Bearings Debrief
Bearings Debrief
Arc: None
Summary: The results of the recent recon mission are discussed.
Date: 2659.266
Related Logs: Getting New Bearings
Participants: Ona Phillip Cyric Kanani

Sue is sitting at a bench in the canteen with a few acetate sheets. It looks as if she's trying to angry stare some numbers into submission.

Ona enters the canteen. It's pretty quiet at the moment.

Iceblade cometh into the canteen, datapad in hand, brainstorming a way out of this system.

The PA system of the ship turns on. "Attention, this is Williams, we will be powering down in 20 minutes to recalibrate the sensors. You may experience gravity fluctuations."

Sue grumbles and puts a magnet on the table, locking her sheets in place. She resumes trying to intimidate the math.

Iceblade looks up (and around to find the speaker) and sighs.

Kanani wanders her way to the canteen a bit after some of the others do, finding a spot to sit, and glancing around the room.

Iceblade finds a seat and plans to use the immobile tables as an anchor.

Ona comes over to Iceblade.

The Talon weaves into the canteen, obviously suffering from a strange sense of vertigo and dislocation as if he wasn't fully connected to this body but could control it to walk into that canteen through a sheer grit and force of will. He goes immediately to the bartender and grabs some sweetened ice tea that tasted a bit like coffee beans and oregano. He looks like he napped…poorly.

"Been thinking about how we get out of this system", Ona says.

"Tell me about it. We are really in a pickle… two sabres, one destroyer, and one corvette versus that mess at the jumppoint." Phillip comments to Ona.

"What is the current mess at the jump point?" Ona says.

Sue raises her voice "Two corvettes, the Cooke and the BP." She picks up her acetates and comes over to the other table.

Phillip responds back, "Okay 1 and half corvettes."

"They got us doing tripple duty here, it would be nice to have an actual intell section like in the flagship." Sue mutters.

Cyric takes his drink and sits down with the group nursing his caffeine fix as quietly as he can at the group's table which is pretty quiet since everyone is already engaged in conversation about how we are going to extricate ourselves from this mess.

Ona asks. "What is the current estimate of the opposition forces at the jump point?"

"Last I heard was 4 to 6 capitals." Phillip responds.

"Well we have spotted 2 corvettes, 2 destroyers and a mess of fighters… funny thing, the fighters are mostly retros." Sue adds. "Did you hear about what was on the transport you recovered?"

"That's odd, those Ralathas are almost light carriers in their own right - sans bombers of course." Phillip retorts.

"Then we need to eliminate the two destroyers," Ona says.

"Well, they do have Krant divebombers, Grathas and Gothris. Not a scare for a carrier, but it will ruin our day." Sue says.

"We need a distraction to lure away at least some of the capital ships and I think that transport is the key to that." Cyric says.

Ona says, "To be honest, most capital ships are carriers. It's just their complement differs."

"By the way, are both of them Ralathas or is one of them a Ralari?" Phillip asks.

"Well this is just proof of how badly the cat's fighter situation is right now, if they're using the Retro's to escort themselves." Kanani remarks thoughtfully.

"This is where an idea Clearoff and I have might work." Ona says to Cyric.

Sue says, "We spotted two ralathas, the `Mikori` and the `Jarkarta`"

"What is it?" Cyric asks Ona.

Ona suggests, "We use the transport as an Exploding Trojan Horse."

Sue turns to Kanani. "I think the cats are in a worse position than that… That hauler you picked up… it had spare parts, but also, several barrels of Xark and many Ortogs."

Phillip says, "Jackie, just how hard are those Ralatha's to crack? I know they aren't pushovers, but you would be more familiar with their specs."

"We can also use it as comm bait for a multi-prong attack. Have the trasport issue a false comm telling them our position and we lure them into a trap when they come to investigate it." Cyric adds and turns to Sue. "What's is Xark and Ortogs?"

Ona says, "Pretty hard. Hence you need multiple torpedoes."

Sue says, "I could tell you, I've never seen a simulator result of two sabres blitzing two ralathas and surviving, sir."

