Turn 8

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Title: Revenge of the Mercs!


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DMCI: Turn: +1 (Turn: 8)
DMCI: Fuel: -1 (Fuel: 16)
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Capt. Antony: More mercenary scum! Mac, what are we up against here?

Ens. McAliber: If my eyes don't deceive me, these mercs have a heavy laser and a basic laser that they could bring to bear against us. They aren't charging them yet, but I'm sure they'd be ready to go in an instant if we showed any hostile intent.

Capt. Antony: If we can knock out their weapons systems as soon as possible, they shouldn't cause us much trouble...

Lt. Vanguard: Their first volley might be able to get through our shields, though, unless you can dodge one of their shots, captain.

Capt. Antony: The last mercenary we ran into had an Artemis and was a bit of trouble. Lt. Vanguard almost lost both eyebrows.

Lt. Vanguard: Have the mercenaries hailed us, or are they just sitting out there? Because we don't even know what they want as it stands.

Capt. Antony: It's the usual channel chatter wanting to offer their services for exorbitant scrap. This one doesn't appear to be as cocky as the last one we ran into...

The mercenary captain hails.

Capt. Antony: Wait a sec, I'm getting a hail from the ship.

Capt. Antony opens the comm channel.

Merc. Captain Roberts:: Look, all I'm saying is, you've got some spare scrap and we've got the ship and the guns to lend you a hand.

Capt. Antony mutes the comm channel.

Merc. Captain Roberts:: For a nominal fee we can easily harrass those rebels on your tail, and we've got some fairly decent sector data we've pulled from a rebel drone not too long ago I'd be happy to send you...

Capt. Antony: Lt. Vanguard, they must have scanned our ship to know that we've got a fair share of scrap.

Merc. Captain Roberts:: Damn, they've muted us. I suspect that either means they're going to head out soon, or we'll be under fire shortly. Battle stations, people. Safety first.

Lt. Vanguard: So they know we might be worth fighting then, if they think they can take us...

Ens. McAliber: Cap'n. They've got a drone system and we have no clue what they've got up their sleeve.

Capt. Antony: If it's a defense drone then our Artemis will be useless. I simply hate mercenaries...They are as bad as Rebels! We'd be doing the sector a favor by ridding it of one more.

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Ens. McAliber: Profiteers, that's all they are. Trying to make as much as they can from this chaos. We fighting them, captain?

Capt. Antony: Yes, so charge up those weapons!

Merc. Captain Roberts:: They're powering up weapons, gents, so it looks like my intuition was right! Looks like we're going to have to fight for our dinner tonight!

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Capt. Antony: You were right! A basic laser and a heavy laser! I'm not picking up any external drones.

Merc. Captain Roberts:: Make sure the drones are ready in case they try anything. Their defenses look flimsy enough that we should be able to get through no problem...

Lt. Vanguard: Looks like we got unlucky then, captain! Those lasers are more than enough to give us a hard time. Hopefully we'll be able to take out their weapons before they can do too much damage...

Ens. McAliber: Targetting their weapons systems, Cap'n.

Lt. Vanguard: Shields are primed and ready, but this one is probably going to hurt!

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Merc. Captain Roberts:: We should be able to get the first hit easily, gents! Let's make them feel it!

Capt. Antony: Their heavy laser hit our shields, but their basic laser took out our sensors!

Lt. Vanguard: At least we were able to block the heavy! Do you us to deal with the sensors now, or can we leave it until later?

Ens. McAliber: Captain, their weapons systems has been taken down.

Capt. Antony: Lt. Vanguard, Go ahead and begin repairs on the sensors since they won't be firing anytime soon.

Merc. Captain Roberts:: So much for good luck going into this thing... Danny, get those lasers operational ASAP if you want us to see tomorrow!

Lt. Vanguard: Sure thing, Captain…I'll see what I can do. We'll have the internal sensors working again in no time.

