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Offline Koval, Master Verispex

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Re: House of Cards -- game thread
« Reply #40 on: June 5, 2013, 11:02:15 AM »
"If we have other boarding parties do the same thing, we have backup in case we fail in our task," suggests Casteau, "and we also leave our enemy guessing as to which party to chase after first. That buys us time."

"Okay, we all need to stop, and take a few steps back," Troy interrupts, motioning for quiet as he looks straight at Skarkon. She's somewhere between listening to Troy, reading some new information that's appeared on her dataslate, and paying close attention to something on her microbead.

"There is no point talking about how we are going to assault something until we know exactly what it is that we are going to assault. We don't know what we are up against.  All we know at the moment is that there is a fortress, that may or may not be intact.  We know that it has at least one missile launcher active and that it is probably manned.  Beyond that, we're in the dark and fighting blind."

Skarkon's very clearly listening, but her reaction is somewhat different to what one might expect, being a delighted yet crafty grin that lingers on her face for rather too long. You're briefly suspicious that this is all a giant trick on her part, but then again, what exactly does the Inquisitor stand to gain from doing that?

"If the fortress has been overrun," Troy continues, slightly confused, "then the odds are that there is a significant enemy presence, at least one capable of overcoming a stormtrooper company. Probably.  We just don't know at this stage.  Regardless, we simply need more information.  We need to know who is there and what their defensive capabilities are.  Once we know that, then we can start picking them apart.  We have time on our side, we should use it.  A perimeter sweep with drones, at least up to the rim of that crater, would be a good start."

"Oh, I think I can arrange a little more than that," Skarkon beams. You're slightly unnerved by how an Inquisitor like herself, so constantly engrossed in her activities, can shift so rapidly from a cold and calculating demeanour to being so uncharacteristicall y gleeful. "Not only did Roche have surveillance drones after all, but Master Drees also managed to contact the Saint Leonis -- Inquisitor Tegan Ceolfrid's ship."

"And what bearing does that have on the mission parameters?" asks Brother Aret.

"In principle, the Saint Leonis is a Vagabond-class freighter," Skarkon explains, that lunatic grin still plastered all over her face. "But in practice, it's an escort carrier. Why Ceolfrid felt she needed an escort carrier, I can only guess, but in her absence we've just acquired two squadrons of Marauder bombers."

She turns to face Troy and Aret. "You can thank me once the defences are down."
« Last Edit: June 6, 2013, 02:00:00 AM by Autarch Koval'andril »

Offline Spectral Arbor

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Re: House of Cards -- game thread
« Reply #41 on: June 5, 2013, 07:25:56 PM »
OOC: I like the idea of gathering more intel, but my character wouldn't agree with that position. In the end, my character will follow whatever orders he's given. In the meanwhile, a bit of intra-character drama... I think your character's doing great, Underhand. :)

"With respect, Inquisitor, I don't agree with The Sapper's stance on having all the time in the world." Casteau began. "Whomever has taken the fortress has control of it's defences, and presumably communications. I strongly doubt that we'll be gathering intel in any way other than the old fashioned way. With our own eyes. Furthermore, hoping that the two bombers squadrons of bombers will neutralize the defences is not taking into account the possibility that they will fail in their task. So far, we've only seen one tower activate. There could be others. Others that even The Inquisitor may not know about. Unlikely, but possible."

Casteau took a moment to let that sink in, while giving a poignant glance at The Sapper.

"If they do fail," Casteau continued ominously, "We risk losing a powerful distraction that could have covered our insertion. Delaying our assault gives our enemy more time to accomplish whatever objectives they have." A small degree of heat was entering Victor's voice, "They could be stealing valuable intelligence, weapons, archeotech... while we stand here and The Inquisitor pulls more terrabbits from her helmet... uh... ahem... with respect, Inquisitor. Your resourcefulness is quite impressive." Casteau shoots a quick glance at The Inquisitor, before continuing more cautiously.

