"Roger t'at Varca, got t'em in my sights, someone else will need ta fire t'e missiles if ya want any t'ough. Could be anyone really, as t'e wonderful t'ing about missiles is t'at missiles aim t'emselves." He chuckled darkly as he focused in on the Far Trader which he believed to be the Redthane's.

"Anot'er Harrier for t'e fleet would certainly make for a fine prize, a Far Trader too if Redt'ane's a lick of sense left in 'im." Rayjay added with a mercantile grin.
This message was last edited by the player at 20:04, Wed 15 Mar 2023.

The Janal Torsk is in powered down mode; it couldn't fire its weapons if it wanted to.

It's clearly using its passive sensors to detect the Mercifuge, which is broadcasting on active sensors anyway.

There are two possible errors in your thinking: is the Mercifuge broadcasting its ID as Mercifuge and does its normal operating parameters easily make it identifiable as such.

This initial exchange between Redthane and Teddy is using the standard video comms, so the two of you are conversing 'face-to-face'.

"We're already standing down as much as we can," Redthane says with a touch of exasperation. And then his face gets an expression of enlightenment.

"Bounty hunters! You're bounty hunters!" There's a clear sign of relief in his voice.

"Yes, yes, surrender and all that."

"As you are probably aware, pirate captains always have a few tricks up their sleeves. What if I was to provide you with intel that could be worth 10 times your bounty?"

"Point everything at Janal Torsk I think Commander. Ready your boarding party Marines." He switches to internal comms momentarily, "What should we do? I never captured a ship before, they come here, or risk an ambush and go to them? Varca? Zhouth? Needless to say, he gave up rather easily since they're going to carbonize him" I suspect the Harrier is dead and has been, keep sensors on it, look for life forms."
This message was last edited by the player at 13:40, Thu 16 Mar 2023.

Ghent rose from his seat, boarding action..! He loved the sound of that.

“Is 10 times our bounty worth crossing Dorokin for? He looks desperate,” cautioned Ghent, “and desperate men tend to fight to the death, and fight dirty. He’s had time to prepare for a boarding.” There was something else bothering him, and he squinted a long time at the vid feed trying to confirm his suspicions.
This message was last edited by the player at 13:51, Thu 16 Mar 2023.

Zhouth waved his hands side-to-side. "I'm not a naval tactician! I worked in a completely different field!" His hands froze in place mid-sweep as he spoke quietly, barely over a whisper, "Shouldn't you just, I don't know, use the particle cannon to shoot the ship full of holes and them full of radiation? That's how it usually works in the vids, right?"

Kira swiveled her pilot chair around and regarded the rest of the Vultan bridge crew, "Alright, lads and lasses, I've had my fair share of run-ins with the likes of Redthane. Let me share a wee bit of my hard-earned wisdom with ye."

She ticked off suggestions on her hand, her tone conversational and laid-back. "First things first, we could take Redthane's surrender and whatever valuable intel he's offerin'. Could be a sweet deal, but remember, pirates are as wily as a fox in a henhouse. We best keep our wits about us."

Her eyes narrowed as she recalled her own experiences with boarding parties. "Second, we could board the Janal Torsk.  I've done it before, and I'll tell you, it ain't a walk in the park. We'd need to watch for traps and surprises, but if we're clever and quick on our feet, we could nab the ship and whatever treasures they've got stowed away."

She smiled as she considered Varca's suggestion of a little psychological warfare. "Three, as mentioned, we could have a bit of fun and stir the pot among their crew. Make 'em doubt each other and maybe even turn 'em against ol' Redthane himself."

She closed her hand to a fist, "And four, we go in with all guns blazing and reduce them to a thick red smear on the ground. It's not the most subtle option, but sometimes you just have to let 'em know who they're dealing with."

"Psychological first, then radiate if that doesn't work. It can still be used. So it is written, so it shall be done! Kira, you and Varca take care of the psych side and do it ASAP before they think too much!"

Kira turned to Varca. "So, what can this beauty do? We have a holographic hull, I believe. Can we... embiggen ourselves?" She grins at the thought.

"Or perhaps send messages to our 'fleet of allies' hovering nearby? Tell the crew of the Torsk about the bounty on Redthane? Or just hack their systems remotely?"

Rayjay spoke up correcting one of Kira's misconceptions before adding his own two creds. "A partially operational 'olographic 'ull mind ya, so not likely to pass under close inspection, and correct me if I'm wrong but we s'ould be all but invisible to t'em currently, and talkin' to t'em t'rough our tight band to t'e Mercifuge? Eit'er case, I t'ink gettin' Redt'ane off 'is boat and into our custody is t'e best course of action, whet'er t'rough boardin' or diplomacy, t'en we can give 'is crew t'e same offer we did Silverhand's, and if all else fails t'en we start irradiatin' t'em. How's t'at sound to ya Captain?"
This message was last edited by the player at 20:58, Thu 16 Mar 2023.

"Gotcha," nods Kira at Rayjaynul. "It would be amusing to pop out from behind the Mercifuge and scare the bejaysus out of 'em though. And I'd love to see what that other derelict ship is all about."

