>>3642273

You had the choice on what to do this time, but your choice had to come soon, lest the rebels evacuate any base they had in the system under fear of being found.

FACTION LOYALTY MISSION AVAILABLE [ONI]

>Take up ONI's mission! It's rare that the spooks trust a ship outside of their fleet, better not waste their time.
>Regroup with the wolfpack! ONI has a large enough fleet to handle this themselves, you have aliens to hunt.

>>3642274
>>Take up ONI's mission! It's rare that the spooks trust a ship outside of their fleet, better not waste their time.

>>3642274
>Take up ONI's mission! It's rare that the spooks trust a ship outside of their fleet, better not waste their time.
We could make good use of a favor or two in the future

>>3642274
>Regroup with the wolfpack! ONI has a large enough fleet to handle this themselves, you have aliens to hunt.
Unless they are going to send a prowler to back up us.

After reading the information -or rather, lack of information- provided, you decided to help ONI with their rebel hunt. It was never a good idea to turn their requests down, especially if you were in a high-mortality position. While ONI was very much a path of good intentions on the road to hell, they often had access to a lot of powerful and useful vessels and pieces of equipment. So getting in good favors with them was often a good idea, if you could bear the stigma around working with them. You fired off a simple response to the spooks, confirming that you were willing to help them in their search. Less than an hour later, you received a response back from the spook. This startled you a bit, as the timescales involved to get a personal response back over interstellar distances were measured in days at least. If you had to guess, it was just a pre-written response from the man. But you wouldn't put it past him to have traveled here to take a personal look into your findings. The message thanked you for your help, before getting down to business on the planning of your mission. Overall, you had three sections to fill out, each one going over assets that were available to assist you. The first section you had to choose from was supporting ships, the fact that you were heading out into an off-the-network and uninhabited system afforded you the right to take one or two ships with you.

The first option was by far the most militant. You had the option to take a frigate with you, forming a hunting pair. Such a tactic had been pioneered in the later days of the insurrection to hunt down insurrectionist vessels and rapidly assault their static facilities, with a Paris class always making an appearance to provide the bulk of the firepower. Though this was the most heavy-handed approach, it wouldn't leave you wanting for firepower if you happened to run into a hostile warship. And with at least three classes of frigates to choose from, you could pick and choose to give your formation strength in certain areas. After all, your ship would struggle to take on a large number of prisoners where any other frigate would have little problem taking in hundreds.

The second option gave you more numbers than the other two options. A pair of corvettes would be assigned to assist you. Both vessels were joint UNSC-ONI crewed, apparently making up a portion of the "shared fleet" that had been pushed for by some members of FLEETCOM. Unlike the larger frigate, the pair of corvettes carried a lighter load of weapons and armor. However, the speed of each vessel allowed them to race ahead of your comparatively flat-footed warship. And the fact that you had two of them to play with made it all the more appealing, as the option to go in with three vessels really expanded your tactical options.

>CONT

>>3642446

The final option was by far the sneakiest choice. ONI was willing to assign you a single Dagger-class light prowler. The small dossier you were given told you that the Dagger-class was a relatively old design, but still effective enough to serve as both a fast response platform and exemplary stealth design. All be it limited by its relatively flat design, which strangled its internal volume and associated endurance. Being a prowler, it generally lacked a built-in offensive capability, leaving your sole frigate to do all of the heavy lifting if push came to shove. However, a series of roll-on modules had been made available for you to outfit the vessel to your specific strategy.

Alternatively, you could simply choose to go it alone. Only sending in a single vessel was risky, especially given that it left you with no support other than whatever you carried in or had dropped in before you arrived. However, the benefit was that the rebels would probably just assume that it was a "normal" patrol of the system. In spite of the war effort, patrol duties for systems like the one you were heading into still had to be performed. Though they had been gutted to the point of only a single vessel entering the system every six months. And if they saw a relatively unsubtle and unthorough Paris class wandering through the system, the rebels would probably be caught off guard if you managed to find them. And to make up for going in alone, you could simply request additional embarked or pre-deployed assets to make up for it.

>Pair with a frigate! While it will scream that the jig is up, the massed firepower will be very helpful.
>Bring a pair of corvettes! The speed and weight of numbers they give you outweigh their fragility!
>Take the prowler! Knowing is half the battle, and there is no better recon platform than a prowler.
>Go it alone! If you can lure the rebels into a false sense of security, then you can get the drop on them.

>>3642449
>Bring a pair of corvettes! The speed and weight of numbers they give you outweigh their fragility!

>>3642449
>>Take the prowler! Knowing is half the battle, and there is no better recon platform than a prowler.
fight smart, not hard.

>>3642449
>Take the prowler! Knowing is half the battle, and there is no better recon platform than a prowler.

File: frigate hanger bay breakdown.png (22 KB, 627x816)

22 KB PNG

Making your choice for the prowler, you continued on to the next section, this one being on embarked support. Due to the short travel time of your mission, you didn't need to pack your spare supplies. This freed up the rear four hanger bays, though half of them had been sequestered to serve as storage areas for items of interest and salvage. This left you with only a pair of hangers going spare to carry some extra small craft, though you weren't just limited to those two bays. Your other eight hangers could drop their compliments of craft, though that could leave your longsword squadrons understrength if you dropped even one of the massive strike craft. You had the six fighters occupying the forward six hangers, and your four embarked pelicans divided between the two remaining hangers. The one that you had lost in the rebel suicide attack had been replaced, along with the marines that had ridden it. Unfortunately, the Dagger-class prowler lacked the ability to actually embark craft without compromising it's stealth capabilities. So you only had your ship's hangers to work with.

Your first option was to carry two pelicans per bay for a total of four in the empty bays. On the surface, this seemed to be doubling up on your standard compliment, but these provided dropships were a lot more capable than the standard D77s. Each dropship was fitted with advanced avionics and was assigned a squad of twelve ODSTs, sequestered from deployments on UNSC ships in the Greydowns defense fleet. The ODSTs were better armed, better trained and better suited for the brutal close quarters combat of boarding operations. As such, when it came time to grab key rebel assets, those forty-eight ODSTs were going to be a lot better at the job than your marines.

Second on the list was the option to carry Broadsword class multirole fighters. Essentially the UNSC's light fighter, the broadsword was fast and nippy enough to deal with its Covenant counterpart, while having the ability to take on the larger Seraphs when operating in pairs. The Broadswords smaller size allowed you to haul two per hanger, though at the cost of losing the longsword's heavier punch. However, the concentration of the same number of fighters in fewer hangers could free up space for more Broadswords, or even other craft entirely.

>CONT

>>3643082
The next option was a pair of Black Cat class subprowlers. The 'cats were to the rest of the prowler crop what the Pelican was to the rest of the UNSC. Acting primarily as a dropship and recovery craft, though configurable for various missions. Black Cats featured a wide, bat-like wingspan. Not too different from the stealth bombers of the 21st century, and on a size similar to the modern longsword. Their usefulness as a dropship was questionable given the circumstances, but as a secondary scout craft, there was nothing comparable.

Finally, there were a pair of greatsword class bombers. The Greatswords had been designed to function as a fast, ship-killing evolution of the longsword. The Greatsword was fitted with two massive pods for Archer anti-ship missiles. While the concept proved sound against rebels, their low maneuverability, and vulnerability to enemy fire had caused massive casualty rates during the few engagements they were used in against the Covenant. Nowadays they were used as a cheap means to hunt down jackal raiders in backwater systems. However, for cracking open asteroid bases and acting as mobile fire support it absolutely dominated the Longsword and even some corvette classes.

>Limit yourself to just the free hangers, you don't want to alter your compliment too much.
>Start swapping out your compliment, it will only be for this mission, so why limit yourself? [GAIN EXTRA NUMBERS (NOTE, please specify which hangers you want to be swapped out, with the exception of the bottom-most pair.)
====================
>Take a pair of pelicans! Their ODSTs will be absolutely useful in boarding actions. (two pelicans per hanger)
>Take a pair of Broadswords! You won't be fighting any Covenant vessels out there, so why not maximize your space? (two Broadswords per hanger)
>Take a Black Cat! You already have one prowler, but why not get some more for better scouting? (one Black Cat per hanger)
>Take a greatsword! The sheer firepower of the craft and their speed should allow you to use them as mini-corvettes. (one Greatsword per hanger)

>>3643087
>Take a pair of Broadswords! You won't be fighting any Covenant vessels out there, so why not maximize your space? (two Broadswords per hanger)

>Take a Black Cat! You already have one prowler, but why not get some more for better scouting? (one Black Cat per hanger)

>>3643087
>Take 2 Black Cats! You already have one prowler, but why not get some more for better scouting? (one Black Cat per hanger)

Can we choose what the other ship will be carrying?

>>3643087
>Take a greatsword! The sheer firepower of the craft and their speed should allow you to use them as mini-corvettes. (one Greatsword per hanger)
>Take a pair of Broadswords! You won't be fighting any Covenant vessels out there, so why not maximize your space? (two Broadswords per hanger)
Should give us the punch we lost by not taking another ship with us.

>>3643087
>>Take a Greatsword! The sheer firepower of the craft and their speed should allow you to use them as mini-corvettes. (one Greatsword per hanger)
>>Take a pair of Broadswords! You won't be fighting any Covenant vessels out there, so why not maximize your space? (two Broadswords per hanger)

>>3643087
>Take a Black Cat! You already have one prowler, but why not get some more for better scouting? (one Black Cat per hanger)
>Take a greatsword! The sheer firepower of the craft and their speed should allow you to use them as mini-corvettes. (one Greatsword per hanger)

>>3643087
>Take a pair of pelicans! Their ODSTs will be absolutely useful in boarding actions. (two pelicans per hanger)
>Take a greatsword! The sheer firepower of the craft and their speed should allow you to use them as mini-corvettes. (one Greatsword per hanger)

>>3643525
Support

>>3643087
>Take a greatsword! The sheer firepower of the craft and their speed should allow you to use them as mini-corvettes. (one Greatsword per hanger)
>Take a pair of Broadswords! You won't be fighting any Covenant vessels out there, so why not maximize your space? (two Broadswords per hanger)

>>3643133
>>3643185
>>3643224
>>3643238
>>3643525
>>3643702

Ok, so the option to take both a Black Cat subprowler and a Greatsword bomber has won. As nobody specified if they wanted to use just the spare hangers or if they wanted to swap out some of your currently embarked fighters, I'm gonna ask if you want to do that before we continue on.

If you limit yourselves to just the spare bays then you would have only one Black Cat and one Greatsword. Expanding into the spare bays allows you to carry more (up to 2 black cats and eight Greatswords), but it will cost you fighters and dropships. The breakdown of what you have in your occupied bays right now can be seen here >>3643082.

>>3645501
I thought we were filling up the empty hangers with the options?

>>3645519
The first two options on the post, the ones separated from the rest by two lines, is a separate thing to vote on. I was hoping to get two very similar topics voted on at the same time, making it faster to go through everything and get into the action. I'm fairly sure that we have already done votes like this before in the quest, in hindsight I should have made an obvious note of it, but at the time I thought that it was obvious enough to determine.

>>3645559
Lets just fill up the spare hangers then.

>>3645559
I got it, but wanted to keep the spare hangars for loot & etc.

>>3645575
You already have two spare hangers set aside for loot, leaving you with only two for extra craft. Hence the question.

>>3645624
Yes and the vote was to add/remove for different use right?

>>3645631
The vote was if you wanted to only load craft into the two spare hangers. Or if you wanted to swap out the craft in already occupied bays to load additional subprowlers or bombers.

>>3643087
>Black Cat
>Greatsword
Stick them in the spare hangars. If we need more than one of each supported by a Longsword wing then this isn't a job for a single frigate. Feel like ODSTs would have been more useful here but w/e.