"I'm concerned that we'll wind up wasting our resources piece-meal, and will leave ourselves unable to force our way in, if we need to make a strong push. I'm also concerned that we may need to use the bombers to level the fortress, if we're unable to reclaim it." Casteau didn't care to think about what ordering his own destruction would be like.

The Inquisitor will issue the order, not me.

"We should make one coordinated assault, and we should do it before our enemy has even more time to rally their defences."
« Last Edit: June 6, 2013, 12:48:23 PM by GreatBigTree »

Offline Underhand

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Re: House of Cards -- game thread
« Reply #42 on: June 6, 2013, 08:25:06 AM »
OOC:  No worries, loving your work too.

Troy bristled at Casteau's use of the term Sapper.  Sapper was a low rank in the Morghastian Engineering corps.  Digger, Tunneler and Sapper were the non commissioned ranks, with the various Engineer ranks being officer equivalents.  Troy had at different times been breveted with different Engineer ranking, but at the time of his secondment to Skarkon's retinue, he had once again been reduced to a non commissioned rank.  Chronic instability in the chain of command had been yet another failing of the Morghastian first that had knobbled their effectiveness. Troy considered that he could have been ranked as high as Siege Master by now, but the overly politicised nature of the promotion system had stymied his progress.  That, and all those times he'd been court martialled for desertion.  Those hadn't helped.

Of course Casteau wouldn't have appreciated any of that. But back in the Siege Commander General's tent, every time some mindless fleshy pawn of the Illuminati who happened to have some extra stripes on his shoulder that particular week wanted to deride a suggestion put forward by Troy, they invariably made reference to his lowly rank to strengthen their argument.  He would never stop being annoyed by it, and the chip he carried around would never be removed from his shoulder.

Nevertheless, he knew that Casteau hadn't been deliberately goading him with the reference to his rank.  On the other hand, what Casteau had suggested was pretty stupid.  It was vital that all this crazy talk of an immediate frontal assault be stomped out. 

"Sergeant,"  he said, looking at Casteau, but subtly using his hands to draw in everyone else sitting at the table "I'm sure you know everything there is to know about small unit operations, but this isn't some machine gun nest at the top of a hill that we need to take out.  This is a fortress that the Inquisition took the time to construct on a rock in the middle of deep space with no atmosphere and at temperatures of absolute zero.  They didn't do a half arsed job when they built it.  They just shot down one of our ships.  We don't have the element of surprise, and we aren't going to get it back.  They are waiting for us.  Running at it face first isn't going to work."

"And, we don't even know who 'they' are.  It could be one guy or it could be five hundred.  It could be a couple of hundred Necrons for all we know.  Obviously, it's better to find out who our enemy is before we go in, since that will change our tactics.  Hell, for all we know at the moment, it could just be that the ventilation system screwed up and everyone is stuck on the bottom couple of levels waiting for help to arrive and the defence systems are running on auto.  We need more information."
 
"In that regard, we should send out some probes to get the lay of the land.  And it should be probes that we send.  Once again - we are in deep space.  The surface of that planet is going to be pitch black, unbreathable and freezing cold.  A human stumbling around in avoid suit will just waste our time.  We should let the machines handle this one."
 
"As for the time it takes, well, this is a siege, and they take as long as they take.  I've got a few ideas about how to speed things up depending on how intact her ladyship wants the place to be when she gets there, but I'd prefer to get more information before I promise anything."
 
"Unless anyone has an urgent luncheon appointment they have to get to, I recommend that we take our time and do it right."

« Last Edit: June 6, 2013, 08:34:28 AM by Underhand »

Offline Koval, Master Verispex

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Re: House of Cards -- game thread
« Reply #43 on: June 8, 2013, 02:23:27 AM »
"Whatever it is you two want to do, you'd better decide quickly," Skarkon huffs. You can tell that she's losing patience. "I am one vox-command away from deploying those drones, another from sending twenty-four Marauders hurtling towards a position in enemy hands. So if you want to recommend a course of action in your respective military capacities, hurry it up."