"Happy to broker a deal with Redthane if you folks want," Ghent said from his corner, raising an eyebrow at the suggestion of having the newest recruit doing the talking with what was technically her old boss. "I do have the skills for that, and I have done some negotiations in the past. If you do decide to attack the ships, I'm still trying to figure out on which ship he's actually on. Could just have been some mods that I saw, but I want to be sure we're not firing at the wrong one. The two ships are significantly different, that the bridge layout would confirm which one he's on. So, if we have that feed opened, we can determine that. I think I can anyway."
This message was last edited by the player at 21:25, Thu 16 Mar 2023.

OOC: Yes, Cap'n Theo was, initially, talking to Redthane via Mercifuge by way of the laser-comm link.  As far as we know, Redthane (with his TL12 ship) was only seeing Mercifuge in orbit abouve him, because Mercifuge was making no effort to "hide", like Vultan was.  But when Cap'n Theo ordered that Vultan go ahead and target the Janal Torsk, to Redthane, Vultan would have appeared out of nowhere, lit up like a Christmas Tree.  Currently, both Mercifuge and Vultan are now Active scanning both ships down on the icy surface.
     One other thing--StarMaster recently pointed out that I/Varca never bothered to ask 1 important & specific question about the status of Mercifuge.  We knew it was an ex-Imperial Navy ship, but it's also a TL15 build.  Mercifuge is almost the equal of Vultan...

---

    Varca presses a few buttons on his console, then uses the open intercom to speak to Theodore,

    "Captain, Mission Commander is requesting a conference." and a small holographic videos screen appears to Theo's side, hovering abouve the right arm of his Captain's seat...
This message was last updated by the GM at 14:52, Sat 18 Mar 2023.

Ghent has access to the sensor readouts on the bridge like anyone else--no question Redthane's transmitting from the Janal Torsk.


Now that the Vultan's sensors are fully active, they definitely reveal the other ship as a Harrier. However, it appears to be a different model and there are no records in the Vultan's computers that match it.

Sensors also show extensive damage to the ship.

"What do you think Zhouth? Radiate them and collect the bodies? Go ahead Ghent, 'negotiate' to stall for a minute while we decide to kill them now or later."

Ghent nodded, and opened a channel to the Janal Torsk. “Janal Torsk, I have been authorized to negotiate terms,” he said as he started bluffing his hardball negotiations, hoping to convince them to surrender without further resistance. His square no-nonsense features engulfed the viewscreens, his three o’clock shadow giving him a menacing air that would hopefully convey that serious shit was going to go down if the terms were not accepted.


17:34, Today: Ghent Bel-Andis rolled 12 using 2d6+5.  Broker + Int.

Used broker (3), but Persuade is at 2 if you need a number...

This message was last edited by the player at 21:47, Sat 18 Mar 2023.

"Terms?" Ferrik replies to Ghent in surprise. "I've already unconditionally surrendered myself, my ship and my crew to Captain McFarlane... Oh, I see. We're now entering the formal part of it."

"Very well, I, Ferrik Redthane, independent free trader and pirate, Captain of record for the Janal Torsk, herewith surrender myself, my ship and my crew to Captain McFarlane of the IFT Vultan... unconditionally."

"There, does that take care of the formalities?"

"Since your bounty hunter eyes didn't light up like headlights at the mention of ten times your bounty, I'll take a wild stab at saying there's some other condition to the bounty. As it turns out, my intel might even help with that."

In reply to Ferrik Redthane (msg # 62):

     Varca's eyes go wide when Theo tells Ghent to begin surrender negotiations--then narrow to give Theo a red-eyed glare when Ghent accepts Redthanes formal surrender.

Zhouth's expression, meanwhile, had shifted to one of wide-eyed bafflement, and he started furiously tapping at his comm unit while striding quickly out of the bridge.
This message was last edited by the player at 15:28, Sun 19 Mar 2023.

Kira leans back in her pilot seat and raises an eyebrow. Well, that was easy, she thinks. Too easy?

Rayjay remains nice and alert as he keeps the Janal Torsk in his sights ready to blast and irradiate the whole ship if the talks start to go south.
This message was last edited by the player at 18:01, Mon 20 Mar 2023.

"Ghent, have Redthane transfer to the Mercifuge, by himself, no others, or we dust him, I thought we wanted him here? Varca, who do we put on Redthane's ship to take control? Zhouth, Varca, give me advice, that is what you're for. I think Redthane should be frozen here on Vultan."

In reply to Rayjaynul Brown (msg # 66):

OOC:  You've got Vultan in your sights?!!  But--we are on Vultan!  Vultan is us!
     Ahhhhhhh!  Run for the escape pods!  Rayjay is gonna blast us with our own guns!

^_~  Just kidding, I mess up my typing like that all the time.  Editing, retyping, re-editing and re-retyping is one of the reasons I take so long between posts ^_^


Oh, and, uh...Vultan doesn't have escape pods, so...we gonna die....

Ghent complied and started to go down a list of things that needed to be done, starting with Redthane going through the physical process of surrendering himself to the Mercifuge; “Did you want me to head over and ‘welcome’ him?”

Message to Varca

In reply to Theodore McFarlane (msg # 70):

Portside Countermeasures Cabin, aboard Vultan. Orbiting Coolblue:

     Varca continues scanning the area, constantly feeding updated targeting data to Rayjaynul up at the Gunnery Station.