Capture of The Long Sleep!

“Go, into the vacuum.
Go there, die there.
We reject your right to air.
We enjoy your dying stare.”

Captain Grognard found himself singing along to the transmission from Omega Murder Comet. The pirates wrote and performed their own music and it was quite catchy. Grognard had never heard a hundred electric guitars before and it was invigorating. For some reason, Grognard had an urge to wear more black t-shirts.

“Crypt Ship has been located!” announced Isis on sensors. “It identifies as The Long Sleep.”

Grognard muted the music. “What kind of escorts do they have?”

“A single Blackwater Frigate,” Isis reported. “It identifies as the Hasan.”

“Hmm,” Grognard said. “Blackwater is one of the more ruthless mercenary companies. Those guys would kill their grandmother and charge their parents for the bullets. Just one, you said?”

“Aye,” Isis said.

Grognard pushed a button. The sweating hulking form of Captain Deathspasm appeared on his personal viewer. Grognard waited until Deathspasm was done howling the end of the song.

“Deathspasm, we found the Crypt Ship. Let’s go knock out their bodyguard.”

Deathspasm nodded and lifted his battle-microphone.

“Into battle, RIDE!”

***
Today’s AAR involves playtesting one of my adventures for Star navy. The scenario is Crypt Ship. It has a rather limited ship loaded with treasure traveling in a straight line protected by escorts. My pirate force consists of 2 Class 4 Ravagers. The main thing to note is that the Crypt Ship is so valuable that any time it takes damage, it loses some of its 300 Cargo Value.

First thing I did was roll up the escorts. A low roll got me the result of “Two Less Than Player Force”. This meant the poor Crypt Ship only got a single escort.

Another roll determined that the lone escort was a mere Class 3 Free Company Frigate. On the up side, it has a Rep 5. I am sure the crew is very plucky.

Initial long range scans were sad for everyone. Starting distance was 36 inches and head on.

***
“The Hasan has left formation and is headed for us. The Hasan and The Long Sleep are concentrating their fire on us.”

Captain Grognard caught himself humming the guitar solo of “Go into the Vacuum. “Open fire on The Hasan. Tell the Omega Murder Comet to do the same. Man, that is a mouthful. Let’s just call them Omega.”

***
Concentrated fire from the Crypt Ship and Frigate was sad. A combined 2 guns against 3 shields is a long shot. As long as a shot that it is, it still has a miniscule chance of taking down a shield which at least makes every roll important. They failed but hey, they had a chance.

Funny enough, the Pirate ships had to combine fire to get through the Frigate’s shields and they stood a much better chance. They failed, but they had a chance.

Next turn, the frigate got closer, tried concentrated fire and failed. The pirates then got closer, and were within missile range. The Reroll fired two missiles, both of which hit. One missile destroyed the Frigate’s shields and the other missile hit the sheilds that no longer existed.

The Reroll then let loose with their guns. One gun hits the Frigate’s engine and the other chipped away at the Hull.

The Frigate fails their received damage test and loses a point of Rep. The crew is no longer as plucky! The Frigate then fails their engine damage test and decide that they are done with this lopsided battle.

***
Grognard watched the explosions ripple across The Hasan. The shield flickered off and something important looking was now drifting behind the ship. The frigate wobbled and seemed to veer to port uncontrollably. Seconds later, The Hasan vanished as it activated their jump drives.

The bridge crew cheered. Grognard allowed himself a smile. Nothing left now put to capture that golden prize headed right for them.”

***
Already the Crypt Ship is alone. With one gun and one shield, it is hardly a threat. The real challenge is that any damage it takes reduces the value of the ship. It is a Class 4 Tanker so boarding it is not a guarantee that the Class Four Ravagers would automatically win. I decide to fire a few shots and see if maybe I can get lucky with a bridge or engine hit.

****
“Gunner, soften up The Long Sleep and encourage them to take a nap,” Grognard ordered.

The gunner stared back at him, trying to work out Grognard’s tortured metaphor. He gave up and activated the missiles.

Grognard watched with satisfaction as the missiles closed in on the slow moving Crypt Ship. He chuckled as the awkward ship failed to evade. He laughed as plasma exploded within the Crypt Ship.

His laugh died as he saw thousands of glittering precious items get sucked into the vacuum of space from a hole in the ship.

“Uh, we hit one of the cargo bays,” someone reported.

***
Sigh. First missile launch and I take out a cargo bay. There goes 30 CV right there.

The guns fire and I manage to get a hit on the Crypt Ship’s guns. That reduces their own weapon to zero and the CV to 269. I decide that maybe it is time to stop damaging the really valuable ship.

***
“Captain Deathspasm? How would you like to be the first to board the Crypt Ship and claim our prize?” Grognard did his best to make it sound as awesome as possible.

It wasn’t necessary. Captain Deathspasm screamed so loud that his Mohawk shook. “It would be an honor! I will lead the charge myself!”

“Good for you!” Grognard replied. He knew how nasty boarding actions were. Better the new guys than his crew.

***
The Crypt Ship moves forward two inches every turn. That is it. It isn’t allowed to maneuver. It is a slow moving duck that just requires the pirates to match speed and direction in order to board.

Of course, this takes me close to eight turns to pull off. Coming to a full stop, pivoting 180 degrees and then catching up took me way too long. I am starting to believe that shooting and taking damage is important but man, not as nearly as getting your ships to go where they need to go. I feel like I need flight lessons.

Omega Murder Comet has the ‘honor’ of attempting the first boarding. What is the point of being the commander of a pirate fleet if you can’t make others take the risks?

The pirates had no troubles. They rolled 6 success to the Crypt Ship’s 2 and took command of the ship. Sadly for the crew of the Crypt Ship, they completely botch their surrender roll and their corpses were added to the debris littering this sector of space.

***
Captain Grognard slowly walked the halls of The Long Sleep. The smell of ritual incense was thick in the air which was good because it covered the smell of blood and laser fire. He stopped to admire a ventilation screen that looked to be made of polished silver.

“Captain! I found a toilet seat made of pure platinum! Can I keep it?”

Grognard shook his head at the excited crewman. “Sorry, Alez. We’re taking the whole ship to a dealer. There will be no golden thrones for you but you’ll have enough credits to wipe your butt with them if you want.”

Pirate life was getting better every day.