She lets that sink in for a moment.

"Otherwise, those drones are going to observe the defences and, once we've ascertained what's operational, triangulate attack coordinates. And then I'm sending in the bombers."


[OOC]
Next update coming possibly tomorrow evening or Monday morning.
[/OOC]

Offline Underhand

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Re: House of Cards -- game thread
« Reply #44 on: June 8, 2013, 09:32:52 AM »
Troy had an answer ready "I suggest that we deploy the drones and conduct a perimeter sweep in a five kilometre ring around the crater.  Assuming this planet doesn't get much in the way of precipitation or wind, that should be good enough to find any tracks left by any invading force, and might help us work out what we are up against."

"Also, from Sergeant Calne's recording, it sounded like the garrison was going to send out a recognisance team to see what was happening.  If they got taken down, or if there was a fight, then the drones might find the site of the crash or the battle, which might also help."

"Once we've mapped the perimeter, we send in the drones three at a time in a two hundred metre equilateral triangular formation towards the fortress from each side.  The rear most drone records the reaction of the base defences to the front two drones.  That will help us plan our attack."

"As for neutralising the base defences, in my experience, the navy boys don't exactly provide scalpel like precision when it comes to taking out a stationary target.  For a target this size, especially if you want to keep it relatively intact, I recommend a laser guided strike with high penetration ordnance.  A hunter killer or hellfire should do the job but I've also had success with heavy mortars. Both of them can fire from well outside the line of sight of the fortress.  All they need is a spotter."

Offline Spectral Arbor

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Re: House of Cards -- game thread
« Reply #45 on: June 8, 2013, 09:38:37 AM »
OOC: I'm not sure if we're "voting" for a course of action, or if the Inquisitor is simply going to decide what's going to happen and we're going to roll with it. If we're trying to build party consensus as to how we want to approach this, we could all vote ooc. My character would vote for trying to sneak in during a large scale attack, such as during the bombing run. My character will happily follow whatever orders he's given.


Casteau straightens, bristling under the scrutiny. "In my military capacity, I recommend that we take advantage of the diversion caused by dropping high powered ordnance onto our enemy. It's our best chance to get in without our enemy's knowledge. We have no guarantee that the probes will achieve anything. We could send them in 5 minutes ahead of our assault, let them gather what intel we need, and move in. They'll still be ahead of us, giving a more useful feed. Old intel is almost worse than no intel. If we go in with expectations, we can be blind-sided. If we go in, knowing we're blind, we're less likely to miss things."

"It doesn't much matter what's down there. We need to face it, overcome it, make it suffer for opposing the Emperor's divine will. Then we destroy it." His old battle-hardness was returning. "We can't guarantee a second bombing run. We've seen the Imperial defences activate, but what if that storm returns, and it downs all of the bombers before they can deliver their payloads? Or Xenos have hidden resources that they can bring in. The 'Bots can tellyboard things, and I've seen Eldar drop a box that opened a door into whatever dark hell they come from. They could probably do that on a larger scale. We can't guarantee a second chance, and we can't fail. This isn't a siege that we can drag out. Our enemy could be gone by the time we're ready for a second assault. That would be too late."

"No plan survives contact with the Alien," Casteau quotes from the Imperial Primer, "We must strike while the plasteel is hot. Back me up, Bl... Battle Brother." Casteau raises his chin to Brother Aret.

400 years of kicking ass without fear. The Black Knight will know the benefit of getting to grips quickly. His opinion will sway the Inquisitor. Keep The Sniper out of it, he'll likely want the slow approach as well. The Prybar doesn't need outside intel, he can pull it from the heads of our enemies. Squad politics never cease. Need his support too...

Casteau grabs The Prybar by the shoulder and gives him a gentle shake. "Wake up man! We're picking our poison, and you're just standing there!"
« Last Edit: June 8, 2013, 09:49:06 AM by GreatBigTree »

Offline Koval, Master Verispex

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Re: House of Cards -- game thread
« Reply #46 on: June 9, 2013, 06:49:58 AM »
Skarkon seems to ponder both Troy and Casteau's opposing views for a moment, before raising her hand to her microbead once again.