Ona adds, "That's why I wasn't suggesting using two Sabres."

"Xark is that blood based drink the kilrathi soak rags in and drink before battle, sir," Sue says, "Ortogs… I may have pronounced it wrong, are this species of like six legged goat things. Kilrathi livestock. Basically sir, we have their food and drinks."

"So we've really got their goat?" Ona looks sheepish.

"So now they won't even be able to properly prepare themselves for combat?" Kanani muses, "And they'll be running low on rations. Which could make them even more desperate."

"Sorry, my gunner is infecting me." Ona apologizes.

Iceblade rolls his eyes.

Sue sighs. "Yes"

"The plan we can up with involves sticking a lot of torpedoes inside the hull of the Dorkir." Ona says, “Having it run towards the jump gate, try to dock with a destroyer and then boom-shaka-laka-boom."

Sue thinks for a moment. "If we have a transport coming in unscheduled… we would not accept it for docking, would the kilrathi?"

"Pity we don't have that cat in the black squadron here. He could easily convince them to let the ship dock." Phillip muses.

"Do we really have nothing but torpedoes to use as explosives?" Cyric cringes at how wasteful that seems especially after the last battle. "We really need nuclear ordinance or a sufficient number of activated mines for a job this big."

"There is a minefield of course…" Ona points out.

"We could obtain some strontium 90 from the dorkir's reactor… but what then?" Sue asks.

"But we don't exactly have the ability to scoop up Kilrathi mines and repurpose them." Ona suggests.

Phillip shudders at the thought of retrieving activated mines.

"We could make a Strontium Dog." Ona says.

Sue says, "Yeah the minefield. Funny how the retros knew the second one detonated." (Second as in instant, not as in the first-second…)

"Pack that round the explosives, make a dirty bomb. Make the cats bald." Ona says.

"… or so I've heard sir… your report seemed rather sparse at that area, and when I checkd your black boxes, the whole time between the Lancelot and nav1 was wiped." Sue looks at Talon, who seems to be the closest one to breaking.

"They've probably got sensors all around the minefield to tell them whenever something's getting close or setting off a mine…" Kanani remarks with a slight shrug, as she considers that.

They all feel slightly lighter, as if you just finished a good workout.

"Since the Cats and the Retros are working together in this system, perhaps we could turn them on each other using the transport issuing a Mayday call and have it say its under attack by Retros and that 'We have been betrayed! They are attacking us! They have no honor!" and so forth in Kilrathi and then explode the mines to bring the retros running or maybe we could have them chase us into the minefield to the Dorkir and then explode the mines thus give some tiny credibility to our tale when the Cats come to investigate." Cyric says still a big groggy but alert. "At that point, the Cats might do our job for us and clear enough of their ships outside the range of the jump gate that we can just get away."

"We can't exactly tractor the mines though. They're sensitive to that and will go off… Hang on a second. I've got another idea." Ona says. "Actually it's combined with Cyric's one."

The pilots now feel as if you are pulling a sharp turn to the left.

Ona says, "The mines are assumedly set to not blow up when a Kilrathi ship passes them."

Phillip takes a second to realize why the staff is a little less steady. 'Oh yeah, gravity changes… barely even noticed, the changes are so small.' Phillip thinks.

"Is there some issue with the inertial dampeners?" Cyric asks Sue.

Meanwhile in the back, the chef is bracing against a column.

"You didn't hear the PA? we're recalibrating our sensors… Gotta disable artificial grav in some section to eliminate interference." Sue asks.

Kanani idly grabs her glass of fruit juice and takes a drink, not phased at all by the gravity changes, before commenting to Cyric's question, "They did announce it twenty minutes ago."

"Ah, sorry must have dozed off." Cyric comments a bit sheepishly.

Ona says, "Indeed. Let's get back on topic."

"Cyric was still waking up from his CATnap." Phillip says pun-intended.

Cyric's face sours a bit at the pun but hides it behind his drink.

"Does the Dorkir have a tractor beam?" Ona asks.

"We can always fit one on if it doesn't but wouldn't be much of a transport without a way to dock with another ship." Sue responds.