You quickly chose a single Black Cat class subprowler and a single Greatsword class bomber, the two choices neatly filling out the two spare hangers that you had to play with. The Black Cat would be useful for scouting in places where the larger Dagger-class would have troubles. While the heavily armed but lumbering Greatsword would be useful for adding additional firepower to your fighter wings. With that choice made, you moved on to the third section, this one being on installed systems. ONI was willing to furnish your ship with a single systems upgrade to assist in your mission. Though with you taking one of their prowlers along with you, you were sure that you could argue for them to be given something as well.

The first option was a high-grain scanning unit. The high-grain scanner was essentially a large dish-shaped scanning unit, mounted in a dome just aft of the bridge structure on your ship. Its high performance made it very useful at taking in-depth scans of targets, especially at long range. And that performance only improved as you got closer to a target up to a point where you could gain a window directly into a ship. However, the system was limited to only scanning a single target at a time. Sort of like the illumination radars and laser designators used to guide munitions onto targets. And the sheer power output of the system would absolutely trip any warning system that the innies had at their disposal, ruining any chance of using it stealthily against a rebel target.

The second option was essentially the oposite, a network of low-grain semi-passive sensors. These radar panels would be mounted across your ship to periodically send out pulses to gain a return from any item floating in space by virtue of having the original pulse reflected back. Essentially functioning in a similar way to SONAR or RADAR, though unlike either system it could gain a somewhat accurate reading of a target's outer layering by way of matching the strength and wavelength of the returning signal. The passive part of the system was also capable of sifting through a wide range of electronic noise in order to pick out transmissions and internal emissions that had seeped out of enemy vessels that were trying to hide. The unoffensive nature of the system meant that it would be hard for the rebels to pick it up, but that very same nature made it useful only for guiding you towards an area where the rebels may be hiding. It would provide no more benefits in actual combat.

>CONT

>>3647053

The third option was to take an enhanced jamming and countermeasures suite. The suite itself had originally been designed to spoof Archer anti-ship missiles, with the worry being that the rebels might capture a UNSC or CMA vessel armed with the numerous and deadly missiles. As such, an effective means to counter the offensive use of such weapons was developed and had been entering service when the Human-Covenant war had started. This network of directional jammers, decoys and countermeasures provided a safe and almost guaranteed means to spoof a volley or two of Archers before you needed to restock and reload the launchers. However, with the Covenant never actually using missiles, the plans to install the units onto all UNSC ships had been dropped to save costs. However, it was always better to be safe than sorry.

The fourth and final option was a compliment of Clarion spy drones. They used a variety of sensors and cameras to scan space and transmit data to any ship, platform, planet, etc. They were extremely useful; being able to covertly relay communications, topography information, enemy locations, and allied locations and other forms of data to various UNSC warships. And the fact that they were very commonplace within the UNSC made it less of a concern to any rebels nearby if you just deployed them right off the bat. However, the drones were not in any way built to survive any sort of attention from the enemy. Thin plates of Vanadium armor only covered small sections of the drone, leaving it vulnerable to damage from even comparatively underpowered human pulse lasers. Meanwhile, their slow speed made them difficult to rapidly relocate.

The prowler could carry a number of roll-on, roll-off packages similar to yours. Though they had smaller equivalents to the systems that you could carry, they were still just as capable as the ones that you would be carrying. The only exception to that being the drones that it would carry, which had a noted reliability issue that was covered through a mixture of numbers and stealth capabilities.

NOTE: You can take two options, with one for your ship and one for the Prowler accompanying you. Please note which system you want on each ship, as the Prowler's systems may differ to yours.
>High-grain scanner! While finding the rebels may be hard, finding a weakness will be much easier.
>Semi-passive sensors! All you need is a decent idea where the enemy is located.
>Jammers and countermeasures! Not getting hit by missiles is always good.
>Clarion spy drones! The more eyes -and sensors- you have, the better.

>>3647054
>>Semi-passive sensors! All you need is a decent idea where the enemy is located.
US
>Jammers and countermeasures! Not getting hit by missiles is always good.
Prowler

>>3647063
sure

>>3647054
>>3647063
Seconding.

>>3647063
Supportung

>>3647063
+1

>>3647063
Supportan

You decided to take the semi-passive sensors. All you needed was a decent idea where the enemy is located, you could then send one of your two prowlers or some fighters to take a closer look. The unoffensive nature of the system would also make it easier to conceal. Meanwhile, the prowler would carry a jammer and countermeasures system. The countermeasures would serve as little more than insurance for the event that the vessel's naturally low signature and inbuilt seduction systems failed to stop an incoming missile from getting a lock on the ship. The jammers, on the other hand, would make the prowler a very useful SEAD platform. The ability to suppress enemy area defenses, sensor platforms and missile batteries would allow it to pave the way for either your ship or a flight of longswords. The final item to decide upon was going to be pre-deployed support. ONI was willing to send in a single prowler to deploy a network of critical systems for you to make use of during the mission.

The first option was a deployed network of communications satellites. The network of dozens of basketball size satellites allowed UNSC forces in the area to make use of a communications network capable of supporting an entire battle group. Designed for stealth, BLACK WIDOWs can be deployed easily and stealthily, with the deploying prowler could cool the satellites down, making them very hard to detect. As for their electronic capabilities, the satellites were used to transfer electronic data. Text files, audio files, and even larger items. Aside from allowing enhanced communications, there was little else that they could do. However given the lack of infrastructure in the system you were entering, being able to remain in contact with your prowlers and fighters would be indispensable. The last thing you wanted was needing to waste fighters to act as comms relays.

The second option was the deployment of a series of temporary reconnaissance drones. These small drones were somewhere in between a Clarion spy drone, and a slipspace reconnaissance probe. Designed to be dropped out of a vessel to make their own entry into a system, these armored drones were used to safely scout a region of space without deploying a manned vessel. These drones would drop out of slipspace and record data of the various happenings around the system. If they remained undetected until you arrived, you could hopefully gain a decent amount of information. However, if they were found, they would be easily destroyed. If that happened then the rebels would know that something was coming, and any fore-warning would give them a chance to prepare for your arrival.

>CONT

>>3648433

The third choice was a spicy one, you had the option for a nearby prowler to deploy a network of temporary slipspace guidance beacons. The slipspace guidance beacons were deployed directly in slipstream space by a specially modified vessel, they were used to assist other vessels in performing highly accurate slipspace jumps. Although they were intended to make interstellar jumps more accurate, they were also used to allow UNSC vessels to perform short range, in-system jumps. By laying a small network of these beacons would improve your mobility around the system, cutting travel times from hours down to minutes. However, the tech for such temporary beacons was temperamental, to say the least. Beacons deployed close to gravity wells had a tendency to malfunction, causing vessels to scatter away from their planned emergence point. As such, while these beacons would allow you the ability to rapidly move around the system, the chance that you could drift far away from your intended destination hung over it like the sword of Damocles.

>Communications satellites! Keeping in contact with all of the forces under your command is always essential. Lack of communication has a tendency to kill.
>Recon drones! While it is risky to send them in, the possibility of getting more info on rebel activity would be well worth it.
>Slipspace beacons! The ability to rapidly relocate would take the rebels by surprise, and give you the ability to dodge out of bad situations.

>>3648439
>Communications satellites! Keeping in contact with all of the forces under your command is always essential. Lack of communication has a tendency to kill.

>>3648439
>Communications satellites! Keeping in contact with all of the forces under your command is always essential. Lack of communication has a tendency to kill.

>>3648439
>>>Communications satellites! Keeping in contact with all of the forces under your command is always essential. Lack of communication has a tendency to kill.

Rounding off your choices with a network of communications satellites, you sent the form off to the spook. It took another few days before you got your response, coming in the form of a set of orders to head to a mobile drydock at the edge of the Greydowns system. You arrived at the dock, and within a few hours, the network of passive scanners and emitters had been bolted onto your ship. The subprowler and bomber were also embarked and you began to move towards another rendezvous point.

You shouldn't have been surprised when you found the rendezvous point seemingly empty, only for the prowler to exit it's stealth mode a few minutes later. And as one, both the Dawn's Early Light and the prowler jumped into slipspace. The week-long journey had been spent going over the planets in the system, and places where the rebels were likely to hide. Eventually, however, the Dawn’s Early Light shuddered as it exited slipstream space, the vessel dropping out of the radiation filled slipspace and into the system that was your area of operations.

“Slipstream deceleration confirmed sir, we have arrived at Theta Montrose.” Ensign Toulali reported, your navigation officer calling out the obvious.

“Good, take down the radiation shields, I’d like to see what’s in front of us.” You ordered your crew, to action. And within seconds, the radiation shielding plates that covered the bridge’s windows were lowered. Allowing you to see everything in the system. The Theta Montrose system was a small, four-planet system centered around a small brown dwarf. There were a couple of places where the rebels could hide, mainly focused around the four planets within the system.

The first place to hide was the small planet of Faber. The small planet sat close to the brown dwarf in the middle of the system and was tidally locked to the surface of the small star. This left one side of the planet entirely molten, and the other side entirely frozen. The melted portion of the planet was being slowly vaporized and blasted away from the world, leaving a corona of charged particles.

The second planet was the gas giant of Hoover. Hoover was a dense but barren gas giant, with only two small moons. The main feature of the gas giant was a field of debris from when the planet of Howler had passed too close to the giant and had impacted against one of its moons. The debris had been captured by Hoover and had formed a network of rings and clouds around the gas giant, making a huge number of places to hide.

>CONT

>>3648827

The third planet was Howler itself. Howler was a rogue planetoid that had been captured by the system, having impacted against one of Hoover's moons. While the impact had almost destroyed the moon it had dit, it had still badly damaged the planet. Howler sat in a highly eccentric orbit, with its apogee just reaching the edge of the system, and it's perigee almost skimming the surface of Theta Montrose itself. The cracked surface of Howler left a thick cloud of dust and debris in its wake, with the constant electromagnetic storms within giving off the howling signals that gave the world its name. And that howling made it hard to find things sitting close to it.

The final planet lacked a name, instead being referred to as Theta Montrose Delta, or TMD for short. The planet was close to the edges of the system, gaining almost no light and certainly no heat from the tiny star. This left its surface as a barren and icy rock. In spite of this, however, it featured a magnetic field of surprising power and near-earth gravity, indicating a powerful core. This had once been alluring enough to attract the attention of prospective colonizers. However, the lack of light from the star and the more appealing options of both Greydowns, New Llanelli and Sargasso had soon robbed the prospects from the world. However, the magnetic field provided enough defense against radiation while the gravity allowed it to be comfortably settled, making it a comfortable option for a base.

You had dropped out of FTL close to the gas giant of Hoover, just between it and the brown dwarf at the heart of the system. The prowler sat in your shadow, the black ship remaining hidden in the darkness behind you.

NOTE: This is a multi-choice vote, with one option for your ship and another for the prowler.
>Head towards Faber! Starting from the innermost planet and working out of the system makes sense.
>Head towards Hoover! It's close enough to you and enough of a challenge that you might as well get started now.
>Head towards Howler! That debris cloud behind it is a great place to hide,
>Head towards Theta Montrose Delta! Its gravity and magnetic field makes it a great place to hide.
=======
>Keep the prowler with you! You might as well keep your forces together.
>Send the prowler off to another planet! There is no point in keeping it with you when it's whole job is scouting. (Faber, Hoover, Howler, TMD)

>>3648831
>Head towards Theta Montrose Delta! Its gravity and magnetic field makes it a great place to hide.
>Keep the prowler with you! You might as well keep your forces together.

>>3648831
>Head towards Theta Montrose Delta! Its gravity and magnetic field makes it a great place to hide.
>Send the prowler off to another planet! There is no point in keeping it with you when it's whole job is scouting. (Faber.)

If we wanted a direct support ship then we should have sprung for the corvette pair or the frigate. We're gimping ourselves if we don't utilize the prowler to handle one end of the system while we have the other. We also have our black cat for 'short' range scouting.