"Master Drees, if you would be so kind as to have those drones deployed?"




Above Hamara

The gun-cutter is remarkably comfortable, not to mention well-stocked. There are half a dozen lockers, each with a heavy void-suit that fits comfortably over your clothing and -- surprisingly -- armour. You've not put the helmets on just yet, but Skarkon's informed you that each suit is equipped with an audiovisual autosense suite, photo-visor, and communicator system. The rebreather system, she informs you, can keep you alive for up to ten hours -- considerably longer than a standard rebreather might.

"Hopefully, we won't need to rely on all ten hours' worth of air," she adds. As the gun-cutter is currently almost level with Hamara's surface, Skarkon is pacing around the interior of the cabin, glancing over at another locker that -- she's informed you -- is almost full to bursting with las weapon charge packs.

The gun-cutter's sensorium has been linked to the surveillance drones from the Undying Light, and a large vid-screen mounted on the wall has been partitioned into about twenty individual windows, each showing the view from a different drone's optics. Some have gone blank, as anticipated. Many are further forward than the rest, some advancing in the triangular formation suggested by Troy, others still conducting perimeter sweeps of the crater.

As expected, the defences are still very active, but the missile launchers are apparently having a very hard time tracking smaller ground targets like the drones. Even now, a couple of launchers -- reminiscent of Hyperios-pattern air defence turrets, but much larger and with their own inbuilt targeting cogitators -- are firing ineffectively at the drones, their hunter-killer missiles lancing into barren rock.

The remaining launchers -- the ones that haven't been distracted by the drones -- are busying themselves with the Marauder bombers swarming above the fortress. Many have been destroyed, but evidently the launchers' tracking systems are much better at dealing with flyers, and three Marauders have already been shot down. One's landed right in front of a drone, and that portion of the vid-screen is filled with a close-up of the Marauder's broken wing.

Surprisingly, the defence lasers are completely inactive, and the quartet of towers -- each several hundred metres away from the fortress proper -- are sitting idle while the bombers go about their duty.

So far, you've found no sign of the expedition Staff Sergeant Calne mentioned; neither her Storm Troopers nor their gun-cutter have shown up on the drones' sensors. You've not determined whether there's any evidence of a take-off near the hangars, but either they left and disappeared further afield, or they never left at all.

A soft chime meets your ears.

"We're approximately ten minutes out from the fortress," Skarkon explains. "We can conduct a few long-range fly-bys to give the drones more time, but by the time we arrive, the bombers should have dealt with the defences."

"What if there are defences that we don't know about?" asks Troy.

"Then more fool me for not knowing the fortress as well as I thought I did," Skarkon answers, "especially considering that my knowledge of the fortress' layout -- and its schematics -- are correct as of only a few months ago. The nature of deep-space engineering and construction techniques would almost certainly rule out anything particularly notable, unless it were still ongoing."

If any of you remain unconvinced by the Inquisitor's certainty, you are at least polite enough not to say it to her face.

"At any rate, we need to establish our course of action once we're inside," she continues. "I propose that we should... that we should..."

Skarkon suddenly lurches forwards, reaches out to grab something to steady herself, and is then thrown into the wall by an invisible force, collapsing in a heap on the floor.

"That's not good," she mutters, rubbing her forehead.


[OOC]
According to Rogue Trader: Into The Storm, gun-cutters -- which are defined as a rather broad class of small craft -- have enough space for six people to have quarters, and can fit 30 at maximum capacity. The one you're using is about 40 metres long or so, and in terms of aesthetics, is what would happen if you made a Klingon Bird-of-Prey look "Imperial".
[/OOC]
« Last Edit: June 9, 2013, 12:47:25 PM by Autarch Koval'andril »

Offline faitherun (Fay-ith-er-run)

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Re: House of Cards -- game thread
« Reply #47 on: June 9, 2013, 01:19:28 PM »
Kim walked into the gun-cutter and began to walk around it, touching everything. The seats, the walls, the lights, the lockers. She eventually came to the void-suits, and sighed heavily...