"Most likely," Phillip says. "Kind of hard to do transport operation without at least something like it."

Ona says, "Then couldn't we use it to scoop up the mines and send them towards the capital ships?"

"They probably have a radio-off-switch to deactivate or pre-maturely explode them." Phillip comments.

"I'm going to go back to the flight deck to oversee some repairs. Just a mail away if you need something." Sue says "I'm leaving the notes here. I have a copy."

"Then we could use that as part of the attack. Grab a load of mines and send it at full speed into a destroyer. When it impacts, boom." Sue gets up and walks towards the exit, slightly overcompensating for the gravity shifts.

Ona says, "If you pack enough mines on it, it won't have to get right up next to it."

"Wouldn't they notice that something is wrong when they find a Dorkir fitted with explosives and trailing mines behind it like a string of pearls? Dorkirs are not that fast." Cyric adds. "We are not taking evasive action are we? Is the Klaxon still working?"

"Not if we put the mines and explosives inside the hull." Ona says. "Also, it will be running at full speed."

Phillip goes to write a message on his quine.

Ona adds, "If anything, it might make them waste valuable ammo on destroying it."

"I do not think Dorkirs are fast enough to pull that off, Jacqueline. Especially this one if its lost half of its engines already." Cyric says bemused.

"Even if they're not that fast, we can still make them waste missiles." Ona says.

Phillip sends off his message but bets it might get a bit of a delay; waiting on the ship's comm officer to send it to those black ops transport that is tagging along.

"Hey, it was either wreck their engines or let them get their food and drinks back to their cap ships." Kanani remarks with a snicker.

Phillip starts looking over the notes.

The pilots see this sheet in Sue's notes.

"What's in that unknown bit?" Ona asks.

"What if we make the cats think we were in the nebula while approaching from the Pulsar. We could be fighting one destroyer instead of two." Phillip says.

Ona says, "That's a good idea. We can combine that with Exploding Trojan Dorkir."

"An excellent idea! Let's speak with the XO about it." Cyric adds, ready to get started on leaving this system and getting back to the Majestic.

"Might not be a bad idea, just have to figure out how to convince them we're there instead of at the Pulsar." Kanani muses thoughtfully.

Ona says, "Use the Dorkir to relay a message in Kilrathi… then chase it out with some of our fighters."

"We'd have to recover the comm system, if it's still out in space before we could get the Dorkir to send any messages." Kanani remarks after a moment.

Ona says, "We can rig up a new comms system. If we broadcast in the clear, then the Kilrathi will send at least some of their fighters out to investigate."

They feel a force pulling you slightly back.

Ona says, "Remote control it towards one of the destroyers, with our fighters covering the approach."

The PA system starts again "We have finished recallibrating our sensors. Gravity will resume functioning normally."

Ona says, "Detonate once close enough."

"We need to speak to the XO about this idea and see if we can get it put into action. Are we ready to bring this to the XO?" Cyric asks.

"I am." Ona says.

Ice's quine chimes and he reads the message. "Oh hey, we got mines."

"Really?" Ona as the senior officer decides to call up the XO.

"Yeah, those black ops guys have a half-a-dozen anti-capship mines; Kilrathi made but they reprogrammed them a bit." Phillip clarifies

Williams replies to meet him in the exec room.

Phillip heads off to the executive office.

Ona follows.

Cyric follows.

The pilots enter and see a room facing the rear of the ship, it has a large window and the ion trails of the engine are quite visible. There is a large rounded triangular table , Williams is sitting at one end. The arrangement makes it easy for everyone to face everyone.

As they walk, Ona thinks of another idea.

Kanani shrugs and moves along with the rest to the Exec office.

"Welcome, officers, you wanted to discuss an idea to get us out of here? that's good, I have some too. Let's share notes" Williams grins.

Ona says, "We've got several ideas. Mostly involving the captured Dorkir."

“Ok you first then." Williams invites.

"We use the Dorkir to scoop up some Kilrathi mines from the minefield and put them in the hull." Ona begins.