>>3648831
Backing this >>3648872

>>3648872
supportan

>>3648831
>>3648872
Supporting

File: Dagger-class prowler (1).png (383 KB, 1049x867)

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"Dawn's Early Light to Flashpoint, I want you to recon the planet of Faber and report back to me." You ordered the captain of the prowler. You hadn't had much time to talk with the man, though given the age in his voice and his position in command of a Prowler you were certain that he was a lot more experienced than you. The fact that he was under your command probably irked him a bit.

"Understood Dawn, we're moving." The captain replied, before immediately complying with your order. The small vessel darting across your bow and diving towards the brown dwarf. The flat, blade-like body of the craft seemed more at home on a 20th-century recon plane rather than a spacecraft. Nonetheless, the craft accelerated out of sight within seconds, your only knowledge of where it was coming from it's shrouded IFF, which was broadcast only for a couple of seconds more before winking out.

"Nav, take us to Hoover. I want to get started there." You ordered the lieutenant at the helm. Within a few seconds, your ship rumbled into life. The new parts liberated from the innie carrier you had knocked over giving your ship a great boost in power. Evidently, the ensign wanted to test it out a bit, now that you weren't constrained by the arbitrary speed limits of a populated system.

You arrived in the gravity well of the gas giant within an hour. Hoover itself was a fairly small gas giant. In spite of that, it still dwarfed it's two moons. The gas giant had two rings and two orbiting moons. The innermost ring was comprised of the majority of debris from when Howler had slammed into the moon of Crescent. This cloud of varying chinks or rock, dust and ice was only a hundred kilometers wide, but yet it still provided ample hiding space for any insurrectionist forces. The innermost moon was Crescent itself, the moon was almost a perfect semi-sphere. An entire half of the moon having been lost in its collision with the rogue planetoid. The impact had left the core of the moon open to the void, which had rapidly cooled it and left it open to exploitation by miners. However, it had been a long time since the miners had finished their excavations, leaving the network of tunnels and quarries open for anyone willing to repurpose them. The outer ring was home to the remaining mass of debris from the collision, plus the majority of debris that had been flung off from Crescent since the impact that gave it its name. Although the filed was smaller than the inner ring, it's position between the two moons made it a good staging area for anyone who had interests on both moons. The outer moon of Bewaar was smaller than Crescent in terms of size, but it's gross mass far exceeded it's larger neighbor. Zodat was a very unremarkable moon, with only point-four G's of gravity and an unremarkable regolith makeup. Still, there was value in being common, if you were looking for a place to hide. Such an unremarkable place would be at the bottom of people's lists of places to visit.

>CONT

>>3649401

NOTE: This is a multi-choice vote, with one option for your ship and another for your embarked craft.
>Investigate the inner ring! It's the densest collection of debris, so the chances of there being a base there ought to be higher!
>Check out Crescent! All those abandoned quarries and tunnels are an ideal starting position for a base.
>The outer ring seems promising! If you were a rebel, then setting up a base there would give better access to both moons.
>Look at Zodat! While unremarkable on its own, it's not enough to pass it over right off the bat.
>Other (write-in)
=========================
>Deploy your craft (Subprowler, Fighter, Bomber) and send them to scout the (inner ring, Crescent, outer ring, Zodat).
>Keep your craft embarked!
>Other (write-in)

>>3649401
>The outer ring seems promising! If you were a rebel, then setting up a base there would give better access to both moons.
>Deploy your craft (Subprowler) and send them to scout the (inner ring)

>>3649405
>Check out Crescent! All those abandoned quarries and tunnels are an ideal starting position for a base.
>Deploy your craft (Subprowler) and send them to scout the (inner ring)

>>3649426
+1

>>3649426
>Check out Crescent! All those abandoned quarries and tunnels are an ideal starting position for a base.
>Deploy your craft (Subprowler) and send them to scout the (inner ring)

>>3649405

>Check out Crescent! All those abandoned quarries and tunnels are an ideal starting position for a base.

>Deploy your craft (Subprowler, outer ring) and send them to scout the (inner ring, Crescent, outer ring, Zodat).

"Aviation, deploy our subprowler with orders to scout the inner belt." You ordered your flight control officer, before then turning your attention back to the helm. "Nav, take us to Crescent."

"Baby prowler is out, ETA around an hour." The lieutenant reported, before then muttering. "Fast little shit."

As it turned out, even coasting without a constant burn, the sub prowler still made it to the inner belt by the time you made orbit around the half-moon. The orbit of Crescent was littered with clouds of tiny particles of dust and debris, every so often you would hear a muted thud as a tiny piece of debris slammed into your hull at orbital velocity. Granted, your armored hull was strong enough to soak hits like that without worry, but you still wanted to steer clear of the larger clouds for the safety of the more sensitive sensors and communications units. You decided to start your search by scanning the crater. The massive impact zone made up almost half of the overall surface of the moon and contained within it almost all of the recorded human activity on the moon. Thousands of bore-holes, mine shafts, quarries, and both secondary and tertiary service tunnels had been bored into the planetoid. The entire area where the core itself should have sat had been completely removed and carved out, with networks of tunnels and mines having started in that area

"Diana, think you can scan those tunnels for any recent activity?" You asked your AI, if anything on your ship had the capability to sift through all of the data gathered in a reasonable timeframe, it would be your AI.

"Of course, but it will take time sir. And I cannot guarantee the effectiveness of such an undertaking from our current altitude." Your AI answered, before turning to face you. "Passive scanners have nothing though. So I can guarantee a low chance of any current activity near the surface."

That was going to be an issue. Traveling into crater would require you to essentially come to a stop and then dive towards the crater. Even if you didn't account for pieces of debris being sent flying from the lack of a stabilizing magnetic core, the threat of being in such a vulnerable position with the possibility of enemy forces in the area worried you. You already knew that a cell in contact with this one had access to a fair number of mass drivers. Keeping stationary near to guns like that was always a bad idea. Assuming that there was an enemy presence to be found. Your passive sensors hadn't picked anything up, and mass drivers required an active reactor to make them function. It was a toss-up, either way.

>Take the frigate into the crater! You might have long ranged systems, but even they are gonna struggle here. (roll 1d20+1)
>Stay in orbit! Your sensors have the ability to scan entire star systems, no point getting close. (roll 1d20)
>Leave the moon! If your passive sensors have nothing then there is no point in staying. (travel to either the outer ring or Zodat)
>Other (write in)

Rolled 14 + 1 (1d20 + 1)

>>3649987
>Take the frigate into the crater! You might have long ranged systems, but even they are gonna struggle here. (roll 1d20+1)

Rolled 20 (1d20)

>>3649987
>Stay in orbit!
Reminder that at the end of the day, this is a side mission. The real threat is the Covenant, and there's no point risking our main ship over a couple of crappy terrorists. We ought to do our due diligence, but no further.

Rolled 20 (1d20)

>>3649987
>Stay in orbit! Your sensors have the ability to scan entire star systems, no point getting close.
>>3650037
Good stuff.

>>3650041
Same to you man, same to you.

On a completely unrelated note, I have a feeling that whatever we're about to face here just got significantly more important(and dangerous)

>>3649987
>>Stay in orbit! Your sensors have the ability to scan entire star systems, no point getting close. (roll 1d20)

>>3650049
I'm getting that feeling too. Here's hoping we get in good with ONI for this.

Rolled 20 (1d20)

>>3649987
>Stay in orbit! Your sensors have the ability to scan entire star systems, no point getting close. (roll 1d20)

What the fuck are these double 20's, They really hate the fucking innies.

File: 1507254895166.gif (1.54 MB, 300x229)

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>>3650215
Holy shit.

File: Revelation.png (16 KB, 100x100)

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Did that just happen

File: clapclapclapclapclap.gif (1.63 MB, 360x203)

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>>3650037
>>3650041
>>3650215
Well this certainly is something to wake up to

Rolled 17 (1d20)

>>3649987
>Stay in orbit! Your sensors have the ability to scan entire star systems, no point getting close. (roll 1d20)

Lets see if the luck remains...

>>3650215
Three in a row. Crazy.
>>3650844
so close.

"We'll stay in orbit, no need to put ourselves in danger so early." You decided, while the Dawn's armor was thick, it wasn't thick enough to definitely stop a mass driver round. And you weren't going to put yourself in a position where you could easily be hit. Your crew complied with your orders immediately, though you didn't have to wait long before you got something.

"Found something, looks like a short-burst communication across a general frequency," Diana announced after five minutes of scanning. You weren't sure how she had picked up the transmission -she hadn't bothered to tell you what systems she was using- but if you had to guess she had used the semi-passive network. "Standby, I'll attempt to open up a direct link as soon as they open up again."

You waited tensely for another five minutes, then ten minutes, exactly fifteen minutes later however, your AI's holographic avatar beamed with pride as she announced her success. "Got it, now that their comms are staying open, I can initiate a direct link. I'll keep up their periodic broadcasts just to keep the illusion up that we haven't found anything."

"What are we looking at here? I really don't think that this is their main base, the chances of us finding it right off the bat are way too small." Dyad asked flatly. Your XO may have believed in luck -or at least, you assumed so- but even with lady luck herself bending over and giving a formal invitation the chances of finding the main innie base in the system right of the bat was way too low.

"And you would be correct ma'am. If the small monitoring and counter-intrusion network is enough of a hit I would guess that this is just a small base. There is enough there to tell them if somebody tripped a pre-rigged motion tracker or opened one of their doors, but nothing special to defend against hacking." Diana confirmed your suspicions, before tutting sadly. "This is just basic anti-hacking software, the kind that is only good for defending against civilian-grade dumb AI intrusion. They didn't even try and patch the backdoors."

"That's suspicious, why would they only have motion sensors and not a solid counter-intrusion network?" You asked while you were confident that you could handle any hostile action in the area. You still didn't want to walk head-first into a trap.

"From the looks of the floor plan it's just a storage facility, I'm getting connections to numerous subterranean quarries and mass transit tunnels. I've got a feed from one of their internal cameras, pulling up the feed now." Diana answered your question, before activating the primary screen. The massive display superimposed the view from the rebel security cameras over the window, giving everyone in the bridge a good look at what was inside one specific portion of the rebel base.

>CONT

>>3652359

"Is that... Is that a nuke?" Dyad asked, her voice filled with a mixture of shock and confusion. Shiva nukes -while still being mass produced- were impossible to find outside of the UNSC. If the innies had their hands on weapons like that, then either had a source on the inside or had stooped to a new low.

After all, it was one thing to just steal. But to loot from the dead was just plain wrong.

"That's not the thing I would be worried about Dyad." You stated flatly, before pointing to a stack of black-and-purple containers, the mixture of smooth edges and glowing light confirming their alien origins.

"Covenant tech? How the hell did they get that?" Dyad wondered as she recognized the Covenant supply crates for what they were, signs that the innies weren't just stealing from fellow humans.

>Send some teams down to get a closer look! As you're already here you might as well "liberate" some of that stuff from the innies.
>Leave the moon and head somewhere else! This stuff isn't going anywhere, and the innies might just run. (Outer ring, Zodat, other planets)
>Other (write-in)

>>3652364
>>Send some teams down to get a closer look! As you're already here you might as well "liberate" some of that stuff from the innies.

Off-site storage is my guess. Wouldn't want to store nukes in a main base on the off chance they blow up. But covvy tech, yeesh. Betting they got it from some of the more 'liberal' jackals.

>>3652364
>>Send some teams down to get a closer look! As you're already here you might as well "liberate" some of that stuff from the innies.

Wait, is there ANYONE on the outpost? If not, I'm changing my vote to leave. Nothing but motion sensors and a shitload of nukes screams honey pot to me.

>>3652364
>Leave the moon and head somewhere else! This stuff isn't going anywhere, and the innies might just run.

>>3652543
You can ask Diana if there is anyone. She hasn't said if there is or isn't anyone there.