"How am I supposed to be pretty in this?" She asked no one in particular.

She sits down in a nearby chair, straps on the harness, and sleeps.

As she dreamed, foam began to form at the corners of her lips. Her hair begins to move around her face, as if caught in some sort breeze, and a gasp escapes her lips.

Suddenly Kim is whipped forward and stopped from flying across the room only by the harness which she is wearing. Hey eyes fly open and she cries out, an ugly bruise already beginning to form on her forehead, although nothing seems to have hit it.

Kim's eyes are a pure white. She tries to stand, and realizes that the harness is still holding her down.

"amphetamine parrot" She exhales as she finally stands. Her voice has changed again. The vowels are long and drawn out into a drawl, yet there is a hardness to her voice.

She rolls her neck and whispers "snaking on a plane scum, think they gonna keep me out. They got another thing coming."

She draws her stub auto and slides the magazine out, checks that it is full and properly loaded, then slides it back into its holster, leaving it unlatched for easy access.

[ooc]The censor makes this post hilarious![/ooc]
So, what your saying is it's not your fault you look stupid by using words you don't get?
Flawless logic.

Offline Spectral Arbor

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Re: House of Cards -- game thread
« Reply #48 on: June 9, 2013, 01:39:13 PM »
Releasing himself from his harness, Victor ensures that life signs are evident from each of the psykers, though he's given plenty of evidence by The Girl when she stands up and chambers a round in her stub pistol, while he was on his way to check on her.

Stretching his neck, trying to work the tension out from between his shouders, Casteau inquires, "So, yeah, that's new to me. Anyone familiar with psyker specific attacks? I can honestly say that in 26 years as a Guardsman, I've never felt anything like that before."

Keeping a wary eye on the psykers, aware that there isn't a Commissar present to grant the Emperor's peace, he goes to the lockers to grab his void helmet... and a couple of laspacks for his pistol. He'd seen what The Hangman had called, "Pose-eshun" happen once. It wasn't pretty, but the Commissar had recognised it immediately and taken appropriate action. Casteau hoped this wouldn't be the case, but if any of the Psykers seemed out of sorts... a tough call with The Girl at the best of times... he'd do what was needed.

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Re: House of Cards -- game thread
« Reply #49 on: June 9, 2013, 02:27:34 PM »
Seeing the reaction to some unknown stimuli of the Inquisitor and the Adept snaps the telepath out of his ennui and his eyes narrow noticeably with the effort as his mind opens, the lattice of the psi-hood crackles slightly. The telepath opens his mind to read the structure of the room, the thoughts spilling out of both the Inquisitor and the other Adept, not borrowing into the others, but as the reaction is violent, thoughts spilling from their minds are echoing through the cabin, and are now open for the telepath to sample and read.

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Offline Killing Time

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Re: House of Cards -- game thread
« Reply #50 on: June 9, 2013, 03:28:18 PM »
The overwhelming sense of wrongness snapped Verdon out of an almost trance-like state. He had been obsessively checking and re-checking his weapons.
He had stripped down his long las and re-aligned the focusing chamber twice; his auto pistol was oiled and stowed; his chamelioline cloak unfurled, it's pockets filled with spare charge packs and magazines.

He noted Victor unsnapping his buckles and followed suit.
He wanted to be suited up and ready to fight as soon as that hatch popped. Whatever it was out there was not going to catch him off guard.

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Re: House of Cards -- game thread
« Reply #51 on: June 9, 2013, 11:18:08 PM »
Unable to fit in a crash-couch designed for a mortal, Aret had secured himself by simple means of mag-locking his boots to the deck and grabbing on to an overhanging stanchion. When the psychic shock swept through the cabin, he was rocked on his feet but otherwise unmoved.

