Raiding Season

[Legion Lee]

Leon is up bright and early and after a coffee makes the way to his station. He nods a greeting to Kar and looks over the familiar controls of the weapons. Soon again he muses there will be fireworks in the sky.

[Tiglath]

Good Morning Raven ... i have no doubt in my mind that you war band is suitable terrified of you but i think you will agree getting them pissing in the same direction quick smart is will be of benefit .... catch the little toe rags off guard ay ...

Raven laughs cheerfully "I'd be grateful if they could all shoot in the same direction! That will be my first goal - we'll try "advanced" tasks later". She leans over to check her reflection in Ridley's screen patting him absently on the shoulder as she does. Through the heady aromas of his "setting forth fart" Ridley realises Raven smells ... nice. She wears a simple leather vest - rather distractingly and, although she still looks like a "Chooser of the Slain", Ridley's pretty sure they carry at least some weapons. He's entirely convinced they don't absently "hum little tunes"...

Maybe they do? Now, that would be scary...

The ale was off - everyone's woken up as someone else!!!

[The Bindoner]

The Bridge of the Cunning Serpent is dimly lit, with a holograph of the night sky projected above the crew positions and a faint representation of the sun climbing to the horizon line, brightening as it goes.

This light-show, like a vision from the Gods, is eerie and makes the Bridge seem like a sacred space. None of the Oghma crew have seen such a thing on an Oghman ship.

 Ridley had almost forgotten that tingling feeling he got the night before the departure on a craft he had not piloted before .... a sparkle of mischief and excitement in his eye he had taken some rest and roused himself slightly before that of the captain .... made his way to the bride and made his check and preparations ... now waiting for the orders to make way he took to his chair and struck a pose of that of a man who had one to many beers the night before ..... lets face it ... it wasn't a difficult as that's what they all assumed ....

Ridley finds the control layout on the Cunning Serpent familiar, though more ornate than normal with real wood instead of synthetic composites. The stones set in the silverwork look more precious than semi-precious too.

The computer system, while running the familiar software suites, is perhaps a little faster than usual, and some odd icons appear in menus.

Kar takes his seat and over ships comms: All crew, to your ready stations. Prepare for orbit and jump
And Personal comms to Eno: How about some coffee and sangers to the bridge

Yes, Skeppare.

Eno arrives with a small trolley bearing a jug of coffee, bread rolls, smoked fish and some sliced meat from the sacrifice.

Manfred, leaning against the bulkhead by the entrance to the Bridge, leans in with a wink as she passes and snags a roll and some beef.


Regina arrives, her hair wet from the shower, and moves to the Sensor Operator position. As she passes Kar she bows her head and surreptitiously sticks her tongue out at him.

Preparatory snacking and snack squirreling done, Remington is midway through double checking the system's automatic status checks when the comms terminal chimes with Ridley's inquiries. Power skimming the remaining auto-checks and not seeing anything untoward, Remington keys the comm:
"Not to worry, I take the prospect of death by drive failure very seriously. The drives all read good to go. May as well fire her up, there's no time like the present to learn about any problems I haven't found yet."

Gris and Handson join Remington, and he is grateful for their assistance – the controls and readouts of the drives are in Oghman, and the consoles are as decorated as the rest of the ship, even with the fetishes removed. While the functions are familiar it still helps to have someone familiar with the Runes and symbols of the ornate drive chamber ( Fusion plant readout's that jagged S. Power's the slanted “n”. Output's measured by the progress of the lights on that jewelled snake thing. Reaction Drive's pretty cool, those twin dragons on that console? They light up and breathe fire when the burners ignite. )

Leon is up bright and early and after a coffee makes the way to his station. He nods a greeting to Kar and looks over the familiar controls of the weapons. Soon again he muses there will be fireworks in the sky.

The armament of the Cunning Serpent seems to be standard Threshing Oar class fit – twin Pulse Lasers in the dorsal turret, a Pulse Laser and a Sandcaster in each of the port and starboard turrets and two Autocannon for ground strafing and defence. As he reviews the systems he notices there are extra , unfamiliar icons in the menu. The Gunnery suite has some new features.

Ingrid arrives on the Bridge and approaches Leon, head bowed respectfully. The short-haired blonde in the baggy ship's jumpsuit speaks quietly: Sir, I am Slave Hand Ingrid, your assistant Gunner. May I take my place? The console in front of Leon opens a pop-up with Ingrid Frid's details, confirming her to be a skilled Gunnery slave. It is normal for Gunners to fight their weapons from the turrets themselves rather than the Bridge, and in combat Leon would go there too.

Ingrid is apparently paying Leon the respect of introducing herself and requesting permission in person.

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The holographic sun is approaching the projected horizon and the “sky” is lightening, as it is outside. The Cunning Serpent brings its Manoeuvre Drives online and the “ready” lights in the eyes of the gripping-beasts entwining the Pilot's Console show the various thrusters are waiting.

Ridley's “Bride” seems eager to leave on her Honeymoon

[The Bindoner]

I'm going to take coastguarder's 11 as his Pilot roll. The 3 I've used for.. something else. Whatever it was, Ridley didn't notice

Lift-off will be good. Ridley has no trouble taking a strange ship out of a strange bay at the same time as all the others.