>>3652583
Right, modifying my vote then.
>>3652470
>Ask Diana how many people there are
If there's a considerable garrison for the size of the base, then send in a team. If there's a handful we should head for Zodat and leave it for later.

>>3652364
>>Send some teams down to get a closer look! As you're already here you might as well "liberate" some of that stuff from the innies.

>>3652364
>>Send some teams down to get a closer look! As you're already here you might as well "liberate" some of that stuff from the innies.

"Dyad, order one of the marine squads down to take a look around the enemy base. I want to be absolutely sure that there is nobody there." You ordered. While the chances of anyone in there having slipped the notice of your AI was slim, you still wanted to be sure. Five minutes later, one of the hangers on the side of your ship opened up and a single pelican dropship descended into the crater. You watched through the helmet camera feeds as the dropship descended down the cavernous transit tunnel that led to the rebel storage base, before landing essentially at the bottom of the shaft. The squad of marines swiftly disembarked and entered the facility as Diana opened the door for them.

"Dawn, this is alpha squad. Nothing living down here looks like they depressurized in order to preserve everything inside." The sergeant on the other end of the radio line reported twenty minutes after arrival. His search having failed to turn up any signs of life, which given the circumstances was a good thing.

"Well... at least we won't have to worry about getting a nuke fired off at us." Dyad breathed a sigh of relief, feeling just a bit safer now that she knew that the lone nuke wasn't going to be making a short trip over to turn your ship into an irradiated mortuary. Assuming of course that that said nuke was actually live and not just the casing.

"If that's all sir, we'll RTB immediately. I don't want to run the risk of running out of oh-two. Assuming we're done here." The sergeant asked if it was alright for him and his men to withdraw

>Take a look deeper in the base! There has to be something other than the supplies (roll 1d20-1)
>Investigate the supplies! You might as well take something while you are there.
>Leave the cache! If there is nobody here then there is no point in wasting time, better look somewhere else. (Outer ring, Zodat, other planets)
>Other (write-in)

>>3653252
>Investigate the supplies! You might as well take something while you are there.

I feel like it is a very stupid Idea to leave a nuke just sitting there

>>3653252
>Investigate the supplies! You might as well take something while you are there.

>>3653252
>Investigate the supplies! You might as well take something while you are there.

>>3653252
>>Take a look deeper in the base! There has to be something other than the supplies (roll 1d20-1)

Rolled 13 - 1 (1d20 - 1)

>>3653404

>>3653252
>>Investigate the supplies! You might as well take something while you are there.

>>3653252
>Leave the cache! If there is nobody here then there is no point in wasting time, better look somewhere else.
>Ask Diana what planets have direct lines of sight with this base. This feels like a honey pot intended to expose or distract intruders while the main force flanks or flees.

We can always come back and investigate this place once the innies are ash, there's no reason to go deep now.

>>3653252
>>3653457
This

>>3653252
>>Investigate the supplies! You might as well take something while you are there.
Take back the nuke if possible the rest can wait

>>3653457
sure

>>3653252
Can we put a monitor on the base to see if anyone comes or goes?

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"Understood sergeant, take a look around and try to find out what the rebels are storing down there. If needed you can return to your dropship to get more oxygen if you of your men are running low." You ordered the marine NCO, who wasted no time in relaying the orders to his men. And though it took around an hour for them to get a proper list back to you, you were eventually briefed on the extent of the rebel's supply cache, and the lengths they had gone to stock it.

Of the four subterranean quarries that made up the rebel base, only three had been packed full of supplies. The sole empty quarry having apparently been used as a dockyard for a ship of some kind. Fuel tanks, maintenance stations, automated loading systems, and standard civilian crates were dotted around the man-made cave. However, all had apparently been left for at least two days, as a few small stains had formed on the ground where the refueling pipes had dripped leftover fuel onto the ground. The fact that it was empty proved that the rebels were out for now, but you wondered just how long they would be gone for.

The Shiva nuclear device was the most prominent of human weapons, though it wasn't the only military grade weapons system in there. Recommissioned Ares anti-ship missiles, MAC rounds, even a pair of M870 point defence gun turrets had been placed in storage. However, simply looting from the dead in space wasn't the only means of theft that the rebels had been exercising. Boxes of body armor, assault rifles of varying kinds and ages, warthogs and tanks all sat in neat rows. Easily enough to furnish a small expeditionary force of around 200 men. A trio of army-model pelicans sat in a dark corner, some of their maintenance panels having been left open.

The Covenant had also suffered scavenging from the rebels. Crates packed full of guns, grenades and random pieces of equipment sat side-by-side with light vehicles and stationary guns. Taking pride of place among the salvage was a large Covenant AA cannon. The massive guns were essentially just scaled up plasma cannons, with the increased size of the gun increasing the power and velocity behind each shot. The guns could handily destroy any aircraft that got within their line of sight, and even lighter warships that were dumb enough not to saturate the guns with a volley of missiles before moving up. The sole gun had been disassembled into parts, but the snaking lines running off the small core of the weapon confirmed that with a little TLC it would be ready to fight again.

>CONT

>>3655793

And then there were the assorted others. All were non-military, human items. Crates of sealed rations, water purifiers, loading exoskelitons, and other civilian grade supplies had been just thrown together in a semi-organized heap. If you had to guess, there were enough supplies to furnish a small outpost and keep it supplied for around a month. And given the state of rationing in human controlled space, an extra serving of actual meat probably cost the same as a fully functional rifle. What looked like vacuum-sealed coffins lay in neat rows, each one connected to what looked like an improvised cryostasis system. Obviously nothing capable of supporting life, but more than enough to keep a corpse fresh.

>Take some human weapons! If you can get them working with your vessel, then they may come in handy. (Shiva nuke, Area AShM, pelican dropship, [ROLL1d20-2 to try and find something else])
>Take some Covenant weapons! You didn't know what you'll do with them, but you'll figure something out. (Infantry gear, light vehicles, AA cannon, [ROLL1d20-2 to try and find something else])
>Take some assorted supplies! While it may not have any military use, you might gain something from your haul. (Sealed rations, loading exoskeletons, [ROLL1d20-2 to try and find something else])
>Leave the cache! If there is nobody here then there is no point in wasting time, better look somewhere else. (Outer ring, Zodat, other planets)
>Other (write-in)

Rolled 8 - 2 (1d20 - 2)

>>3655798
>Take some Covenant weapons! You didn't know what you'll do with them, but you'll figure something out. (AA Cannon)

Who ever our ONI handler is for this job is going to have a heart attack if we can get the AA cannon. Either that or we could bolt it to our hull. Plasma works wonders against shields.

Rolled 5 - 2 (1d20 - 2)

>>3655798
>Take some Covenant weapons! You didn't know what you'll do with them, but you'll figure something out. (AA cannon [ROLL1d20-2 to try and find something else])

Rolled 15 - 2 (1d20 - 2)

>>3655798
>Take some Covenant weapons! You didn't know what you'll do with them, but you'll figure something out. (Infantry gear, light vehicles, AA cannon, [ROLL1d20-2 to try and find something else])
These rolls mang

>>3655817
>>3655865
>>3655910
Just an FYI, you don't have to roll if you've specifically selected the AA gun. Rolls are only required for if you want to search for a specific item, like jackal shield gauntlets or a wraith tank.

>>3655932
Oh, well I mean I want it all but I saw the guy above rolling so I guess I fucked up.

>>3655932
Can I roll for better reading comprehension? If not, i'll addendum jackal shields to mine. They'll come in handy for our Marines during boarding actions.

>>3655943
Actually, scratch that I'm being retarded. I'll just stick with the AA gun.

>>3655798
>Other (write-in)
Steal it all and leave some spy gear to watch their reaction, hopeful they think it was a rival rebel group or faction.

"Alright sir, anything you want us to grab?" The sergeant asked, the man had already refilled his oxygen tank a couple of times just to ensure that he would be ready in the event that a firefight happened. The chances of that were very low, given the lack of air and enemy activity, but he struck you as a better safe than sorry kind of person.

"Yeah, try and grab the AA gun. It should be a lot easier to move compared to the nuke." You decided to take the AA gun, before then ordering your AI to help facilitate the movement. "Diana, bring the facility's power grid online just enough to power any cranes or cargo transport systems."

The AA cannon had already been broken down into a number of separate parts. The legs, lower body, reactor module, rotation and elevation equipment, and the main gun had all been taken apart and were contained inside steel frames that kept them off the ground and compatible with human transportation techniques. Thankfully, the gun was designed to break down into such pieces. Standard operation procedure for the guns was to airlift them via dropship to just behind their forward elements to protect against UNSC bombers and low-flying starships. As such, that meant that each individual part weighed just enough that a pelican could lift them.

Moving the crate-mounted parts out to the waiting dropship was the easy part. The facility's network of gantry cranes and rails allowed the parts to be quickly moved around without any human interaction. The hardest part was actually moving the parts from the rebel base and up to your ship.

The weight of each part varied, from only around three or four tons for some of the leg pieces up to around thirty-five tons for the rear of the main gun and reactor module. And when weighed down the amount of time it took for the dropship to make the solitary journey to your ship varied from between forty-five minutes up to an hour and a half. And with a good dozen or so parts to have to worry about, that would put you over the mine for many hours. In and of itself it wasn't too much to worry about, the rebels hadn't made any offensive moves, and you weren't picking up any other ships in the local space. So waiting for a while would give time for your prowlers to conclude their searches and report back to you.

>Assign more dropships! The sooner you load this gear the sooner you can move off.
>Let the single pelican handle it! There is no need to rush when there are no enemies nearby.
>Other (write-in)

>>3656136
>>Assign more dropships! The sooner you load this gear the sooner you can move off.
In and out. Don't want to get jumped with our pants down.

>>3656136

>Assign more dropships! The sooner you load this gear the sooner you can move off.

>>3656136
>Assign more dropships! The sooner you load this gear the sooner you can move off.

>>3656136
>Assign more dropships! The sooner you load this gear the sooner you can move off.

>>3656136
>Assign more dropships! The sooner you load this gear the sooner you can move off.
Netter be done with this sooner.

>>3656136
>>Assign more dropships! The sooner you load this gear the sooner you can move off.

>>3656136
>>Assign more dropships! The sooner you load this gear the sooner you can move off.

"Aviation, can you get more dropships down there to assist in moving the parts of the gun?" You asked while you weren't under a real time limit, you weren't happy with just hanging around for a day to two while a single dropship did all the work.

"Sure, I'll order Bravo, Charley, and Delta squads off their birds and send the dropships down." The lieutenant confirmed, before issuing orders to the NCOs in charge of the three marine squads. Within five minutes, the hanger doors opened once again and a trio of dropships descended towards the planet.

With all of your dropships working together, the transport of the gun began to really pick up speed. Around five hours later, the final dropship landed back on your ship. The dropship didn't carry any parts of the gun, instead, it carried the members of Alpha squad, who had been spending most of their time guarding the supply cache. All of the parts of the stollen Covenant AA cannon having been stowed in one of the empty storage hangers.

>Take something else! You might as well take what you can. (please specify what you want)
>Leave the cache! If there is nobody here then there is no point in wasting time, better look somewhere else. (Outer ring, Zodat, other planets)
>Other (write-in)

>>3661366
>>Leave the cache! If there is nobody here then there is no point in wasting time, better look somewhere else. (Zodat)

>>3661366
>>Leave the cache! If there is nobody here then there is no point in wasting time, better look somewhere else. (Outer ring, Zodat, other planets)

>>3661366
>Leave the cache! If there is nobody here then there is no point in wasting time, better look somewhere else. (Outer ring, Zodat, other planets)
Try to use diana to sense if this place is sending radio signals anywhere, and go there.
Alternatively, ask the prowlers if they've seen anything suspicious.