His enhanced biology reacted to the threat automatically; the wave of despair triggered subliminal urges in his psyche, and sent adrenaline, serotonin and testosterone spiking through his system. His body knew it was under attack and compensated reflexively, his fingers curled into claws as he fought back the unneeded response. He could feel the warpcraft crackling in their around them, the hand of Ruinous Powers turning against them.

Despite the drive to leap across the shuttle and murder the witches convulsing in their harnesses, he unclamped his boots from the deck and marched over to Skarkon. Kneeling down, he extended a massive gauntlet to the Inquisitor and lifted her back to her feet with surprising gentleness.

“Inquisitor. Are you unhurt?”
« Last Edit: June 10, 2013, 01:54:48 AM by Khemri. »

Offline Underhand

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Re: House of Cards -- game thread
« Reply #52 on: June 10, 2013, 12:22:43 AM »
A surge of adrenalin crashed through the momentary sense of unnatural dread that Troy had felt wash through him and his hand right hand was on the laspistol at his hip.

"What the beslubber was that?!" he half shouted, eyes darting from Skarkon, to the Adept, to the Girl and back again.

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Re: House of Cards -- game thread
« Reply #53 on: June 10, 2013, 02:47:51 AM »
"That wasn't an attack. That was a wall. We've breached. It probably knows."

The voice is concentrated, tortured, hissing, low. Twiscian clutches the armrests of his shock-chair as they ride in, his eyes moving to the others, paying particular attention to the other Adept and the Inquisitor.

"At the very best that was just a bubble, a non-constant, an echo. But if it wasn't then... then we're not only noticed, but noticed by something a great deal meaner than us."

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Offline Koval, Master Verispex

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Re: House of Cards -- game thread
« Reply #54 on: June 10, 2013, 06:11:56 AM »
"Inquisitor," Aret addresses her, offering her a hand. "Are you unhurt?"

Skarkon takes the Space Marine's hand and, with Aret's help, gets back up.

"I must admit, I've felt better," she grunts, "but I'll be fine."

She pauses, shaking her head as if slightly dazed, before looking up at Aret.

"Thank you," she adds, rather more softly than you might have expected.

"What the beslubber was that?" Troy exclaims, drawing Skarkon's attention. Those of you that aren't already on your feet are reaching for weapons, as if responding to an attack.

"That wasn't an attack," Adept Twiscian observes, as if divining Skarkon's thoughts. "That was a wall. We've breached. It probably knows."

"What?" Skarkon asks, her delivery flat but betraying her concern.

"At the very best that was just a bubble, a non-constant, an echo," Twiscan explains. "But if it wasn't then... then we're not only noticed, but noticed by something a great deal meaner than us."

"Frak it," Skarkon curses, moving over to the hatch leading into the pilot's cabin and banging on it twice. "Take us closer."

She returns to one of the seats and carefully sits down. A glance at the vid-screen tells her that one of the drones has a visual on the hangar closest to it. The atmospheric barrier is down, leaving the hangar itself open to the void. The remaining missile turrets are down, leaving nineteen Marauders out of an initial two dozen circling above the fortress.

There is still no sign of the Storm Troopers or their expedition.

"If there's anything you still want to ask me, you have ten minutes before we reach the fortress," Skarkon informs you. "Make it brief."


[OOC]
Next update either Wednesday or Friday -- not Thursday because Thursday is Dark Heresy night.

The missile launchers are down, and the defence lasers are inactive. Your way into the fortress is reasonably clear; you're currently approaching it from the north.
[/OOC]
« Last Edit: June 10, 2013, 04:35:22 PM by Autarch Koval'andril »

Offline Killing Time

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Re: House of Cards -- game thread
« Reply #55 on: June 10, 2013, 06:36:16 AM »
Verdon drapes the shimmering folds of his cloak over the heavy shoulders of the void suit, and even within the stark confines of the cabin he notes with satisfaction how his form blurs and fades.

"With your permission, Ma'am, when we land I'd like to make a perimeter sweep. If I give the all clear I can cover the advance through the crater."

