, feeling out the space around you for the presence of the main presence. It was a lot closer. And that meant you didn't have a choice anymore. You had a feed pathway, and your own abilities would be more than enough to break it open. You had hoped that going loud in here wouldn't be necessary, as it would blow your cover completely, but you needed the data.
You pulled in your presence again, preparing for the fight to come, and then leapt. A wall of shining light interposed itself between you, somewhere behind it a guard leapt up. You didn't care, you were searching for the gate. You sank deeper into your Focus again, reaching into the fabric of the translated data construct to find what you needed. Still no alarm yet, but that could change very fast.
I am a key.
Intrigue + Living Gateway + Network Supremacy + Access Code + From the Shadows vs Intrigue + Infowar Subroutines + Alert
(99 + 32 + 10 + 4 + 10 + 5 vs 67 + 40 + 15 + 5 = 160 vs 127. Solid Success)
There.
You touched the wall just so, and it shattered. Some sharp and lethal flashed out from your presence, and the guard sputtered out of existence as you raced past it. Behind you, another alarm flared to life and the burning glare of the system presence swung towards you. But too slowly, too slowly. More walls tried to rise, but you blew through them before their foundations could solidify. Your presence bloomed out again, and data poured in. You didn't even look at it, there wasn't time. Every piece of your focus taken up simply acquiring it, and passing it on. You felt Kirstin's presence expand through the link, sucking in the data and adding it to her picture.
Fire started to follow your footsteps, and you sped up, even as it wrapped around before you. Almost time to go, but you needed one last thing. You had sensor locations, tactical data for the area you were about to have to break open, but now you knew what was there. Less than you'd expected, but more than you'd hoped. But there was a final piece of the puzzle, just ahead of you.
A lock slammed down around it, the full power of the system descending to protect its last secret, but you weren't having any of that. Your presence folded back in, and your entire Focus slammed out into the lock. All around, the fire closed in. Above you, icy power rained down. But what mattered was what was in front of you.
I am a key!
The lock came undone, your hand ripped the data free, and another very physical hand slammed down on your hard disconnect. The last thing you saw of the virtual space was fire engulfing it, then you were blinking away the afterimages as the interface spooled down.
"Kirstin." You said, and the familiar presence appeared in the circuit. She was busy. "Did you get it?"
"Enough." She said quickly. Another would have seen the shortness as an insult, but you knew better. She was finding doors.
"Are we ready?" You brought Captain Stewart in before you asked. "Or do we need to alter?"
"Breaching charges are in place. Setting final objectives now." He said. "The codes on the models are different from the others we've been fighting, so we're going to be a bit more careful in our aggression. Your combat-Focused volunteered to go in with them." You nodded faintly, then sent an affirmative ping. Of course they had, and it wasn't as if you could really stop them.
"Go."
The detonations sounded as one, and the first fire teams were moving before the debris finished arcing up or out. Energy fire blazed back and forth across the spaces, your teams having to be far more careful in their fire in places. There was an objective here, and they couldn't afford to damage it. That made it harder to kill the enemy, and you smothered a curse as one of the soldiers vitals flatlined.
Tahio barked something in his mother tongue, then leapt forward in concert with Lucas. Fire spread from their weapons, and you saw threat markers vanish off of the display, even as the fire teams fought to cover them. A laser grazed the edge of Lucas' armour, advanced composites puffing into dust, but also ablating the energy pulse. He dropped, but didn't fall. It was controlled, and his weapon fired three times in the space it took him to hit the deck.
"Now!" Kirstin snapped over the net, and the next group went in. You checked your carbine again, how many times had you done this, and brought up the full tactical systems of your suit. The units in there were a lot more resilient, and quite a bit faster, then the ones you'd been up against so far. Nothing you couldn't handle, but you were losing more than you'd have liked. It wasn't more than you could afford, even though you cursed that statement for the blood being spilled in the name of necessity.
The second wave knew exactly where their targets where now, bought with the lives of their comrades, and their fire swept the compartment with a hail of particle and flechette fire. It wasn't pretty, but you were in.
"Captain, movement from the in sectors." One of the rearguard teams reporting in. "Lots of movement. We're sealing the passageways and moving back as ordered."
"Understood. Get here fast." He turned to you. "The interface is intact. We'll hold as long as we can." You saw him try not to look at the corpses of his own on the ground, then face it before looking back up. "Go."