>>3661366
>Leave the cache! If there is nobody here then there is no point in wasting time, better look somewhere else. (Outer ring, Zodat, other planets)

We'll come back to this place. Right?

Leave some sensors or something to monitor anyone coming or going to this place.

>>3661366
>>Leave the cache! If there is nobody here then there is no point in wasting time, better look somewhere else. (Outer ring)

agreeing with >>3661777 , is there a way we can legally booby trap this place or something?

>>3661464
>>3661644
>>3661777
Need you three to choose if you want to visit another planet, the outer ring or Zodat

>>3662358
Zodat senpai

>>3662358
zodat

>>3662358
>>3661644
Zodat

"Alright, we're good here. Diana, think you can put a program in that will alert us the moment somebody enters the depot?" You asked your AI to put something in the computer system of the enemy base to alert you to if the rebels had decided to make another deposit into their cache.

"Of course sir, though be advised that the rebels will likely spot our activity and attempt to either scuttle the base or pack up and run. So we'll only have a short window to respond in." Diana confirmed, her small red avatar nodding.

"That's fine, the MAC should be able to hit them from a decently long range." You shrugged, as long as one of your MAC rounds hit, you could guarantee a kill on whatever was unfortunate enough to take the hit. You turned to your navigation officer. "Ensign, take us to Zodat."

The trip to Zodat only took a few hours, but even before you arrived you started planning out how to tackle your surveillance job. Zodat's lack of any noticeable topography gave you no place to really start your search. However, it also played into your hands as any disturbance to the moon's surface would be easy to spot with your sensors. As such it just became a question of how much time you wanted to spend. The shortest option would be to deploy your longswords to use their own sensor units to scan the surface of the moon to try and find anything of note. The main allure of using the small but numerous fighters was that they could scan the entire surface of the moon far faster than your lone vessel, though the tradeoff was that their sensor quality was far lower and thus less likely to actually pick anything up. The Dawn on the other hand sensors that could guarantee at least ten-meters of surface penetration along with detection of certain materials deeper than that. However, even when using a polar orbit to ensure the maximum coverage of the moon per pass, it would still take a good few hours before you even scanned the moon once. And that was time that the rebels could use to prepare to fight you if they knew that you had found their stockpile of arms.

>Enter a polar orbit! It will take longer, but you'll get far better sensor results. (roll 1d20)
>Use your fighters to scout the moon! It will take only a few hours at most, but the less time you spend the less time you'll have to get results. (roll 1d20-1)
>Other (write-in)

Rolled 1 + 1 (1d20 + 1)

>>3662802
>Use your fighters to scout the moon! It will take only a few hours at most, but the less time you spend the less time you'll have to get results.
I'd rather not give them time to do anything. Also, how's are subprowler doing?

Rolled 12 (1d20)

>>3662802
>Enter a polar orbit! It will take longer, but you'll get far better sensor results.

>>3662819
>0
Fuck.

Rolled 8 (1d20)

>>3662802
>>Enter a polar orbit! It will take longer, but you'll get far better sensor results. (roll 1d20)

Rolled 2 (1d20)

>>3662802
>Polar orbit

"Nav, take us into a polar orbit above the moon. Sensors, bring the surface scanning and surface penetrating sets online and start searching for anything that might indicate a rebel base. Diana, I want you to evaluate the recovered data and come to a decision on if there is a sub-surface rebel base." You gave out your orders to each station on the bridge. And as soon as your vessel passed over the northern pole of the moon in a low orbit the data began to roll in. It took another two and a half hours before you had fully covered the entire moon, the effective range of your sensors and your altitude above the surface of the moon making it easy to scan the surface of the moon in a small number of orbits.

"Anything?" You asked your AI after sipping from a cup of coffee. The lukewarm brew was contained in a small, covered mug with a closable cover. Just in case the gravity failed and you needed to make sure that the liquid within didn't escape to burn someone.

"Unless you're looking to perform some iron prospecting sir, I see nothing indicative of a rebel base." Diana shrugged with false tiredness. While an AI was almost always the best choice for sifting through large amounts of data, even smart AI could get tired if they did the same job over and over. And she had been sifting through the data for a few hours, so you assumed that sorting through and comparing topographical data was tiring work for a primary cryptology and electronic warfare focused AI.

"Damn, well I guess we're done here then." You sighed. You had hoped that all of the rebel activity in the system was confined to just the gas giant, as it would make your job a hell of a lot easier. However, at the current rate, you'd have to head off to another planet soon enough.

"Subprowler to Dawn, we've found nothing in the inner ring, want us to RV with you and head out to another planet, or do you want us to remain here?" Your comms crackled into life, the pilot and de-facto commander of the stealth dropship giving his report in a laid back tone. You couldn't help but sigh at the report. Three-quarters of the possible search area had been checked already, and two of them were empty. While finding the supply depot was a decent find, it meant nothing if you failed to find their main base.

NOTE: This is a multi-choice vote, with one option for your ship and another for the subprowler.
>Investigate the outer ring! You might as well check it out as you are still here. (roll 1d20-1, remove the -1 modifier if you have the subprowler assist you)
>Head off to another planet! You're pretty sure that there is nothing else to be had here. (Howler, Theta Montrose Delta)
>Other (write-in)
=========================
>Send it to the outer ring! While it may not be able to scan it on its own, you could use the help to do the job quicker. (use to remove the modifier on investigating the outer ring)
>Recall it to the Dawn! You have to recover it before you leave.
>Other (write-in)

Rolled 13 (1d20)

>>3663249
>Investigate the outer ring! You might as well check it out as you are still here. (roll 1d20-1, remove the -1 modifier if you have the subprowler assist you)
>Send it to the outer ring! While it may not be able to scan it on its own, you could use the help to do the job quicker. (use to remove the modifier on investigating the outer ring)

Rolled 1 (1d20)

>>3663249
>Investigate the outer ring! You might as well check it out as you are still here.
>Send it to the outer ring! While it may not be able to scan it on its own, you could use the help to do the job quicker.

>>3663274
Stop touching the quest.

>>3663286
Probably a good idea. I'll just be in the corner, lurking.

Rolled 13 (1d20)

>>3663249
>Send both to the outer ring

>>3663299
No is just, Just be more careful and offer more kids

>>3663337
I'll go buy some goats too, just to make sure.

Rolled 5 (1d20)

>>3663249
>Investigate the outer ring! You might as well check it out as you are still here. (roll 1d20-1, remove the -1 modifier if you have the subprowler assist you)

>Send it to the outer ring! While it may not be able to scan it on its own, you could use the help to do the job quicker. (use to remove the modifier on investigating the outer ring)

Praise Trump!

>>3663444
Darn, I got trips instead of a good roll.

Nice rolls

"Negative, move to the outer belt and begin searching for rebel activity." You ordered, before turning your attention back to your bridge crew. "We're heading to the asteroid belt. Nav, plot a course. Sensors, get configured for mass scanning of asteroids."

The search through the asteroid belt was slow and tedious. Every so often, you would hear a small thud as something smacked against the hull of your ship. Aside from that, however, the next two and a half hours passed without incident. You had been considering leaving the bridge to Dyad while you had a short rest, but that idea quickly died when your sensor systems officer called your attention. "Commander, I think I have something."

"What is it?" You asked you were getting a bit tired, but if this was significant enough then you would stay up long enough to see it through.

"I'm detecting a small signal output from one of the asteroids. Though that might be a false positive." The lieutenant sent their data over to your terminal, and sure enough, there were a series of signals emanating from the sub-kilometer wide ball of rock. Though given the random nature of the signals, a brief pass might confuse it with a crashed science probe.

"I can guarantee you that your hunch is correct lieutenant. The asteroid is emitting a signal on the same wavelength as the rebel supply cache, as such it is probable that the asteroid is home to a rebel signals relay." Diana spoke up as the display on your screen shifted, the various signals being cut out until only three remained. A sample of the signals from the innie supply cache was then pulled up alongside them, confirming that they were exact matches.

"Any idea if they detected us when we repossessed that AA cannon?" You asked, suddenly worried if the rebels might have been watching when you went shopping in their supply cache.

"I don't know if I can answer that sir. If the orbital data is to be believed then the asteroid only entered communications range with the supply cache in the hour and a half of our stay above the crater. By that point, I had full control over the signals being sent out by the cache. Though if they had some other means of observing the moon then we may be in trouble." Diana shrugged. While the AI was built for cryptology and other electronics related subjects, she couldn't change things that had happened without her notice.

"Options?" You asked both the AI and our XO.

>CONT

>>3666061

"Given the size of the asteroid, I don't think that there will be a sizable enough force of guards to be a major problem. Assuming that the station is even manned. A small strike force should be able to take the station with little issue." Diana put forward the idea of taking the base. And you agreed that it was a decent idea. The prospect of plundering their computers for data was appealing, to say the least, but an assault had its risks. The pelican dropships would be easy targets to the enemy base's point defense systems. And the time taken to take down those systems would give them time to set up defenses and try to call for help.

"Though the moment we get boots on the ground, they'll start quaking. And if we're not fast enough they will blow up the base or flash the computer drives to deny us any info." Dyad pointed out. Unlike a regular military, the rebels had no issues with dying to deny you any gains. Your first encounter with them had proved that. And unless you had dropships remaining close by, extracting your marines would be almost impossible.

"If we recall the Black Cat we can send our squads in one at a time without being detected by any sensors that they have. If we can build up our forces quickly and without being detected, we can take them by surprise." Diana countered. While it would take time to remove the ELINT and other recon systems, the roll-on pallets that they were mounted on made the process very easy. And with the new space, the stealth dropship would be able to carry 20 marines with ease. Maybe double that if the men were packed like sardines, but you wanted to keep room for prisoners and cargo.

"But it will leave them out in the shit the moment the rebels try and scuttle the base. It might just be a safer option to take the base out with a MAC round. We'll lose the base and anything inside it, but the sudden radio silence might prompt the rebels to bring out one of their ships to try and find out what happened." Dyad argued for the sledgehammer approach. While the idea of using a MAC gun to take out an asteroid base seemed like overkill, it was a legitimate strategy. Granted it left nothing to recover from the debris, but if the innies took the bait, then you might be able to drag them out to play.

>Recall the cat! If you can stealthily take the innie base, you will have the best chance of getting the info you need. (roll 1d20+1)
>Launch the pelicans! A regular boarding action should give you the best of both choices. (roll 1d20-1)
>Destroy the base! Hopefully, the sudden lack of contact from the base will bring the rebels out to play. (roll 1d20+3 for MAC gun shot, [NOTE, WILL DESTROY THE REBEL BASE]
>Other (write-in)

Rolled 20 + 1 (1d20 + 1)

>>3666064
>Recall the cat! If you can stealthily take the innie base, you will have the best chance of getting the info you need.

MAC would be pretty damn brutal. I love it. But the base is more useful to us if we don't use it to play billiards.

Rolled 18 + 1 (1d20 + 1)

>>3666064
>>Recall the cat! If you can stealthily take the innie base, you will have the best chance of getting the info you need. (roll 1d20+1)

Rolled 18 + 1 (1d20 + 1)

>>3666064
>Recall the cat! If you can stealthily take the innie base, you will have the best chance of getting the info you need. (roll 1d20+1)

>>3666099
>>3666101
>>3666132
Hot damn.

>>3666179
pretty solid rolls.

>>3666064
>>Recall the cat! If you can stealthily take the innie base, you will have the best chance of getting the info you need. (roll 1d20+1)

"Aviation, recall the 'cat. Nav, take us on a course that gives the innie station a wide berth, but not so wide that it looks like we're intentionally avoiding them. Make it look like we missed them and will have to return for a closer look." You ordered, a plan forming in your mind. While you were not too happy with the idea of putting your marines in danger, the possibility to end the mission early was just too appealing to pass up.

In spite of their lethargy, your bridge crew jumped to the task with renewed vigor. Within an hour, the subprowler had slipped back over to your ship and had docked in its empty hanger. You were watching the progress of the ONI engineers as they detached and rolled out the craft's ELINT module when a small tap on your shoulder brought you back to the bridge.