Offline Koval, Master Verispex

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Re: House of Cards -- game thread
« Reply #56 on: June 10, 2013, 08:36:43 AM »
"If we have to land outside the fortress, Corporal, then you have my approval," Skarkon answers. "Otherwise, we'll be landing in one of the hangars -- for a given value of "landing", if necessary -- so covering our approach may not be necessary."

Offline Spectral Arbor

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Re: House of Cards -- game thread
« Reply #57 on: June 12, 2013, 02:30:31 PM »
Casteau nodded to The Sniper. The kid has more grit than I'd given him credit for.

"Given your skill with that rifle, maybe it would be better for you to hold back and provide cover for someone else to perform the initial sweep. Someone with a nice, thick layer of Ceramite around him." Victor observed sagely, while giving a half smile towards The Black Knight. "I mean, I love the idea of being sprayed with bullets as soon as we open the hatch, but I think our power armoured companion would be the most likely to survive such an initial salvo."

Offline Koval, Master Verispex

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Re: House of Cards -- game thread
« Reply #58 on: June 12, 2013, 04:23:28 PM »
Location Classified
Hamara, Tempestus Border Zone, Segmentum Pacificus


The way into the fortress' northern hangar is surprisingly clear, but the hangar itself appears to be packed with Aquila landers and the occasional gun-cutter. There are a couple of Valkyries in launch cradles, seemingly modified for void travel and outfitted with sophisticated sensor equipment.

Even accounting for the wealth of small craft in the hangar, however, it is deserted and there are no signs of life. The only servitor the drones have spotted appears to have keeled over and died in the middle of doing something, and there are no security forces in sight, no armed guards approaching the new arrival. A quick glance at the vid-screen tells you why: the drones have reported a "hull breach", their only way of expressing the total failure of the hangar's atmospheric barriers. Other drones in the fortress' other hangars have returned the same report, leaving the hangars (and presumably other areas of the fortress) open to the yawning void outside.

Surprisingly, the hangar's lights are still on, but only very faintly; it's nigh-impossible to see anything but the pinpricks of electrolumina running on reserve power. The drones are transmitting what look like night-vision images, and although the picture quality is predictably dire, you can pick out the bulky forms of the other ships in the hangar without too much trouble. However, artificial gravity appears to have failed, leaving only Hamara's natural -- and considerably weaker -- gravity to hold you down.

Skarkon is already on her feet as the gun-cutter touches down in what must have been the only free space in the shuttle park. She appears unarmed, more so given the void-suit she's wearing over her attire (and, presumably, any concealed weapons about her person), but you know from experience that looks can be only too deceiving.

"The lights are on -- just -- but nobody's home," she muses, before turning to face you. "There's no atmosphere, very low ambient light, and the artificial gravity's gone. That means void protocol. There should be an engineering section at the far end of the hangar, and with it, the hangar's control centre."

Skarkon pauses, reaching down to retrieve her helmet. She puts it on swiftly and motions for you to do the same. Once you've all fitted your helmets, Skarkon moves over to the access hatch.

"Brother Aret, might I suggest you take point?" she asks, her hand hovering over the door release.

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Re: House of Cards -- game thread
« Reply #59 on: June 13, 2013, 03:12:02 AM »
Comfortably sliding into the void suit, the Adept secures the focal rod to the leg-loop over the thigh, but the gun is inside the suit, not that it would matter much out here. He has done this before, and he is likely to do it again, he muses, as he closes the last seal and puts the helmet on.
The air in the helmet is the same stale re-cyc that you get on the smaller closed-topped flyers, the kinds that shuttle people over the battlefield once the battle is over and mopping up is all that's left. Memories off too many such rides to too many dying creatures, heretics and mutants press at his mind, but he holds them back.
He taps the seal-control, the slight green light flashing inside the helmet to let him know that the suit is ready for even hard vacuum.
He grips the railing inside the hatch to signal that he is ready to disembark.

Lost Roads - finally released!


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