+++Randver Helm to squadron, we're coming up on the listening Post at Ultima Black Six. Comms says it's silent, but I can see docking lights are still in operation. There's one of our system ships, a transport, Elephant-Class, that's docked and the other rings appear to be vacant, but intact. Surface seems alright too, but I'm not picking up any movement down there.+++

Visuals of the listening post station are spread across the commnet. It looks just like it did in the briefing, the squat little structure that you knew was only the tip of the facility, the other 80% of it buried under the rock of one of the ten moons (UB-VIc) surrounding the Neptunian world. Above it, a long narrow superstructure of elevators, pipes and conduits up to the radial docking rings, allowing for up to six ships to docked with the station at one time, easily accommodating the two system ships and up to four visiting vessels for patrols and resupply missions.

+++The station main power seems to be on... thermal scans show nothing unusual. Sensor array seem to be passive, although they might be off all together. I dunno, boss. It looks like the whole place is just.. abandoned.+++

Valdar and Angantyr move into flanking positions around the huge enemy cruiser. She's still silent, but as you get closer sensors pick up multiple hotspots on the hull of the ship. Closing inspection reveals pressure suits, lifesigns. The crew of the crippled Grendel is moving outside the ship in some sort of EVA action, there appear to be over a dozen of them.
This message was last edited by the GM at 00:11, Fri 07 May 2021.

++ Keep them under scan, Randver; I want to know if they respond to hails or if they twitch ++, instructed the commander, ++ We have movement on the outer hull of Grendel. See if we can enhance those scans to confirm what they're playing at? Are they armed, equipped... where are they heading toward? Analysis, Tactical? ++

His brow furrowed a moment, ++ Keep the Angantyr and Valder jinking. Don't like this at all ++

Diana looked over the readings as she heard Volsung speak up over the comms.

++ Already on it, Angantyr Actual. My hunch is they're using their time to repair battle damage, there's bound to be some hull breaches. I do not believe they've got offense in mind, or they wouldn't have exposed their crew to ship weaponry without Grendel's protective plating between them and it. Likewise, no amount of small arms fire would do anything to our ships, but we'll be tracking crew movements with our turrets as well, that should be pretty universal in telling them they shouldn't try anything. ++

She paused for a second or two before addressing the Randver.

++ Understood, Randver Actual. Mission remains as-is, but try and get to that transport, we'll be needing it to tow Sable-One and could use the extra cargo space if the listening post remains unrecoverable. ++

++Eh...I believe Captaon Takagara and I will be setting ze priorities of my crew and my ship Captain Hersson, unless you received a promotion when I was not looking. I suggest you focus on your own duties.++ Zazan bristled at the young captain, exchanging a brief glance with his XO while doing so.

++I will be leading a boarding party. We will switch channels and have Randver relay to the squadron. You will know what we know.++

"XO, you have ze ship. I was serious when I said push off at ze first sign of trouble. If ze outpost is...uh...compromised, we will make way to ze transport."

With that, Zazan unclips from his chair, grabs his go-bag and makes his way to the boarding tubes once again.
This message was last edited by the player at 16:50, Fri 07 May 2021.

Oscar grabbed his standard kit as he made his way to the docking hatch. He still had the slight limp from his injuries but nothing too extreme. He touched to comms to address his ship. "Crew, this is the Shipmaster. Conduct repairs as required and keep her warm. If this station is not as abandoned as it seems, I want us to be able to depart quickly, if not safely."

Oscar then ensured his sword and pistol were available in case of trouble and made a quick note on where the Randver was docking so that he could establish real-time communications with the squadron again.

Diana made to reply, but held off. There was no need to have an argument over the comms right now, it would be one of the things better kept until later.

++Angantyr Helm... we've gotten closer. They uh... they're working in the breaches on their hull, but it doesn't look like repair work. I think they're planting something... Several unidentified packages have been placed into locations around the ship where we've seen breaches. And uh... there's something else. I'm seeing groups of suits gathering up behind breaches and other obstructions. I can't be sure, but it looks like they're waiting for us to get in close and try to board. At this time we've tracked over 100 individual heat signatures on and around the hull.++


++Randver Helm reporting in. We've docked along with Wartooth. Docking hatches are open and pressurized now. We've moved into the superstructure docking area. It's... empty. Some cargo crates, no sign of anyone here. No damage or anything suspicious except the lack of personnel. Station doesn't appear to be locked down, everything is operating normally... We're about to take the lift down to the main outpost structure.++
This message was last edited by the GM at 08:02, Mon 10 May 2021.