"Here, just to keep you up." Your XO stated as you turned to look at her, the tired smile on her face was usually something that you would have ordered a subordinate to rest over, but with your XO holding two cups of coffee, you were willing to make an exception.

"Thanks, Dyad." You thanked your XO as you took a sip of your new drink. While the coffee was just the bland, navy pre-made that came out of an automatic coffee machine, the thought behind it was enough to kill any complaints before they manifested. And either way you cut it, you would need the extra energy for the action ahead.

It took almost half an hour, but the ELINT module was swapped out for the passenger module. While the pilot of the baby prowler was more than happy to talk your ear off at how the stealth craft could carry forty marines with only a little discomfort, you were reluctant to send in more than two squads. If this whole thing went tits-up, you didn't want to have to form up the crew into improvised squads to make up for the losses. As such, the subprowler launched with only half it's maximum load of marines.

It took around half an hour before the subprowler made it to the asteroid in question. A small laser-light from the prowler giving you a one-way notice that the marines were on the asteroid. The next quarter of an hour was a lot tenser than you were willing to admit, with no response from the marines, you had no idea if they were doing alright, or if they had engaged the enemy, or if they were all dead. However, soon a small incoming signal from the station confirmed that they had safely entered the base.

"Alpha-lead to Dawn, confirm signal uplink." The gruff voice of the sergent that had headed the first successful contact with the innies reported in. The man was the closest you had to an expert on fighting innies, so he had command of the operation on his end.

"Confirmed signal uplink alpha, they don't know we're in." Diana confirmed that the link was safe. While using a receiver planted on the exterior of the base was a risky move, it was a lot less risky than splicing into their computer network without the assistance of your AI.

>CONT

>>3666407
"Understood, sending you the floor-plan now and awaiting further instructions." The sergent replied tensely, the man knew that the chances of his men escaping the base if the innies decided to blow it was nill, so he was fairly tense as he waited for your orders.

The small habitat at the center of the asteroid made heavy use of the rock and metals that made up the majority of the asteroid to shield it from detection. However, the innies had also taken things a step further by using a low power reactor, heat recycling systems, and other such tech to further mask their profile. Had they not been transmitting, you doubt you would have found them. Hell, you doubted that even the Covenant would have been able to find them, and maybe that was the entire point before that base got added into the fold of whatever force claimed dominion over the system.

The rebel base was set across twenty floors and seemed to have been designed to be at least semi-self sufficient. At the absolute top of the facility sat the command center. The command center was a surprisingly large room, which contained the primary communications and command room, along with a small meeting room and what looked like provision for a bumblebee-class lifeboat. The command center was suspended from the "ceiling" over the main hydroponics and life support area. This network of growing areas, oxygen collectors and other such systems provided the facility with much of its self-sufficiency. The combined area took up three floors, with the upper-most floor being triple the height of the standard floors. Underneath that was the primary habitation areas. If you had to guess, much of the living and working in the habitat was confined to the upper five to ten floors. Diana marked up where she believed the original rooms had been, and the rooms that had been converted to that purpose. The primary armory was also sat on the upper floor of the habitation decks, putting it in easy reach of the command staff if they ever needed to send a runner to grab some guns.

>CONT

>>3666409

At the rough center of the habitat was the reactor bay, the heavily shielded reactor area spread across five floors. The bay played host to not one, but three reactors. With what you assumed was the "primary" reactor seemingly sat in between the two even smaller ones. Pipes leading from the reactor bay snaked both outwards and downwards, where the coolant from the reactors could be cooled in different ways. Adjacent to the upper section of the reactor bay was the base's hanger. You didn't know how they opened the base up to allow any craft within to launch and recover, but given the size of the bay, you guessed that they could hold either a pelican or an SKT-13 shuttlecraft. Though both craft were around the same size. The pipes took the coolant slurry down from the reactor to a cryogenic cooling area at the very bottom of the habitat. This internal cooling area seemed to be providing the base with the majority of its cooling now that your frigate was in the area. Though you were confident that it would lay dormant if you weren't around. Taking up the remaining space between the reactor, hanger and cooling area was the primary storage warehouses for the base. This was where your men were right now, and judging from their helmet cameras, the warehouses were chock-full of supplies and dormant auto-sorting robots.

PICK ONE OPTION PER SQUAD TO A MAXIMUM OF TWO CHOICES, IF YOU PICK LESS THAN TWO OPTIONS THEN PLEASE SAY WHICH OPTION YOU WOULD LIKE TO DEPLOY BOTH TEAMS TO. DEBUFS WILL BE PROVIDED NEXT POST

>Head for the command deck! Cut off the head, and the body becomes a lot easier to kill. (roll 1d20
>Capture life support! If worst comes to worst you can always suffocate them out.
>Take habitation! If you can take the armory before they know what's hit them, then they won't be able to fight back.
>Lock down the reactor! It will be hard for the innies to blow it all up if you can just turn the reactor off.
>Secure the hanger bay! Having a way out just in case the innies try something is going to be essential.
>Seize the coolant area! Your marines have temperature regulators in their suits, the innies don't have that for their skin.
>Investigate the stores! Maybe they have some goodies lying around.
>Other (write-in)

>>3666414
>Lock down the reactor! It will be hard for the innies to blow it all up if you can just turn the reactor off.

let's not lose more men to innies blowing themselves up

>>3666414
>>Lock down the reactor! It will be hard for the innies to blow it all up if you can just turn the reactor off.
>>3666425
Agreed. Though hopefully they don't have another nuke on standby.

>>3666414
>>Lock down the reactor! It will be hard for the innies to blow it all up if you can just turn the reactor off.

>>3666414
>>3666435
Not entirely sure if we were supposed to specify but just in case, both squads should go to the reactor.

>>3666414
>Take habitation! If you can take the armory before they know what's hit them, then they won't be able to fight back.
>Lock down the reactor! It will be hard for the innies to blow it all up if you can just turn the reactor off.

>>3666414
>>3666425
>>3666666
this

"Understood alpha-lead, take both squads and hit the reactor room. I want you to take it and prevent the innies from blowing it up." You ordered the sergent, once the most prevalent threat had been dealt with, you would let be free to deal with the rest of the station however you liked.

"Understood sir, we're moving." The sergent confirmed that he had heard your order, before rallying his men and moving off. The trek through the station was slow and tedious, the man wasn't taking any chances, instead peaking around every corner with a fiber-optic camera and sending the feed to Diana to confirm if there was a security camera in the way. More than once the combined force had to turn back and find another route due to coming up on a security camera that might tip the rebels off to their uninvited guests. Still, it only took around ten minutes before the squads were finally in position. The twenty armed marines being spread up over four entry points into varying levels on the reactor room.

"Commander, we're in position and ready to breach. Tally at least five innies, only two are armed." The sergent reported in once his team was in position. The fiber-optic feeds from tiny cameras of both sergents giving you two perspectives looking inside. The three armed guards stood at points around the room and were only armed with shotguns, probably loaded with bird-shot or something with basically no metal penetration. It was no risk to your men, but they would still die over it.

>Try and take the unarmed rebels prisoner! The less blood you can spill, the better (roll 1d20+1)
>Kill 'em all! You can't hamstring yourselves this early on in the fight. (Roll 1d20+2)

Rolled 7 + 1 (1d20 + 1)

>>3666704
>Try and take the unarmed rebels prisoner! The less blood you can spill, the better (roll 1d20+1)

Rolled 4 + 2 (1d20 + 2)

>>3666704
>Kill 'em all! You can't hamstring yourselves this early on in the fight.

Rolled 17 + 2 (1d20 + 2)

>>3666704
>>Kill 'em all! You can't hamstring yourselves this early on in the fight.
Bridge staff would be much more valuable than reactor engineers. At the moment, prisoners would only make it harder for our Marines to do their job.

Rolled 14 + 2 (1d20 + 2)

>>3666704
>Kill 'em all! You can't hamstring yourselves this early on in the fight. (Roll 1d20+2)

Rolled 20 + 2 (1d20 + 2)

>>3666704

>>3666795
>Kill 'em all! You can't hamstring yourselves this early on in the fight. (Roll 1d20+2)
forgot my vote

>>3666799
Good roll. We're doing pretty solid tonight.

>>3666666
Woah shit satan not sure if we should. Look that that post number

>>3666858
Didn't even notice. Really activates the old almonds on why we're getting good rolls.

>>3666858
I think that's Super Satan, Satan's older brother.

>>3666858
Hey if the devil wants to help us wipe out some innie scum I'm cool with it

"Solid copy alpha-lead, you are green to go. Take no prisoners." You ordered flatly. While it was a brutal order, you weren't willing to weigh your soldiers down.

"Understood." The sergent seemed to have expected your response, and wasn't shocked by it. "Alright, breach on my mark. Three... two... one... MARK!"

As one, all twenty soldiers breached into the reactor room. The leading soldiers were armed with suppressed M7 submachine guns, with the men following them armed with suppressed M6 pistols in the place of their standard firearms. Their first targets were the armed rebels, who barely had time to react before their bodies were pumped full of 5mm rounds. The unarmed rebels had only two seconds more to react before they joined their guards in bloody pools on the ground, holes punched in them by way of 12.7mm hollowpoints. The pistols usually fired SAP-HE rounds, but those rounds had been swapped out for now in favor of causing as little damage as possible to the sensitive parts of the reactor if the shooters happened to miss.

"Alpha-lead to Dawn, we have the reactors. All innies down." The sergent reported as his men pushed into the reactor room. A pair of marines quickly made their way over to what you assumed was the control console for the reactors. "What do you want us to do next?"

THIS IS A MULTIPLE-SECTION VOTE, PLEASE SELECT ONE CHOICE FROM BOTH "SECTIONS" AS SEPERATED BY THE DOUBLE-LINE.

>Order both squads on! You have to keep up the momentum.
>Leave a squad on guard! You can't let the innies regain control of the reactors.
==========
>Leave the reactors as they are! Any power fluctuations will tip the innies off.
>Scram the reactors! It will take the rebels time to get them back up and running.

>>3667970
>Order both squads on! You have to keep up the momentum.
>Scram the reactors! It will take the rebels time to get them back up and running.
Also see if Diana can duplicate what ever signals they're sending out so we don't tip off the rest of the system when the base goes dark. Once we do that we should probably see about getting in closer and sending in another squad or two via pelican.

>>3667970
>Order both squads on! You have to keep up the momentum.
>Scram the reactors! It will take the rebels time to get them back up and running.

Can we put in like a 5 minute delay?

>>3667970
>Order both squads on! You have to keep up the momentum.
>Scram the reactors! It will take the rebels time to get them back up and running.

>>3667970
>Order both squads on! You have to keep up the momentum.
>Scram the reactors! It will take the rebels time to get them back up and running.

"Good work Alpha-lead. Diana will direct two of your soldiers on how to shut down the reactor." You ordered both the AI and the sergeant, a nod from the AI's avatar and the bobbing of the sergent's helmet.

"That will tip them off that we're coming." The sergent pointed out.

"That's fine, they should still be off-kilter. Diana, think you can replicate their signals once their power goes down?" You asked your AI. If the signals from the base went down, that would get the attention of the rebels well before you were ready to deal with them.

"Of course. Though if the enemy regains a power supply before I gain access to their systems, I will not be able to keep up signal output while also jamming any alarms they may put out." Diana confirmed though you'd have to keep the limits in mind and suppress the rebels before they had the chance to get a warning out.

"Alright, where do you want us to go once the power is out sir? We'll have to move fast." The marine commanding officer asked you knew that the rebels would instantly assume something was up the moment the power went out, and you had to account for that.