Williams eyes widen…

"Oh, use some of the mines we have in those transports." Phillip provides an easier alternative.

"Then we combine them with the re-engineered black ops anti-capship mines." Ona says. "We'll need as many as we can fit."

Williams rubs a temple… He inhales….

"Then we - and this is not all my idea - we fit a comms system to the Dorkir and send a message in Kilrathi giving a false location as to where we are." Ona continues, "While we move to behind the pulsar."

Williams pauses to listen some more.

"Thus, luring them into a trap and dividing their forces so fewer capital ships are at the jump gate blocking our way out of this system." Cyric adds.

Williams nods.

"No ambush on that end, no." Ona continues. “We don't have the capacity to do two successful attacks with our available complement. But we will split their forces. Then we send the Dorkir towards the jump point with some of our fighters in 'pursuit'. Set it on a collision course with the biggest cap ship covering the gate. Once it gets close enough, blow it up. That will at best destroy a capital ship or at least make them waste a load of ammo. Then the rest of us come in, attack the rest of the gate force and then get out of Dodge Viper."

Williams squints trying to understand that last analogy.

"We can get out of this system, sir." Cyric adds helpfully.

Williams then says, "Anything you want to add?"

"Some torpedoes." Ona says.

"I will repeat your plan to make sure I got it right." Williams is about to start.

Ona then adds, "We strap them to the side of the Dorkir, sir. Get them to fire once they're in range."

Williams sits back and listens again. "Ok, is that it? let's go over what you suggested then." He puts down his notes:

1 - you split the team, a light contingent chases the remote controlled dorkir. This dorkir is full of mines and has a torpedo launcher jurry rigged to it as well as the target analysis system allowing it to lock onto the phase shielding patterns.

2 - another group circles around a star.

3 - The kilrathi fly to the wong side of the star because we picked up or fixed the com system on the dorkir, and send a message on clear space. No authentication, no ciphers.

4 - they sit around while the dorkir flies oh so slowly to the jump point.

5 - The dorkir unloads all its weapons on the ralatha, requiring a 20 second lock time.

6 - they destroy it with torpedos rather than antimatter guns, or they get destroyed because this ship is full of already primed mines.

7 - we rush the remaining ship with fighters and make mince meat out of it.

8 - we jump out

Ona adds, "We probably need to fix the engines on the Dorkir so it goes a bit faster, but yes."

Williams then says, "A lot of that plan hinges on many factors that are very… volatile. Filling a damaged transport with primed mines… makes a dead transport. Also, you know how anti-cap mines work? they latch onto the hull before detonating, or else the shielding will deflect its load."

"We turn off the shielding, sir." Ona says.

Williams jaw drops.

"Also, we could rig the Dorkir so the hull falls apart on command, releasing the mines." Ona says.

"That would take a lot of shape charges." Phillip comments.

"Plus some blowtorch action." Ona adds.

Williams responds, "Ok, reconfiguring a drayman as a minelayer with a shipyard takes time, a dorkir? that'll be an enourmous undertaking. Also, we need to drop the enemy's shields not ours."

Cyric adds, "We could void its cargo-bays by opening its cargo space doors and letting the mines fly. Dorkir's have the ability to release their cargo containers or vent their contents into space don't they, sir?"

"It won't be a minelayer, sir." Ona corrects. “It will be a great big mine."

"Yes, they can, but that would be for the low yield mines." Williams responds. "Now how can we get the enemy's shields down… I remember reading in a flight log that you had some shield anomalies a couple of days ago… "

"We just need to get it close enough, then use a directional charge and a weakened front hull to send all the mines in one direction." Ona says.

"Actually, I'm a little confused, are there two transports or just one?" Phillip asks

"Just one." Ona answers. "It's an exploding shotgun shell in space."

"Phase shielding would be the issue there." Williams responds. "I like the idea of splitting them up, this has been done before, they will probably do so."

Phillip says, "What about in the nebula? If one of the Ralathas blows up in the nebula that might draw off even more ships."

"Using the exploding Dorkir? Sounds like a good idea." Ona says.