Capt. Antony: Mac, conserve missiles and keep hammering their weapons systems!

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Ens. McAliber: They've got their basic laser back online and charging. No worries, Cap'n, we're about to blast it to bits and anything in that room!

Merc. Captain Roberts:: Danny, we need those weapons back online now! I've sent the repair drone down as well to speed this up, but if you can't make sure we get some more hits in against these federation fools, we're going to be in a lot of trouble.

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Lt. Vanguard: I've just about managed to get the sensor panel working again. Luckily the impact only threw the calibration off a little bit.

Capt. Antony: We hit them hard, but they've got their weapons up again...temporarily. OK, Lt. Vanguard. Return to shields just in case we miss our next volley.

Merc. Captain Roberts:: About time. How I put up with you lazy oafs I don't know. If you can hit them again before they can hit us, I'll make sure you get more than your fair share of the loot!

Lt. Vanguard: Already on my way, captain! We'll be as ready as we can be, if they manage to get another volley off!

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Capt. Antony: Cowards! They're attempting to escape! Mac, take out their helm. Use a missile if you have to.

Merc. Captain Roberts:: Alright, that's enough of this garbage! Time for a tactical retreat if we plan on living to fight another day. Full power to the engines, and let's get out of here!

Ens. McAliber: Helm is locked in, Captain. Firing when ready.

Lt. Vanguard: Thankfully, we managed to do enough damage to their weapons that I should be able to handle anything they throw at us for now..

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Capt. Antony: Great shooting, Mac! They're not going anywhere!

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Merc. Captain Roberts:: Look, Danny, I don't care if you've got a fire down in weapons! We just took a heavy hit up here on the bridge and I need that repair drone here NOW. If we don' get out of here, we're going down!

The Mercenary ship finally breaks apart as the final salvo of lasers hit

Capt. Antony: Chalk down another mercenary scum taken out the galaxy!

Lt. Vanguard: Nice shooting, Mac!

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The Kestrel swoops in to collect its spoils. 2-Fuel, 2 Missiles & 17 Scrap!

Lt. Vanguard: Looks like these mercenaries had been able to sucker some other fools into accepting their deals before we arrived...You know, Captain, I think I could probably use some of this scrap to give our shields a bit of an overhaul. Might be able to squeeze a second layer of protection out of the system if I can bolster the system enough. What do you think?

Capt. Antony pulls up the beacon map.

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Capt. Antony: Well, I don't see any trading posts nearby so we'd better go ahead an upgrade those shields! Lt. Vanguard, How long will it take you to make the necessary upgrades using the materials on hand?

Lt. Vanguard takes some of their scrap into the shield room and after some time manages to double their shield efficiency.

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Capt. Antony checks the reactor situation.

Lt. Vanguard: Whew. I needed to put 50 scrap into the shields before I could see any real change, but that should make us much more resilient! Only problem now will be powering it...

Capt. Antony: Well, we've got the second layer if we need it. We can always divert power.

Capt. Antony checks the sensor array.

Capt. Antony: I'm picking up a distress signal!

Lt. Vanguard: Anything that gets us further away from the rebel fleet sounds good to me!

Capt. Antony punches in the coordinates and activates the FTL drive!

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DMCI: Hull Strength: -1 (Hull Strength: 21)
DMCI: Missiles: -2 (Missiles: 10)
DMCI: Scrap: +17 (Scrap: 66)
DMCI: Missiles: +2 (Missiles: 12)
DMCI: Fuel: +2 (Fuel: 21)
DMCI: Crew#2|Shields: +2 (Crew#2|Shields: 5)
DMCI: Crew#2|Repair: +1 (Crew#2|Repair: 2)
DMCI: Crew#3|Weapons: +6 (Crew#3|Weapons: 13)
DMCI: Scrap: -50 (Scrap: 16)
DMCI: Shields Lvl.: +2 (Shields Lvl.: 4)
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