PICK ONE OPTION PER SQUAD TO A MAXIMUM OF TWO CHOICES, IF YOU PICK LESS THAN TWO OPTIONS THEN PLEASE SAY WHICH OPTION YOU WOULD LIKE TO DEPLOY BOTH TEAMS TO. DEBUFFS WILL BE PROVIDED NEXT POST

>Head for the command deck! Cut off the head, and the body becomes a lot easier to kill. (roll 1d20
>Capture life support! If worst comes to worst you can always suffocate them out.
>Take habitation! If you can take the armory before they know what's hit them, then they won't be able to fight back.
>Secure the hanger bay! Having a way out just in case the innies try something is going to be essential.
>Seize the coolant area! Your marines have temperature regulators in their suits, the innies don't have that for their skin.
>Investigate the stores! Maybe they have some goodies lying around.
>Other (write-in)

>>3668108
>>Take habitation! If you can take the armory before they know what's hit them, then they won't be able to fight back.
The innie cannot fight if you disable the hand.

Rolled 1 (1d20)

>>3668108
>>3668121
>Head for the command deck! Cut off the head, and the body becomes a lot easier to kill. (roll 1d20
Oops, second option.

Rolled 9 (1d20)

>>3668108
>Seize the coolant area! Your marines have temperature regulators in their suits, the innies don't have that for their skin.

File: 1532461055193.jpg (512 KB, 900x2541)

512 KB JPG

>>3668123
Alright, I'm just going back to being a lurker.

Rolled 15 (1d20)

>>3668108
>Head for the command deck! Cut off the head, and the body becomes a lot easier to kill.

>>3668123
>>3668124
without the number of the beast giving our rolls power they have returned to normal...

Rolled 14 (1d20)

>>3668108
>Head for the command deck! Cut off the head, and the body becomes a lot easier to kill.
>>3668130
Yeah, sorry about that, I ran out of goats to sacrifice.

>>3668123
>>3668124
>>3668127
>>3668134
Just a couple of FYI's, the roll for the command center option is invalid as the rolls with bonuses and minuses will be provided in the next post. Also, you have two squads, so you can take two objectives if you like.

>>3668108
>Take habitation! If you can take the armory before they know what's hit them, then they won't be able to fight back.
>Secure the hanger bay! Having a way out just in case the innies try something is going to be essential.

Then we bring in more guys.

>>3668165
Ah, well i'm confused as to why (roll 1d20) was included in the option then but w/e, works out for us because those roll were pretty bad.

>>3668108
>Take habitation! If you can take the armory before they know what's hit them, then they won't be able to fight back.

"Understood, here are your orders. Alpha squad will move to the command center and secure it. Detach bravo squad and send them to habitation to secure the armory." You ordered. If you could cut the rebels off from their commanders and their weapons, then taking them prisoner would be easy. And the fact that it would give Diana an easy way in would also make the process much easier.

"Understood, scramming the reactor now." The sergent confirmed that he had heard you, before signaling over to the men by the console. The two squads of marines formed up as the men at the console flicked switches and pressed buttons. Three minutes after you had given your order, the lights winked out as the humming of the reactors died.

"That kicked the hornet's nest boys, let's move!" The sergent ordered, his feed now being polluted with a sickly green filter as the night vision system built into his helmet snapped on. The man and his marines quickly pushed out of the reactor room, both squads racing for their objectives.

>Roll a flat 1d20 for Alpha squad, and 1d20+1 for Bravo squad. Alternatively roll 2d20 for both squads and I'll give the second roll the +1

Rolled 13 (1d20)

>>3668317

Rolled 7 + 1 (1d20 + 1)

And for Bravo.

Rolled 12, 14 = 26 (2d20)

>>3668317
No whammies

Rolled 2, 15 = 17 (2d20)

>>3668317
f

Rolled 18, 13 = 31 (2d20)

>>3668317

The advance into the station was quick and brutal. Thankfully, the station's doors could be manually opened in the event of a power failure. And as such both squads advanced quickly. The first squad to actually encounter anyone was bravo squad when the bright beam of light from a torch illuminated them. The two point-men opened fire on the light source, cutting an unarmed woman down with brutal ease. With the sound of suppressed gunfire potentially having alerted the nearby innies to their presence, they picked up the pace. Eventually arriving at the armory, another burst of gunfire resulted in a short but eventful gunfight. Where the three armed innies were caught with their pants down and were subsequently gunned down by your troops.

As the gunfire around the armory alerted all nearby to the presence of boarders, alpha squad continued it's push up the set of stairs that lead up to the hydroponics area, and the command center suspended above it. They encountered no contact on the way up, though it seemed that lady luck had traded that little reprieve for a larger fucking later. The innies waited until the marines had entered into the hydroponics bay and were a couple of meters away from the stairwell before opening fire on them. Two marines dropped instantly, though one rolled into an irrigation ditch and began to return fire while the other lay unmoving. The rest of the squad followed a similar idea, of diving into irrigation ditches and laying low to avoid the worst of the enemy's fire while using the crops, soil and plastic containers to soak up some of the energy from the enemy's guns.

"Bravo-lead to Dawn, we have the armory locked down and we have the angles of approach locked down. Count one injured marine, the medic is working on him." The sergent in command of bravo squad calmly reported, apparently not knowing about the plight of the other squad.

"Alpha squad is pinned down outside the command center. Hostiles inside are armed with a mixture of assorted sidearms and larger infantry weapons. Requesting permission to use grenades." The older sergent reported in a second later, his report punctuated by gunfire as his men got into a bigger fight. Allowing him to use grenades wasn't the issue, the issue was if you wanted alpha squad to take prisoners. If so, then they would be limited to just flashbang grenades. If not, then they could use the whole range of grenades available to them.

>Take prisoners! You can't interrogate a corpse. (roll 1d20-1)
>No survivors! You can always hack their computers. (roll 1d20)

Rolled 12 (1d20)

>>3668443
>No survivors! You can always hack their computers.
I'm not keen on loosing Marine's when it won't be easy getting more in.

>>3668459
This. We have an AI anyways, no survivors but do your best to keep any consoles intact.

Rolled 2 - 1 (1d20 - 1)

>>3668443

>Take prisoners! You can't interrogate a corpse. (roll 1d20-1)

Rolled 12 + 1 (1d20 + 1)

>>3668443
>Take prisoners! You can't interrogate a corpse. (roll 1d20-1)

Rolled 1 (1d20)

>>3668443
>No survivors! You can always hack their computers.

>>3668482
fucking yikes

Rolled 5 (1d20)

>>3668472
>>3668482
Why

>>3668443

File: marine shotty.jpg (101 KB, 1200x675)

101 KB JPG

"Solid copy alpha, be advised that you are limited to non-lethal grenades only. I want prisoners." You instructed the sergent.

"Solid copy Dawn." The sergent curtly replied, before switching back to his squad comms. As one, a trio of marines threw a pair of flashbangs and a smoke grenade into the hanging atrium that acted as the primary command center. While the design allowed the people inside to feel far more relaxed as they worked, it also made it a tough cookie to crack from down below. Especially with only a small stairway underneath functioning as the only means of entry. Still, the pair of flashbangs blinded the innies long enough for the smoke to spread. And with the smoke in their way, the innies could don nothing but blindly fire out of the windows as your men advanced. The wild spray of fire was not nearly as effective as before, but it still caught one of the marines in the throat as he ran. The corpsman stopping and turning back to try to save the man from his mortal wound.

The first man on the stairs was the point-man, hefting his shotgun in a tight grip as he ascended the stairs. The specifically-designed smoke was blinding to natural eyes, but not to the internal cameras and VISR-style system inside the marine's helmet. He proved this with an opening shot right through the smoke and into the gut of one of the innies. The man fell back, rapidly going into shock from the sheer brutality of the blast. The rest of the marines followed him up, blasting and beating the innies with comparative ease. At the end of the scuffle, nine rebels lay dead or wounded with another five pinned to the ground. The sergent joined the point-man in searching the rest of the command deck as their comrades zip-tied the rebels and tended to the wounded.

"Alpha-lead to Dawn. We've taken the command center but have taken casualties, tally two dead and two wounded." The sergent sighed, leaning up against one of the walls after checking the final room.

"Understood, any survivors?" You asked. While the price was a bit high for your liking, it would be fine if you could get some intel out of the prisoners.

"We have five confirmed survivors, we've got a guy checking the bodies to see if they're just playing dead or have gone unconscious." The sergent reported as he returned into the command atrium, before turning to one of the shellshocked POWs and yelling. "Hey, dickhead! Where's your boss?"

The prisoner looked shocked for a couple of seconds, before pointing at the body of the man who had taken a point-blank shotgun blast. Entrails lay in a heap on the deck from where his stomach had been blasted open, the mortal wound having sent him into shock and killed him.

"Fuck, looks like we won't be getting anything out of him." One of the marines -the corpsman of all people- remarked flatly with his hands covered in blood from another marine's wounds.

>CONT

>>3668619

>Interrogate the survivors! One of them must be the XO or something. (roll 1d20-2)
>Check the computers! What were they doing and can you gain control? (roll 1d20)
>Order a squad [Alpha or Bravo] to secure somewhere else (Life support, Hanger bay, Coolant area, storage warehouses)
>Other (write-in)

Rolled 6 (1d20)

>>3668622
>Check the computers! What were they doing and can you gain control? (roll 1d20)

Suprised our AI cna't give us a mod

Rolled 5 (1d20)

>>3668622
>Check the computers! What were they doing and can you gain control?

>>3668622
>>Check the computers! What were they doing and can you gain control? (roll 1d20)

Rolled 9 (1d20)

>>3668700
keep forgetting something

Rolled 14 - 2 (1d20 - 2)

>>3668622
>Interrogate the survivors! One of them must be the XO or something. (roll 1d20-2)

Rolled 5 (1d20)

>>3668622
>Check the computers! What were they doing and can you gain control?

>>3668638
>>3668704
>>3668725
wow

Rolled 13 (1d20)

>>3668619
>>Check the computers! What were they doing and can you gain control? (roll 1d20)

"Sergent, think you can open up a link to the Dawn? We need to start data-mining." You ordered the sergent as he checked on one of his injured marines, the marine gave a thumbs-up to the sergent as you spoke.

"Yeah, the computers in this section seems to be running on batteries so we should be able to get this op and running. Give me a bit." The sergent nodded, before making his way over to one of the largest consoles. He navigated through the screen as Diana directed his actions via popups on his HUD. However, the screen flashed with a red box with an undersling keyboard the moment he tried to access the communications suite.

"No dice sir looks like it needs a command code." The sergent gave up, before turning to look at the prisoners. "I'm gonna guess that one of them know it. How do you want me to handle it."

>Convince one of the rebels to help! You're sure that the offer of preferable treatment will get someone to help you. (roll 1d20-1)
>'Convince' one of the rebels to help! By force, obviously. (roll 1d20)

Rolled 18 - 1 (1d20 - 1)

>>3673719
>>Convince one of the rebels to help! You're sure that the offer of preferable treatment will get someone to help you. (roll 1d20-1)

Rolled 11 - 1 (1d20 - 1)

>>3673719
>Convince one of the rebels to help! You're sure that the offer of preferable treatment will get someone to help you. (roll 1d20-1)

Rolled 4 - 1 (1d20 - 1)

>>3673719
>>Convince one of the rebels to help! You're sure that the offer of preferable treatment will get someone to help you.

"Try and convince the prisoners to help us." You ordered, before then adding. "Don't rough them up though."

The sergent nodded, before turning back towards the group of captured rebels. "Alright, listen up! We need to open up the comms, and we need your help. Any takers?"

"You 'ain't got nuffin jarhead! We've got rights." One of the injured rebels spat, followed by coughing as his wounds caught up to him.

"As it turns out, we're not here on just the UNSC's jurisdiction. We're under tasking from ONI, and they can make all of you disappear." The sergent replied with a smile, before gesturing to the POWs. "I'm offering one of you -and only one of you- a chance to guarantee good treatment by the spooks. So, who wants it?"