"We'll get it done. Just hold."
"We will, sir. First squad, I need," he dropped out of the circuit, and you shook your head as Taiho helped Lucas to his feet. Their status readouts both flagged as clear, and a gentle ping from each of them informed you that you needed to focus elsewhere.
"Sir." You jerked up as another voice intruded into the circuit. You tried to place it. "Lieutenant Adia." The speaker identified herself, and you nodded jerkily. "I have the Concorde for you, sir." Your eyes went wide, and you sent an acceptance ping. No time to thank her, you'd do that later.
"Marcus." Vega's voice. It was good to hear, even if strained.
"We've made it to the interface point. About to enter. Transmitting our tactical status." You said quickly, hoping she'd understand what you needed. A silly thing to worry about, given what she was.
"I have a return from Commodore Zikmund. I don't know how long this line will stay up, the station is fighting us on it, but the spoof is holding." You let out a shuddering breath as she confirmed that there was still a chance to win this. That you weren't doomed. The data packet popped into your system, and you unpacked it quickly, looking it over with half a mind as the rest connected your suit to the secured node access point in tandem with Kirstin.
TG1 was taking a beating up there, but they were still there and holding. You had…bad news for them, however. Something you wished you hadn't found, but also were very glad you had given its implications.
"You need to get away from defensive node, Vega. I don't care what you have to do, get the TG away from the node."
"Wh- oh." You could hear the shock in her voice, timed well enough for you to be able to tell she'd reached the part in the tactical analysis. "How did we miss, no, it doesn't matter." You actually smiled a little. She'd grown up a lot recently, to react so quickly.
"Just get clear. Nothing in TG1 can survive a hit from that, and with us in the access node the hub will stop holding back. If we can, I'll disable it on the inside."
"No." You blinked. "The star system is more important, Marcus." Now you winced. You'd hoped she wouldn't have caught that. "If it would compromise the mission, you let us burn. The Commodore will keep Concorde away, but some ships have to remain to keep everything quiet." A tiny pause, which you took to connect the final links to the node. "They all volunteered, Marcus."
"I…" you paused this time, even though you could sense Kirstin's impatience, and were very aware of the need to move quickly. "I understand, Vega. Handing you off to Captain Stewart."
"Luck." She said, as you brought up your interface again, this time hardwire connected.
"We make our own." You replied, but without the bravado that usually infected it. Too many people were about to die to be making jokes.
You sent the second code through the hardline, transferred Vega's transmission to the command circuit, and then dropped into your Focus. Kirstin's familiar presence appeared first, the suits networking to share processing power and support for what you were about to do. Both of you were falling deep into the wells of your Focuses, and you hoped it would be enough.
The gates opened again, and a different world took you away.
Communications with the Concorde and TG1 have been re-established, the access node has been taken, and Marcus and Kirstin are entering the infospace to bring down the subnet. The next turn, two at the most, will define your success or failure here.
Boarding Party
Although you suffered casualties on the breach, without the tactical data you acquired things would have been far worse when facing far more advanced platforms. Even with that data, you took losses, and more are likely to be on the cards as further response units are vectored in to try and force you away from the hub. Or just kill you, that will probably work too. The teams along your return route are falling back and the first wave of charges to keep it secure have been triggered. The unit is preparing to defend the access node compartment to give you time to disable the subnet. They are unsure as to how long they will be able to hold.
Special Operations unit is at 70% combat effectiveness.
All Potentials are at 100% combat effectiveness.
You and Kirstin are entering the subnet hub through the defensive access node that is allowing the program in charge of the system to directly coordinate the weapons loadout of the station and access the finer sensor coverage placed there. Although it now is aware that you were able to gain access to its inner workings through a code, the loss of data from its method of dealing with your intrusion means it is still retracing the steps taken. Your codes remain functional. You have two remaining.
Task Group 1
The jamming remains in full effect, and so far the rest of the subnet has not shown any sign of suspicion. The Task Group has taken damage to several vessels from the defensive node, and is beginning to scatter in response to the intelligence you retrieved. Namely that there is a single gravitational disruption emitter in full repair, spinning up to charge now. The Concorde will be able to clear the fire area before the weapon can fire, but it is highly likely that you will lose ships keeping your deception intact now. No ship in the Task Group can survive a direct hit from a grav emitter.
