The Merchant reserve assembled at their instructed rally pint. the formation forming up into a ragged mishmash of civilian ships poorly suited for combat led by the rose and a handful of heavily armed ships. As it arrived on station local fighters moved to reinforce and screen the ships against the incoming Kraken swarmers.

 Now less than an hour away moving through real space in two large groups trying to flank the reserve and break through to the planet to strike at the civilian population. the Kraken juveniles behind  their smaller  kin in and swirling mass of rapidly maneuvering shapes.

Flying in ahead of them a pod of fifty or more M'n'kuhl streaked inward their hunting calls and war cries sounding across the  channels as the lead pod swooped and swirled around the Rose riding her gravitic wake using her bulk as a shield against attack while they organized for a fight.

All vessels report weapons hot, and request firing instructions." Serana reported her holographic image appearing on the bridge next to T'risas command sphere." I have routed all maneuver and engagement instructions  through Poppy and Mister Soliel to speed up data transfer. Teacher reports she is ready to initiate  network extension at your request. Ground and orbital guns will fire in support until the enemy is danger close."

As the Avatar of the ships AI spoke outside the fighters formed up into their combat pairs, the militia fighters  already several thousand kilometers ahead of the main body in a defensive screen. the civilian fighters holding closer to the main body to provide point defense for the civilian vessels


Party Fighter pilots are deployed around the Audacious rose unless ordered to assist other vessels.

Balkiir and his marines are in the landing bay to respond to any attempted boarding though the large hatches at those points

Elspeth is on the bridge while another squad is securing the ships engineering spaces.

Option A
Remain as a single force and engage one of the two groups first then pursue the second enemy group once the first is destroyed

Option B
Split the force, with The Rose engaging one fore while the second Corvette engages the flanking group.

Option C: fire nuclear missiles at one group and engage the second one with all forces. Likelihood is that the majority of one swarm will be killed by the nukes but EMP will cause severe disruption to the planets orbiting satellites and any civilian vessel that is close to the point of detonation.

by the numbers the Rose can take two Kraken corvettes on her own, leaving the civilian ships to deal with he smaller swarmers.

the fighters are lightly armed but have much better armor and agility than the Kraken, so they can handle two to one odds with a good chance of success.

If the swarm gets past the reserve it can cause significant loss of life in a local area before the militia can respond. but the swarm will be destroyed without support from the larger Kraken now engaging the Military forces in Hyperspace.

Available officer actions
Issue maneuver order( increases initiative of ships allowing for more actions )
Issue firing orders( grants bonus to all ships offensive gunners)
Close Escort( fighters can not attack but can engage swarmers attacking the vessel they are defending. including swarmers that have landed on the protected vessel)

Gunner actions:
Attack target: make a gunnery check, using skill+stat+2d6 modified by range ( 8+succeeds damage by weapon type)ships grants +2 to any attack

Point defense( destroy swarmers, or missiles ( more like guided plasma spheres than a conventional missile)


Engineering:
Increase engine power
increase weapons power
Damage control( restores damaged or destroyed system)

Marines
Repel boarders
or
Use UVA pods to engage swarmers on ships hull.or assist other vessels being boarded by swarmers. this will remove the from the ship for an extended period so they can't defend against anything inside the ship until recalled.


Comms and Sensors:
Jam Hostile Comms: reduces enemy initiative
Jam hostile sensors: reduces enemy accuracy
Assist gunners: Increases chance to hit for nearby friendly gunners
Lock on: increases chance to hit for the Gunners of the Rose


M'n'kuhl are small enough to enter a ships interior and fight as marines if they are asked to. Several M
M'n'kuhl have combat frames that give them about as much firepower and protection as a marine in battle dress....two(including the PC M'n'kuhl) of them are about as well armored and protected as an EVA pod.

T'risa's eyes crossed the bridge, her look letting everyone know she had complete faith in them and their abilities.

"And so it begins. Keep the vessels in close formation. We'll need to split the fleet into two eventually, but we'll stay where we are at the moment, to let the ground based defences take a good chunk out of our opponent. I'm feeling like most of the traders and starships will only really be effective in finishing off the kraken we wound." her face frowned for a moment "There are some M'n'kuhl due to arrive soon too. Ideally, we want to keep the Krakens pressed close to their entry point...or do we...in military vessels, I'd trust to discipline to stop friendly fire, but here...it isn't boding well."

She turned to the plot where events were unfolding "Divide and conquer is a rule I almost always follow. Let's see what we can do to split the kraken into two groups. We can use the fighters and private starships as a knife, to harass the kraken into making unwise choices. Keep the merchantmen close as an ad hoc point defence system and pressure using the Rose, the merchant cruiser. When we close to firing range, have the merchantment flush their missiles and then hang back. They're too slow to maneuver effectively."

Her forehead wrinkled in thought "Rose, can you run AI projections with that? Assume that an M'n'Kuhl flotilla might keep the second group a little busy. If anyone else has suggestions, I would like to hear them."

" It should be an interesting test flight." Serana replied as she began projecting data into the hologra[hic sphere now forming around T'risa."Combat projections are favorable. reduced losses among the merchant vessels, and slower vessels."