What are the Skeppare's orders? Stay in formation with the fleet, drop behind, peel off and fly solo, race ahead?

Staying in formation will need a couple of easy skill rolls, peeling off just the one roll, dropping behind is safe.

Racing ahead is pretty aggressive, and draws everyone's attention. It is not unprecedented, but you'd have to come back with a rich haul to live up to it. One Pilot roll to get position, probably more if it becomes a race.

[Legion Lee]

Ingrid arrives on the Bridge and approaches Leon, head bowed respectfully. The short-haired blonde in the baggy ship's jumpsuit speaks quietly: Sir, I am Slave Hand Ingrid, your assistant Gunner. May I take my place? The console in front of Leon opens a pop-up with Ingrid Frid's details, confirming her to be a skilled Gunnery slave. It is normal for Gunners to fight their weapons from the turrets themselves rather than the Bridge, and in combat Leon would go there too.

Leon acknowledges Ingrid's arrival Yes of course, take your place Just as she is about to take her place Leon will ask about the unfamiliar icons Are you aware of what these do? Leon will word the question so that it sounds like a test rather than he doesn't have a clue just what they do!




OOC Going to be away for a few days, back Tuesday, going on a voyage to Isle of Wight

[The Bindoner]

Ingrid peers at the screen, looks surprised and names items: Fully Automated Targeting, Point-Defence, Gunner Augment... The ship's computer can fire all the weapons itself, attack or defend, or it can really focus on helping one Gunner hit. Neat. That's not Oghman tech, never seen an Oar able to handle more than two weapons on Auto. Then there's port and starboard missiles, with munition selection. That's not usual.

Ingrid realises she's been speaking freely and abruptly stops. I wasn't showing off, I just wanted to prove I knew how to fight the ship, Sir.

[Tiglath]

(OOC: Munition selection ... Buckets of instant sunshine??? )

[The Bindoner]

(OOC: Munition selection ... Buckets of instant sunshine??? )

Ridley's got that in his footlocker

Leon activates the missile-launcher icon and scans the selection options. There are three slots in each of two turrets. Port: Standard, Long Range, Decoy. Starboard: Standard, Multiple Warhead, Shockwave.

The launchers are obviously concealed ( the turrets appear to be normal dual-mount ), and there are no reloads in the hold or Arming Room. Those six are all there is.

It would theoretically be possible to dismantle the suitcase bomb and re-install the warhead on one of the missiles. If you felt like doing that.

[coastguarder]

Ridley had this strange sense that someone was thinking about his precious ....... ( he was a little bit touchy about the suitcase .... a kind of paranoid mildly pyscotic obsession he had already developed ) this made him instantly irritable ...... overhearing a conversation on the coms he between ingrid and the new guy .... he requests ingrid to the bridge. As she enters he gruffly addresses her.


what are all these confounded things on my computer!!! .... never seen them before .... suspicious and uncalled for !!!

[The Bindoner]

Leon and Ingrid are on the bridge, just behind Ridley's chair by a few meters.

what are all these confounded things on my computer!!! .... never seen them before .... suspicious and uncalled for !!!

Ingrid fearfully moves forward to the Pilot's position and looks at the screen there:

I'm not a Pilot, Sir, but I'll look.

Again her natural instinct to talk as she examines things, without thinking , asserts itself and she reaches out to bring up items as she describes them. Most of the items initialise in other languages briefly before resetting to Oghman :

There's an Evade program there, I recognise that. Theev Grade 2. Ship can dodge for itself, or help you to. That looks like a repair system, but Oars don't have 'bots. No idea what that is, some astrogation thing by the look of it. Is that an Intellect?

Realising she's spoken too freely again, and remembering the glassing of Remington, Ingrid falls silent, her eyes widen and she steps back from the console: I'm sorry Sir, I meant no disrespect, I had to see the things to understand them, forgive me.

Manfred steps between Ingrid and Ridley, looks at the display and comments: She's right. That's'n Evade from Theev. Needs more processin' than Oghma can build. That's some standard Imp civvy Astro software. No offense, but it's built on a bigger database than Oghma's got, so it's... more accurate when ya get past this cluster.

While Manfred is taking Ingrid slips silently away, leaving the Bridge to disappear up through the hatch leading to the turret ring.

EDIT: extra information, for free

[hardrocks]

Looking to Ridley and then Raven. Looks like the pilot is for going slow, yet I think fast would also be an option. Raven sorrow, as our Raid Leader I wold like you to do me the honour of choosing

[Tiglath]

Raven nods at Kar looks over to Ridley and then back again deadpan. It starts as something in her black eyes and then a twitch of a smile spreads and her lips draw back from her teeth into a feral grin.

"Speed Captain! This might be a good opportunity to test both your crew and your drives".

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1dr011-s-Ig

(OOC: Er läuft!!!)

[The Bindoner]

Pulling ahead will be a simple Pilot roll, simple Engineer( M-Drive) and ( Power Plant ) rolls ( to tweak extra performance ), a simple Sensor roll ( to maintain safe distance from other ships )and a simple Ship's Tactics roll ( to plan the route and predict blocking manoeuvres ). Then a Leadership roll to claim that position ( failure means a race ).