Diana listened to the Angantyr's findings, then turned to her sensors officer.

- "Focus sensors on those packages, see if we can't figure out the chemical compositions of them. Cross reference with known explosives, and send its characteristics over to the Angantyr so they may assess the risk and make counterpreparations."

Receiving some new information, she then accessed the comms again.

++ Angantyr Actual, we have some new information that may help you. When inspecting our POWs, we have found them to have subdermal implants of unknown function. They are giving off weak EM emissions, but when we attempted to jam these emissions our guests became... placid, unwilling to even move and eat. If your boarding action is likely to be met with hostile intent, this may very well be a way to minimize hostilities during the takeover of Grendel. ++
This message was last edited by the player at 09:54, Mon 10 May 2021.

Studying the scurrying dots on the outer hull of the Grendel, Volsung frowned: whatever they were placing, it was worrisome. Whether they sought to scuttle the cruiser, or try one last gasp at taking out the starships of the King's Squadron, they needed to be thwarted and swiftly. He issues swift orders to his XO to model blasts of varying size, both on the superstructure of the Grendel's hull and in terms of the shrapnel and the Listening Post with its docked starships

++ What's your precision on the flak emitter, Valdar-Actual? ++, he asked over the Captain's channel, ++ It's either that to disuade them or some focused EM jamming on those frequencies you noted to try and make them more placid ++

Waiting for her response, he passed further instructions to his crew to begin setting up the jamming, and swiftly

++ Randver, Wartooth. Be advised the surrender up here may be less honoured than we had hoped ++

This Laser Flak Battery is highly accurate, capable of targeting individuals at close range if additional computational resources are put into the effort. High resolution optical scans suggest the packages are explosive charges of some kind, no radiological indication.

Tactical analysis suggest they are mining the ship to prevent boarding.
This message was last edited by the GM at 22:52, Wed 12 May 2021.

++ Take out one of the hull-side mining parties, if you please, Valdsr-Actual. Let’s dissuade them from this duty ++

++ The packages appear to be standard non-radioactive explosives. We will jam the EM emissions, then target the explosive devices on the hull near your entry point. Once you are inside, the ship's armor would protect against hull-mounted explosives, though if similar packages would be set up inside the ship as well, that we could do little about. Should they require manual detonation, the EM jamming would make it fairly safe. Proceeding now, with enemy crew on the hull we should be getting a measure of its efficacy fairly soon. ++

Diana turned to her bridge crew.

- "See it done, but shield our brig from the effects of the jamming. Also, narrow down explosive strength of the packages and estimated kill ranged from the detonation of the packages chosen for targeting. Relay information to the Angantyr, of course."

"Ma'am, there's no way to determine what explosive compounds we're dealing with. They don't match any known weapons patterns. Could be anything."

The directional jamming seemed to take effect immediately, but their behavior changed unexpectedly. Instead of calming down, they seemed to panic, diverting from their course and meeting up in small clusters of two or three and touching helmets together as if they were following standard comms jamming communication through solid medium. Touch helmets and talk through the air and glass.

"I think we just jammed their comms..." Ensign Reedersen suggested. "You know, we only left port with about 20 troopers... we have less than that now in ready condition to fight and some of them have to guard the prisoners we already have. How many troops can we spare on a boarding action if they won't come quietly?"

The dozen plus figures on the surface were seemingly coordinating the old fashioned way before handing off charges and executing some sort of plan B, changing velocities and making their way to different gaps in the ships hull and armor.

Aboard the lead ship, Takagara's XO, Ensign Carte made a similar observation quietly. "Captain, there's over a dozen men on the surface of the ship we can see and there may be more. A ship that size, there could be well over a hundred crew surviving, a good portion of them combat trained, likely in boarding actions, attacking and defending. They're not going anywhere, but do we really have the strength to take her by force?"

Valdar's weapon officer looks to Captain Hersson... "Ma'am? Am I clear to fire on the explosives?"
This message was last edited by the GM at 06:06, Fri 14 May 2021.

Diana gave her weapons officer a nod.

- "Yes, but ensure the Grendel's crew is outside of expected anti-personnel blast radius. Keep sensors on the package for effect and known IEDs of comparable blast radii."

She turned to her comms officer.

- "How far along is the computer in deciphering simple phrases of their language?"

Lastly, she turned to her XO.

- "No need for concern. We won't be participating in the boarding action, and besides, the Valdar has no boarding tubes. Our main concern is overwatch duties, and with it, analysis of potential threats from those packages."