However significant losses will be suffered by the M'n'Kuhl, they lack the offensive firepower to deal with transports and fighters. Their dermal armoring will not protect against starship grade weapons. without the cover of friendly vessels to maneuver behind the M'n'kuhl will suffer seventy-five percent casualties"

My recommendation is to use the M'n'Kuhl in a defensive role protecting friendly vessels from being swarmed, and boarded. In that role, they will be far superior to Shipboard Marines."

T'risa winced "Ok, let's do what we can to help out the M'n'Kuhl. Let's assume we can use them in a defensive role and bypass their use in offense. How do projections work out then?"

In reply to T'risa K'mahda (msg # 4):

Kendrick maintains a close cover formation with the Audacious Rose waiting on his orders.

Mister Soleil looks about the bridge with disgust his face contorted as though he were tip-toeing in his high heels through a vat if sewage.
Combat he sniffs to no one - and my master wishes that I assist, well of course they want my assistance. Ewe, if I must.

He seals his suit unnecessarily against the environment and his helmet against all psi fields. Then he proceeds on using bleach handiwipes to wipe down a console and thoroughly cleanse a comm port before he deigns to touch it with his suited gloved hand.

It will take several moments before he is ready to ... ugh .... interface but I'm sure it will be worth it.
This message was lightly edited by the player at 14:18, Sat 24 Dec 2016.

Alex joyfully pilots his little fighter, he has none of the brilliant technique or grace of the master pilot,  Kendrick, Alex is still a little rusty and his skill is limited. He links in all systems and checks again for a psionic interface to the guns before takeoff.


As Kendrick makes formation, Alex falls in behind him in a formation. He concentrates a moment in focus to be ready for what comes.
09:02, Today: Alex rolled 11 using 2d6+4.  Awareness .

Kendrick, Alex -  I am thinking you must have a permanent call-sign by seeing your piloting, my friend. Are you keeping your identity a secret? Like the Zorro?

As she pilots toward the human fleet IUOU continues screaching and calling to the other M'n'Kuhl in celebration.
Humans happy - big war!

She Transmits an automated computer data message to the human fleet.

"TAE 3d CAVALRY CLOSE ARMORED SUPPORT POD GUNNERY SERGEANT IooOoo'NackhAa REPORTS AS ORDERED,
INSERTED PRASE:
M'n'Kuhl friend Joker. Kill false Kraken.
PHRASE COMPLETE

PLEASE ADVISE. "

In reply to T'risa K'mahda (msg # 4):

"significant reduction in losses to both civilian ships and M'n'Kuhl pods."  Serana replied with a slightly less dire tone."As it stands we are in a position to survive this encounter in three of five simulations..roughly."

."325,567 out of 500,000." I only ran 100,00 but the odds were about the same. Poppy announced the correct number of successful simulations....but Hey, we survived worse. We lost every simulation when we went for the dreadnought...Ummm sorry if I may have forgotten to mention that back then.It sort of isn't my style to go with calculated survival predictions...They have all been wrong until now..mostly I mean if you don't count total body replacement as mission failure.

Reporting M'n'Kuhl Pod now in close support positions, The cavalry has arrived.....literally. Pod designated Iuou one. Leader Sgt IooOoo'NackhAa...fighter detachment in position Alex and Kendrick are in lead flight Designated Angel Flight.  Mister Soleil designated as internal communications director. He'll be handling Elspeth and Balkii's deployments. Elspeth Designated as Marine one, Balkii designated as Marine two.

Serana interrupted Poppy with a report.
Main Group indicates they have engaged the enemy. First contact at 2323 Hours standard, Heavy fire exchanged. Anticipated direct contact with secondary group at 0120 hours standard. maximum firing range for long range missiles will occur at 2359 ours. fighters will engage initial swarmer screen at 0040 hours. Current time is 2350 hours"

OOC:

Current distance to targets

Heavies DISTANT 50,000Km and beyond. Missile flight times to Kraken heavies 12 rounds ( 70 minutes>.
Swarmers: Extreme less than 50,000km
Possible option
A) fire long-range missiles at Kraken heavies.
B) Fire missiles at swarmer screen

Orders available
Assume close escort positions allowing ships to fire ins support of one another
Fighter screen into close escort allowing fighters to fire in support of heavy ships
Maneuver for maximum effectiveness allows ships to assist gunners but loses defensive fire between ships.
Maximum burn to reduce Rangereduce range and allow long range energy weapons to fire on swarmers as next action

Notes: at the current range the Audacious rose can fire missiles 12 times before direct engagement with the Kraken heavies. this would require one gunner to be designated for long-range fire only, with other gunners firing their turret and bay weapons.

currently, Swarmers will require a roll of 12 on (2d6+ gunnery skills)to hit...adjusting for range at this range only missiles can be fired. the attack roll is to achieve a lock on for better results when the missiles make their attack rolls later.

Bonuses +2 for ships fire control, +2 for Serana being active

T'risa closed her eyes, letting her precognition take control, as she issued the orders to help everyone in the coming fight. She was a battle witch and this was her domain. Let the Kraken learn how poor their choices were to come into this place. "All units, focus long range missile fire on the heavies. The swarmers we'll cope with as they approach. Be prepared for combat."