"Suit yourselves then." The sergent slowly and raised his hand to the side of his helmet, mimicking the activation of an internal radio. "Sorry captain, but the rebels are just dying to meet the spook. If you-"

"Alright fine!" One of the rebels finally snapped, the younger man getting up and walking up. "I'll help."

"Good man, get on over and get the comms open. No funny business though." The sergent gestured the man over to the console. The young tech seemed as if he was about to say something, but squashed the thought as he arrived at the console and punched in a code. The screen flashed green, before switching onto a new screen, the rebel backed away and let the sergent tap in a couple of commands. A few seconds later, your command console flashed green as your ship established a new connection.

"Connection established, I have access to the station." Diana announced, before turning back to face you. "What would you like me to do? Keep in mind that I have a limited window to operate in before the batteries run out of power."

>Grab some data! That's the only reason why you're there. (roll 1d20+3)
>Find the remaining rebels! If you know where they are, you can easily capture them. (roll 1d20)
>Bring the power online! Once you have the power online you can take all the time you need. (roll 1d20)
>Other (write-in)

>>3674087
>>Grab some data! That's the only reason why you're there.

Rolled 18 + 3 (1d20 + 3)

>>3674100
Forgot to roll.

Rolled 19 + 3 (1d20 + 3)

>>3674087
>Grab some data! That's the only reason why you're there. (roll 1d20+3)

Rolled 5 + 3 (1d20 + 3)

>>3674087
>Grab some data! That's the only reason why you're there. (roll 1d20+3)

>>3674102
>>3674144
Nice

"Grab as much info as you can. We're here for a reason." You ordered the AI, who's small red avatar nodded in confirmation of the order before disappearing.

"Brave squad to Dawn, no further activity around the armory. What do you want us to do here sir?" The sergent of bravo squad asked before his interim commanding officer could speak.

"Regroup with alpha squad, they need support." You gave a short answer. With the attention of alpha squad split between their wounded, the POWs and the approaches towards the command center, they were in a very precarious position.

"What about the armory? We can't just leave all of these weapons lying around." The sergent asked, panning his helmet camera around the darkened room, showing you a smorgasbord of guns and ammo.

>Take as many guns as you can! You can figure out what to do with them later. (roll 1d20-2)
>Lock the armory before you go! You'll return to it later. (CHANCE OF REBELS GAINING ACCESS)
>Destroy everything! If you can't have those guns, nobody can. (WILL DAMAGE THE STATION)
>Other (write-in)

>>3674270
>>Destroy everything! If you can't have those guns, nobody can
Not gonna lie, I'm totally down with just MACing it once we're done.

Rolled 1 - 2 (1d20 - 2)

>>3674270
>Take as many guns as you can! You can figure out what to do with them later. (roll 1d20-2)

>>3674270
>Destroy everything! If you can't have those guns, nobody can. (WILL DAMAGE THE STATION)

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920 KB GIF

>>3674293
Ah, it seems my luck is running low.

Rolled 6 - 2 (1d20 - 2)

>>3674270
>>Take as many guns as you can! You can figure out what to do with them later. (roll 1d20-2)

>>3674270
>>Destroy everything! If you can't have those guns, nobody can. (WILL DAMAGE THE STATION)
Can't we plant explosives and just wait to detonate them? Or put them on a timer?

"Take what you want within reason, blow up the rest. No point in leaving it to be recaptured." You ordered. While regulations went against letting marines take what they wanted, you could see through the sergent's HUD how at least three of his men were eying weapons on some of the racks, so you let them have their take. Registering them would be easy enough.

It took a couple of minutes for the men to grab what they wanted. Some took antiques, some took oddities, and a couple even grabbed modern equipment. But once they were done, the marines wasted no time in piling up the weapons into a heap in the middle of the room and then covering the pile with ammunition and the few explosives in stock. One of the marines -apparently with some training in demolitions- rigged up the explosives to a timer and set it to blow. Most of the marines had already been out of the room by then, and those that were left followed him out, closing and locking the door behind him.

Finally, with an almighty crash, the explosives went off. This was then followed by a firecracker-like sound as the ammunition began to cook off inside the room. Diana had apparently retained some control over the base, as the doors remained closed and the vents shut, ensuring that the room would burn until all oxygen within had been burned. Your marines didn't care, instead, bravo squad made good time to the command center. The point-man dropping a pair of loitering rebels along the way.

"Alright sir, bravo has reinforced us. What do you want us to do now?" The sergent of alpha squad asked as his counterpart arrived, their corpsman immediately getting to work to assist alpha squad's beleaguered medic.

>Capture the entire base! With their guns gone, the rebels should be much easier to handle. (roll 1d20+1)
>Leave the base! You have what you need, no need to draw out your stay.
>Other (write-in)

Rolled 18 + 1 (1d20 + 1)

>>3674801
>Capture the entire base! With their guns gone, the rebels should be much easier to handle.

This seems to be going well. Too well.

Rolled 15 + 1 (1d20 + 1)

>>3674801
>>Capture the entire base! With their guns gone, the rebels should be much easier to handle. (roll 1d20+1)

Rolled 18 + 1 (1d20 + 1)

>>3674801
>>Capture the entire base! With their guns gone, the rebels should be much easier to handle. (roll 1d20+1)

>>3674801
>Capture the entire base! With their guns gone, the rebels should be much easier to handle.

Rolled 18 + 1 (1d20 + 1)

>>3674801

>Capture the entire base! With their guns gone, the rebels should be much easier to handle. (roll 1d20+1)

>>3674811
>>3674823
>>3674841
Alright then

"Bravo squad, move down the station floor-by-floor and secure it. Take prisoners where possible but don't go out of your way for them. Alpha, post guard duty and be prepared to take in prisoners from bravo squad." You ordered both squads, and they got to work almost immediately. First, the prisoners that had already been taken were rounded up in the meeting room, after the furniture inside had been removed. Then alpha squad took up defensive positions looking into the meeting room and onto the stairs leading up. With alpha squad in place, bravo squad quickly embarked on their mission.

Unsurprisingly, bravo squad faced little to no resistance from the remaining insurrectionist forces. They had already been demoralized when the lights went out, and the sudden shock of the armory blowing up rattled them further. Most of the time when your marines encountered a rebel, they immediately surrendered. Those few times when the rebel actually tried to charge them out of either desperation or despair always resulted with the ill-fated rebel getting shot dead. Only once did a rebel really manage to cause an injury, and that was when one of them pulled a gun and shot bravo squad's point man in the gut. The SAP-HE round in the pistol blowing through his armor and sending shrapnel deep inside. Still, in spite of the single injury, the capture of the station went well. Within an hour of the order being given, both squads had reunited in the command center with the rebels all penned up inside the meeting room. Leaving you with around thirty captured rebels.

"Dawn, this is alpha-lead, bravo squad has completed their mission and either killed or captured all insurrectionist forces on this asteroid. What now?" The older sergent asked, his voice tired but still alert. Not that you blamed him, two of his men were dead and another nearly joined them from a blow to the femoral artery.

>Evacuate the prisoners! You're not gonna leave close to half of your marines on guard duty.
>Leave them behind! You don't want those prisoners outside of your sight.

>>3675054
>Evacuate the prisoners! You're not gonna leave close to half of your marines on guard duty.

>>3675054
>>Evacuate the prisoners! You're not gonna leave close to half of your marines on guard duty.

>>3675054
>>Evacuate the prisoners! You're not gonna leave close to half of your marines on guard duty.

>>3675054
>>Evacuate the prisoners! You're not gonna leave close to half of your marines on guard duty.

>>3675054
>Evacuate the prisoners! You're not gonna leave close to half of your marines on guard duty.

>>3675054
>Evacuate the prisoners! You're not gonna leave close to half of your marines on guard duty.

>>3675054
>>Evacuate the prisoners! You're not gonna leave close to half of your marines on guard duty.

>>3675054
>>Evacuate the prisoners! You're not gonna leave close to half of your marines on guard duty.

"That's all. Move all prisoners over to the hanger bay and make preparations to move them over to the Dawn for housing. Diana, think you can get the reactor up and running to keep the station emitting for a while?" You ordered, before directing your attention back towards your AI, unfortunately, you were having to direct a lot of questions back to her just because she was the one plugged into the enemy's computer network.

"Of course! The primary reactor is a standard-fusion reactor and would take a while to get up and running. But the smaller units are fast-starters, we should be able to bring them back online by jump-starting one of them with whatever power remains in the batteries. Granted I'll have to take everything offline to get the power I need to pull this off, but once I have that it. Shouldn't take too long." Diana nodded, while you were a bit concerned at the need to take EVERYTHING offline, you trusted her enough that you would let her go through with it.

"Very good, and the data?" You asked as the two squads began their move. The single-file line of rebels was escorted along by the marines, who kept their fingers on their triggers and their weapons at the ready. The rebels might be able to jump one marine in the line, but they wouldn't have much time before they were torn apart by fire from the others.

"The transfer is already complete, but they have a lot of info here sir. It would seem that they were using this facility as a backup data archive from their main base. It will take a bit of time to properly sort through the information, and going through the info and properly proofreading it and searching for any more limited counter intelligence-gathering I have a hunch that there is a lot of good info in here." Diana informed you, the AI seemed a bit distracted, though you guessed that was due to her programming juggling so many things. Still, her skills were invaluable.

In total, it took around ten minutes to move all of the innies into a room near to the hanger, and another twenty for the three evacuation pelicans to arrive and to cycle them in. One of the lumbering craft had been set aside to carry the wounded of both sides, while the remaining marines and rebels were spread evenly between the two remaining dropships. In spite of the pelicans being fitted with an additional row of seats down the center of the troop bay -well-over doubling the internal seating capacity of each dropship- the unwounded were still packed up like sardines. Soon enough, your XO spoke up. "Pelicans loaded sir, recalling them now."

"Good work Dyad, have medical teams on standby to care for the wounded. Diana, have you managed to restart one of the reactors yet?" You commended your second in command, before turning your attention back to your AI.

>CONT

>>3681341

"Nothing on the reactors sir, I have to wait until all of our forces are off the station so that I can take everything offline to get the required power. On the intel, on the other hand, I've got the location of the rebel base!" Diana pridefully boasted. While AIs were often portrayed as being emotionally dead, and most of the time that was a good thing as certain simulated emotions in excess were a clear hint at rampancy, the majority of smart AI could still express emotions if their personality allowed it. And right now was a great example as the tiny red woman on the holographic tank beamed up at you. "And not just that, but a whole lot more than just that."

You couldn't help but grin at that, finally, the cat-and-mouse game was over, and you could go in for the kill.

===================================

And that’s it for this thread! A bit of slow going overall, though a lot of that is because of my job search. I've got a few job prospects lined up, and we'll see how those go before making any changes to the quest. Either way, that had a knock-on effect in that I wasn't able to post as much as I would have liked, thus drawing out what was meant to be a one-thread intermission into a two-thread job. Which is gonna suck arse.

If you have any questions, then feel free to ask. I’m open to answering any questions before the thread falls off the board.

>>3681347
Thanks for the run, Thunderhead, and good luck with the job search.
Is it possible to keep up with both ONI and FLEETCOM or is it an either/or situation? I'm hoping we can make a name for ourselves while also getting to test fun stuff from the spooks.

>>3681347
In what/where general area are you looking for employment in? I’d be willing to ask around for you, and I’m sure others of us would as well. You have more connections here that you might think.

>>3681424
It's entirely possible to have good relations with both, though it will have to come at the expense of bombing your relations in other areas. It's hard to get help from the seedier members of the fleet when you have a reputation for being in with the spooks. Bonuses with FLEETCOM are going to be useful for if you want to advance up the chain of command and/or get new ships to command.

>>3681534
While I appreciate the offer, it's something I'd rather handle myself. I'd prefer to keep the personal life and the QM stuff separate.