++King Squadron zis iz Randver Actual. Understanding you may have important matters to deal with, I suggest we be on the lookout for ze second elephant class transport. It might be running dark.++
This message was lightly edited by the player at 13:33, Sat 15 May 2021.

++ Received, Randver-Actuak ++, noted Volsung, directing his crews to these secondary scans. He turned his attention to the concern his crew had raised, torn between his orders being questioned and misunderstood, “We will not be boarding the Grendel, not with the Astral Marines we have. We will establishing comma sufficient to necessitate altheir surrender under our ships cannons. If they resist, as those on the hull are, we will use deadly force as I have instructed - were just waiting for our shipmates to take the shot”

Aboard INS-Valdar the atmosphere is tense. A few heartbeats of silence after the command is given and finally the report from the gunnery crew "Firing." The array of powerful lasers aboard the ship were nowhere near as deadly as the plasma cannons of the other vessels, their activation silent and would have gone unnoticed if not for computer reports. Through the cameras, only the faintest glint of refracted light appeared in space, picked up in the out-venting gasses.

Then, a blaze of light as the suspicious package erupts in a blast on the surface of the enemy ship. Another gout of fire, oxygen and other gasses belches out from the new gaping hole in her flank.

"Hard to estimate casualties, but looks like at least two were caught in the blast... one of them... oh gods, they're still alive..." The camera switches to the image of a primitive vacuum suit being tossed into space, flailing and rapidly venting oxygen through multiple ruptures. The crew-woman shakes her head... "Nothing we can do for them now but put them out of their misery..." The acceleration force probably shattered every bone in their body and led to massive internal hemorrhaging. The only silver lining that they would likely pass out from lack of oxygen before they bled to death, alone in hard vacuum.

The huge ship was now listing slightly, the large blast having pushed it off a stable orbit into something of a lazy drifting spin to starboard. The various swarming crew seemed to have vanished, returning into the belly of the beast as their plan backfired explosively.

Noticing the effect the video feed was having on some of her crew, Diana intervened.

- "You have done well. This was a situation of their own making, one they attempted to inflict upon our own, and the casualties inflicted by the blast are still far fewer than in any other scenario."

She looked at the feed herself, taking a deep breath.

- "No need to do anything. Based on the damage, i suspect they will go into neurogenic shock and lose consciousness before the gunners could even lock on to a profile that small. Grendel is seeing this as well, let it be a reminder to them that they did choose to surrender and they should act accordingly. As a precaution however, try to remain clear of the arc of fire of that cloud weapon we've seen during the fighting."

++ They reap what they sow, Kingsmen ++, transmitted Volsung on the squadron channel, ++ Re-transmit the signals for their surrender. Pictograms, blueprints, whatever it takes to direct them to assemble in the cargo holds ++

The big ship is silent and you cannot be sure that your messages have been received when after what seems like forever, the navigation lights on Grendel flash. Once, twice, three times... a pause and three longer pulses, followed by another pause and then another three quick flashes. The pattern repeats...

Diana took a deep breath before contacting the other captains, recognizing the signal code almost immediately.

++ Captains, Grendel has just begun signaling SOS. Maritime law demands we render assistance though, lacking boarding tubes, the ultimate decision would be up to the Angantyr. That said, have the ground teams secured a transport? Depending on the internal damage we may be needing that POW facility sooner rather than later... ++

Reports are coming in from the away team, video and images of the empty station, evidence of small arms fire, casualties and camera system knocked out as well as non-functioning commnet. Although an Elephant-class heavy transport was discovered docked, it was not yet explored.

Diana was on the comms again.

++ King Actual, this is Valdar Actual. If we reposition, the bomb will be within the effective range of the Valdar's snuffers, rendering it inert without requiring present squads to disarm it, but it will require us to reposition away from Grendel. What are your orders, over? ++

++Valdar Actual, King Actual. Do it. Repeat, stop that bomb. King Actual over and out.++ You can hear the tension in his voice as all of you try to ride out the next challenge in this dire situation.
This message was last edited by the GM at 08:55, Mon 21 June 2021.

++ Understood sir. Listening Post squads, Valdar Actual stating intent to approach station, what's your status, over? ++

Diana signaled her helm to prepare to move, but for now held off on actually moving towards the listening post. Instead, she waited for confirmation from the squads. Since they had previously communicated that she should keep her distance, she took it as a sign that they were going to attempt to disarm the device on site, and didn't want to get her ship caught in oversized shrapnel from the ensuing blast if it could be avoided. Nukes, especially alien ones, sounded pretty tricky to disarm manually.