Your options are again limited, as tactical planning on the whole is out of your hands. You have two choices to make.
How do you approach the infospace attack on the core of the subnet? You are in a position to attempt to deliver another crushing blow from stealth, but you'll need to get into position first. Conversely, you're already starting inside the gates. Go loud and storm the keep. Either the way the castle falls, you need to work out how much you want intact.
[] Dagger Strike
[] Two Potential Army
Do you hold to your promise to Vega to treat disabling the gravitational disruption emitter as a secondary objective?
[] Yes
[] No
[] Write in?
Boarding Party
Although you suffered casualties on the breach, without the tactical data you acquired things would have been far worse when facing far more advanced platforms. Even with that data, you took losses, and more are likely to be on the cards as further response units are vectored in to try and force you away from the hub. Or just kill you, that will probably work too. The teams along your return route are falling back and the first wave of charges to keep it secure have been triggered. The unit is preparing to defend the access node compartment to give you time to disable the subnet. They are unsure as to how long they will be able to hold.
Special Operations unit is at 70% combat effectiveness.
All Potentials are at 100% combat effectiveness.
You and Kirstin are entering the subnet hub through the defensive access node that is allowing the program in charge of the system to directly coordinate the weapons loadout of the station and access the finer sensor coverage placed there. Although it now is aware that you were able to gain access to its inner workings through a code, the loss of data from its method of dealing with your intrusion means it is still retracing the steps taken. Your codes remain functional. You have two remaining.
Task Group 1
The jamming remains in full effect, and so far the rest of the subnet has not shown any sign of suspicion. The Task Group has taken damage to several vessels from the defensive node, and is beginning to scatter in response to the intelligence you retrieved. Namely that there is a single gravitational disruption emitter in full repair, spinning up to charge now. The Concorde will be able to clear the fire area before the weapon can fire, but it is highly likely that you will lose ships keeping your deception intact now. No ship in the Task Group can survive a direct hit from a grav emitter.
Your options are again limited, as tactical planning on the whole is out of your hands. You have two choices to make.
How do you approach the infospace attack on the core of the subnet? You are in a position to attempt to deliver another crushing blow from stealth, but you'll need to get into position first. Conversely, you're already starting inside the gates. Go loud and storm the keep. Either the way the castle falls, you need to work out how much you want intact.
[] Dagger Strike
[] Two Potential Army
Do you hold to your promise to Vega to treat disabling the gravitational disruption emitter as a secondary objective?
[] Yes
[] No
[] Write in?
Snowfire
Polyglot of Chimera
- Location
- Wordcats
Grr natural 99 on the dice. Grr! Ruining all my fun 
All seriousness, you're looking a lot better than you could have been. The spec ops team rolled rather well against the platforms defending the node. The problem is that you're now really on a time limit. If you lose too many ships, the jamming field will start springing leaks, and that will make Vega's checks get progressively harder.
I hope you enjoyed this section, and that you don't mind the mostly limited choices again. They're building out of other rolls that I really don't want to clutter the post with, so please bear that in mind. Also I hope that my descriptions of infospace combat are readable and mostly enjoyable. I know it's not really an accurate description of some things, but the moderately abstract interface based view for this sort of action has always appealed to me. Comments and questions welcome to the usual address <3
All seriousness, you're looking a lot better than you could have been. The spec ops team rolled rather well against the platforms defending the node. The problem is that you're now really on a time limit. If you lose too many ships, the jamming field will start springing leaks, and that will make Vega's checks get progressively harder.
I hope you enjoyed this section, and that you don't mind the mostly limited choices again. They're building out of other rolls that I really don't want to clutter the post with, so please bear that in mind. Also I hope that my descriptions of infospace combat are readable and mostly enjoyable. I know it's not really an accurate description of some things, but the moderately abstract interface based view for this sort of action has always appealed to me. Comments and questions welcome to the usual address <3
Malaquez
[MUFFLED EUROBEAT]
- Location
- Singapore
[X] Two Potential Army
[X] Yes
We're on a time limit, and that requires us to be pragmatic. I salute those who have served and will serve.
[X] Yes
We're on a time limit, and that requires us to be pragmatic. I salute those who have served and will serve.
Based dice gods have spoken.Grr natural 99 on the dice. Grr! Ruining all my fun
Well, good thing we went with the 'hard and fast' option.