That should give a lot of people something to do

The real speed of a Threshing Oar is its Reaction Drive - solid fuel rocket motors. This is a finite resource, so it might not be wise to use it now unless you really, really have to.

[coastguarder]

Well then Captain ? what's it to be ? ...... im all for seeing what's she's got !!! you no me !!! ......... but it may be worth keeping our powder dry ay ......

Thinking to himself ..... I must be getting old .... i would have even asked a few years ago .....

[hardrocks]

well I'm with Raven on his one Ridley With a slightly feral grin.
Nothing wrong with gaining position, for now anyway
If it comes to a race, Kar figures we can always back down, before burning too much fuel

[2d6] = 9

+2 for Leadership

[The Bindoner]

As the first edge of the sun rises above the horizon the Temple broadcasts the blare of Gjallarhorn and Lur, trumpeting a salute.

All the ships of the Ásgeirr fleet lift off, the growing disc of the sun lighting them as they rise, their colours glowing in the horizontal rays.

One the Bridge of The Cunning Serpent the holographic projection switches to a 3D representation of Regina's sensor readings. The miniature ships rising in formation just ahead of the Captain's chair in the centre of the Bridge, allowing him to accurately plot the Serpents position in relation to them. There are 16 Threshing Oar class ships, a 200dTon Empress Marava J2 Far-Trader, a Port of Call 200dT J1 Free Trader, a 400dT J1 Type R Fat Trader and a 500dT Clydesdale class J2 Freighter, arranged in an oval, narrower in the front. The Oars are in the lead and the Serpent is Starboard of the leading vessel and slightly behind it, with another Oar close on her own starboard quarter.

Most of the ships have M1 gravitic drives, but the Marava and the Clydesdale are M2 vessels. The Marava ( Hervör Alvitr ) belongs to Vigdis ( though it is extremely unlikely she is on it ), but is nonetheless in the middle of the fleet. The big Clydesdale ( now called "Angrboða" ) is in the rear, with the Type R and Port of Call class ships. It is being used as a carrier and has 10 fighters aboard.

You can probably get the lead just by taking it, if no-one challenges you there should be no need to burn fuel.

Pilot roll from Ridley please.

Regina on Sensors: [2d6] = 6+4 =10 Success, effect 2
Gris on PP: [2d6] = 5+3 = 8
Handson on M-Drive: [2d6] = 6+2 = 8
Leon's Ship Tactics: [2d6] = 8 +3 = 11, effect 3

[Tiglath]

Raven says "I'll tell you if they get too close" and leaves the bridge.

[The Bindoner]

Regina overcomes the limits of the sensor suite to maintain an accurate plot of the ships in the fleet.

Leon, sitting behind Kar, reads the plot and advises Ridley. He has never seen a holographic depiction of the battlespace before, and is impressed with the way it makes the situation so simple to understand.

Down in the Engine Room Remington notes that Gris and Handson do enough work to get the performance required, but they don't really stretch themselves.

The Warband have very little to do at this point and are siting together watching video of the Setting Forth of the Fleet in the Mead Hall. This is the first time any of the youngsters have left the planet, they are excited and avidly watch multiple feeds, some from the Serpent's cameras, some from the planet's broadcasters.

EDITED

[coastguarder]

[2d6] = 4

[Tiglath]

Raven leaves the bridge and returns to the long house to fetch her sword. The rune on the hilt dedicating the weapon to Hel the goddess of death catches her eye. Raven continues on grabbing up her own shield from the racks - now was not a time for doubts. Pushing her way back through the warband grim faced and ignoring their questions she finds her vacc suit and pulls it on.

On the bridge the warning rune for the cycling of the main air lock (Manual Override) illuminates. Error checking confirms the outer valve is now open and a tall figure stands in the airlock the sword Hel across her back gives her identity but the blood red shield with the stylised black raven upon it confirms the owner. Now mostly used for ceremonial purposes the heraldry on the shield is still an invitation to death on the battlefield and also to catch the eye, if not of the gods, then of the “choosers of the slain” so they can carry the bearer to the All Father’s feast hall.

Raven turns and reaching up hauls herself on top of the Cunning Serpent’s hull. Once her mag boots hit the hull plates they gain purchase and she’s safe - but safe doesn’t interest the gods.

Standing atop the speeding ship Raven looks back to admire the raid leaving Oghma. Now is the time! She reduces the grip on her boots and feels the void spirits trying to snatch her away to a miserable death. She draws Hel and raises her in salute and hefts her blood red shield to be silhouetted against the rising dawn. Keying her comm to broadcast on all frequencies Raven laughs with the insane joy of dancing on the edge of life and screams her dedication to the raid. “Óðinn!” Twice more she screams, to make the three, dragging the last syllable as she would to begin a charge. Then she begins her run. She “runs the oars” sprinting around the top of the hull along the edge of the ship vaulting vents and antennae. At the last she seems to miss her footing but converts the motion into a shoulder roll to regain her feet and again hoist her blade and shield at the void.