Williams says, "Here's what I'm thinking… you really really want to see a dorkir explode. So, you're trying to put it in."

"We can't take it with us, sir." Ona says.

"No we cannot, but we should look at how to use it properly, this isn't one of those puzzles where you poke a tool at every point until it works," Williams responds.

"Here's a question. How hungry and thirsty are the cat's likely to be right now?" Kanani remarks, before adding, "If we have the Dorkir set up in the nebula, for the cats to find, they might be eager to get their lost food and try and recover it."

"Then we blow it up." Ona responds. "I must admit I like seeing things blow up, sir."

Williams says, "Hmmm, that is interesting… I was entertaining a dark thought along those lines. They are allied to the retros at the moment. The retros are known to be vegan. So the only meat around the kilrathi are retros."

Williams adds, "We might be able to cause fear in the retros to break off the aliance and in the confusion punch through the blockade…. if it weren't for our escorted draymen."

Kanani says, "And religious fanatics like retro's probably starve themselves a lot so they're not tasty eating."

"Can't the cats get supplies through the jump point?" Ona asks.

"Standard operating procedure, who's on the other side?" Williams raises his eyebrows.

"Well, the Mage is on the other side of the Jump point." Kanani points out. "Otherwise, the cat's would have gone through wouldn't they?"

"Good point." Ona adds.

"Bingo!" Williams claps his hand and points at Kanani.

Phillip asks, "Could we convince the Kilrathi prisoners to send a communication for us to lay a trap?…. I'm sure we have a handful of Kilrathi speakers."

"We could." Williams says.

Cyric adds, "We have a few extra Cat prisoners we took off the transport. Could we use them to make it convincing, sir?"

"Just so long as it's not Karen who tries it." Kanani remarks with a smirk, "Everytime she tries to speak Kilrathi the cats bust out laughing."

Phillip says, "And if the message is pre-recorded, we could check it to make sure there is no subterfuge."

"Indeed." Ona agrees.

"Do we know enough kilrathi to be sure?" Williams ask.

"What about your comm officer, sir?" Phillip asks Williams.

"Another thought, sir", Ona adds, "We use the Dorkir as a static missile platform."

Williams responds, "Our comm officer is world class. But what I'm worried about is the subtleties in the kilrathi language. If they say something off, it may be a tell. One passive tense or something of the like"

"That is less dangerous. Go on." Williams adds.

Ona says, "If we're luring the Kilrathi into a trap, then it doesn't need to move particularly quickly."

Talon says, "If we do our job right, then they will come to us and given the battle damage to add some authenticity to the deal, they would have to investigate it by coming very close indeed. Especially if they want their grog and prey animals back in one piece, sir."

Williams says, "If we're going to do this, we should mine the area around the dorkir… And activate the field when the missiles go on."

"Indeed." Ona says. "We can mine the Dorkir itself as well."

Phillip says, "Actually, I've been chatting with Tak’Zaga, and it is interesting how badly low-born kilrathi are treated. They are generally treated or encouraged to be cowardly and weak, and they fly logistics."

Ona says, "Let the Kilrathi board it and blow them up once they're inside."

Williams adds, "That would explain why the captain surrendered so quickly. this is the first time in my life I've seen a kilrathi not take his own life but just sit in prison. Also… can you get that stiletto pilot to stop bringing them yarn balls in the brig?"

Phillip says, "Subterfuge is unlikely to be something that would occur between a Kilrathi transport captain and regular units."

"Then let's see if we can use him to make a recording and get some sweet revenge against his high-borne cousins and blow this pop-sickle stand of a system, sir!" Cyric is visibly excited but controls it to keep his cool.

"We will activate the torpedoes just before it blows up." Ona says. "Then send a comic message after the fact."

The planning continues for what feels like a couple hours. At the end the team have a plan they are satisfied with.

EventBot : Achievement unlocked!
Split The Party (Iceblade)
Suggesting splitting the enemy blockade

EventBot : Achievement unlocked!
One giant turret for mankind (Ona)
Setting up the dorkir as a missileboat