Hah, you're being too humble man. This entire story has been enjoyable.
@Snowfire - right now, I'm not entirely clearly on what is going on; I would appreciate it if you could clarify things for me.
Here is my understanding of things. If you could correct anything that isn't quite right here (special emphasis on things I'm not 100% certain on) and fill in the [blanks], that would really help.
Here is my understanding of things. If you could correct anything that isn't quite right here (special emphasis on things I'm not 100% certain on) and fill in the [blanks], that would really help.
- Marcus and Kirstin are currently jacked into the subnet via an access point. Their objective is to find the location of the courier drone so that [???] can blow it up. As an additional objective (which may be either primary or secondary, our decision), they intend to disable the graviton emitter which may otherwise have the opportunity to start blowing up our task force.
- [What do you mean by "how much you want intact"? Other than the location of the courier, are we trying to collect some sort of information at this point?]
- [How much influence into the subnet do we actually have right now? You've mentioned that we can access station weaponry and sensors from here, but apparently the courier data is here somewhere as well? Do we have access to anything else - e.g. the drones, of the subnet AI itself, etc.]
- Our SpecOps team and Practice personnel are guarding Marcus and Kirstin.
- TF1 is laying down a jamming field which stops the subnet from dialing out, but they have come under fire and are currently trying to get out of the firing arc of the Big Gun. If they fail, not only do we lose ships, but our jamming starts to fail - which means unless Vega successfully picks up the slack, we fail the mission.
- [Is the Concorde in danger of being shot down?]
- [What is the defensive node trying to dial out to? Is it just the courier drone, or are there other sunet components or even full subnet copies floating around out there (as far as we know, anyway)?]
We should really consider going with the dagger. We're on a timer, but it's not particularly tight right now. The prize of greater intel from their system is worth losing more ships, and while that carries a risk of leaks if it goes to far we have a literal miracle worker overseeing it. Go for the prize we actually came here for and forget everything else.
Malaquez
[MUFFLED EUROBEAT]
- Location
- Singapore
Thing is, anything we get out of this would be a win for us. This is the first hostile operation against the Shiplords since they stomped humanity. Losing soldiers is going to weaken the force as a whole. Besides, we still have to escape.
Mandabar
Waifu of choice is Rem. Give that girl some hugs!
- Location
- Florida, USA [Yes. Florida *FacePalm*]
I'm not sure @Snowfire on the difference in the two approaches. I'm guessing dagger is the stealthy thief massive damage backstab? Damages system, not much data to collect afterwards and info on the shiplords lost?
While the army option is the conquer and occupy option of medieval warfare. Take it mostly undamaged and control the network? Massive science, Intel, tech and working shiplord artifacts. Including working courier.
Or is it the opposite? Stealthy slow setup surgical strike that causes little damage versus massive army destruction? On further thinking changed to daggers.
On these assumptions...
[X] Dagger Strike
[] Two Potential Army
Vega isn't in danger right? She's moving out of the way I hope on Concorde. Losing TG1 ships will make the jamming harder, but secondary their survival for all humanity... So yes keep promise. The quicker we complete the primary the sooner we can do the secondary. Distractions would only hurt us. Completing the secondary while primary might save a few lives, till everyone dies.
[X] Yes
[] No
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The soldiers involved are a trivial amount of the soldiers available to humanity, and if we take the system there is nothing to escape from. Those soldiers and ships are ultimately expendable in the face of any marginal gains from the operation.
I think you've got it backwards there. The army option tears everything apart as fast as possible, but does the most damage. Sneaking in and striking precisely takes more time, but leaves more intact. The alternative wouldn't leave much of a choice since there wouldn't be any trade-offs and all downside to going stealthy.
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- Location
- Anchorage, Alaska
Right now, we are in a postion to subvert the entire subnet. Our primary objective is to spoof the Courier so that it won't failsafe away after we tear it down. However, this is a Shiplord Intelligence, and therefore a gold mine of information. WHAT that information is, we have no idea. But we really do want to know, if we think we can get away with it.
Not exactly a straight forward answer. See, the subnet is actively fighting us, so we can't suborn any of it's resources. However, what we're doing is basically analogous to a virus attacking a body. We're in his body, touching his internal organs. Yum.
I would think the inverse. A sudden, carefully planned backstab for massive damage would mean less collateral damage, but would take more time than just stomping through the defences and watch everything burn down, either by our hand as it get's in the way, or by the local intelligence as it desperately enacts scorched earth, to minimize our gains as much as possible.
Dagger takes more time, probably, but prioritization will help with that abit.
Mandabar
Waifu of choice is Rem. Give that girl some hugs!
- Location
- Florida, USA [Yes. Florida *FacePalm*]
I think you two are right, thought of that after posting and had already edited my post and vote. Dagger for the win. Prioritization will help I hope. There may be some losses but... sad to say they are replaceable. For the good of humanity. Vega and Concorde are safe.
To bad we didn't have any shieldships full of Restorers to use as a blocker here, built yet. Or did we? @Snowfire? Ah we did, and finished earlier in year before this portion of the update it seems. Original - Sci-Fi - The Practice War | Page 15 Wonder if we had any in TG1 and if not, the reason.
I wonder what our actual count is on Tower and Dauntless.
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If avoiding the courier launch is supremely important, we do have a simple, 100% effective way to accomplish it: just... walk away. We know that it's launch criteria is only the total subversion of the system. If we leave the system alone it doesn't launch.
Obviously, the risk of the launch has been deemed worthwhile. We're here for the loot. Go for the loot. The mooks are worth trading for the loot. It might be worth compromising in order to save an advisor, but neither of them are currently facing any unexpected risk. It might be worth compromising to ensure the success of the mission, but the mission appears to currently be pretty much on schedule and budget, if not ahead. Sell the nameless mooks. Prepare the ritual pentagram, slit their throats, and grease the gears of the treasure chest with their blood.
Obviously, the risk of the launch has been deemed worthwhile. We're here for the loot. Go for the loot. The mooks are worth trading for the loot. It might be worth compromising in order to save an advisor, but neither of them are currently facing any unexpected risk. It might be worth compromising to ensure the success of the mission, but the mission appears to currently be pretty much on schedule and budget, if not ahead. Sell the nameless mooks. Prepare the ritual pentagram, slit their throats, and grease the gears of the treasure chest with their blood.
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- Location
- Anchorage, Alaska
The goal of the mission is to completely eliminate any possibility of the Courier ever launching. Their are conditions that must be met before it is launched, but we don't know where those thresholds are, and are a little surprised that we haven't already crossed them. The loot is the bonus, not the prize.
Actually, we kind of do know:
So the answer is "total system penetration". Hacking into said system almost certainly counts. Fortunately, we have jammed the subnet at present, so it can't actually carry out the launch... yet.
I'm still stunned that the Shiplords don't have interstellar FTL comms. Humanity was already flirting with them with Hermes station back when they first arrived. Perhaps the courier is carrying something physical? Perhaps the Shiplords don't want to draw attention from somebody? Perhaps the Shiplords are under similar constraints to the ones they placed upon humanity?
Perhaps this isn't a Shiplord system at all? We know that there are other species chaffing and who might be intensely interested in observing what they are up to, especially with regards to a new source of potential resistance.
I don't think we've managed "total" penetration yet. The condition was implied to be along the lines of, "We're about to lose everything anyway."
Perhaps this isn't a Shiplord system at all? We know that there are other species chaffing and who might be intensely interested in observing what they are up to, especially with regards to a new source of potential resistance.
I don't think we've managed "total" penetration yet. The condition was implied to be along the lines of, "We're about to lose everything anyway."
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- Location
- Germany
- Pronouns
- He/Him
[X] Dagger Strike
[X] Yes (emphasis on secondary)
We did go loud previously; the predictive algorithms of the subnet should expect us to continue in this way because it worked so far. Using stealth now might garner us a bit of randomness and might throw off the response just a bit.
[X] Yes (emphasis on secondary)
We did go loud previously; the predictive algorithms of the subnet should expect us to continue in this way because it worked so far. Using stealth now might garner us a bit of randomness and might throw off the response just a bit.
- Location
- Germany
- Pronouns
- He/Him
If we don't keep up the jamming the courier is launched. I am not sure what that means, but I'm inclined to believe 'nothing good'.
Actually I'd assume the courier will be launched when it becomes aware of our actions (from remote studying and the silence of the hub).
Actually I'd assume the courier will be launched when it becomes aware of our actions (from remote studying and the silence of the hub).