RidOv Chpt-40

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==Ridiculously Overboard!! (A Captain Roberts Tale!!)Chapter 40 - Commando Raid==
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===Long Distance Status Check===
In Orbit, Tresspass Star System - Outworlds Wastes, Periphery
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<<"Where is Director Roberts...
...right now?">> The image was clear enough that it was likely the HPG on Joan's Post sending the image of Star Commodore Connie Foster.
"She is...conducting a raid on the Pirates, Star Commodore." Lori answered. "Mister Nichols is aboard if you need to conduct a tactical brief."
<<"What??">>, reacted Foster
"I said, Captain Roberts has a team of hand-picked men, they're conducting a raid on the enemy in dock over the planet. They're on radio silence. She WANTED to investigate on the ground, but stealthing issues meant an in-person recon was more likely to survive entry, by directly targeting the Newgrange."
<<"Savashri...are you serious?">>
"Yes Star Commodore...oh, good, Mister Nichols is entering CIC!"
Larry floated over and anchored next to the comm station, in view of the video pickups. "What's going on, Lori?"
"The Star Commodore has requested contact with Captain Roberts, I'm afraid I had to tell her you're the only command staff available presently besides myself, as the Captain has taken Mister Bedwyr and Mister Samuel on her little fact-finding jaunt."
Nichols nodded, then addressed the pickups. "Star Commodore, I'm gonna assume you're calling to say you're on your way, and need updated tac-plots, Over?"
<<"I'm wondering how you intend to rescue them when they are captured.">> the Snow Raven officer scowled magnificently, <<"Also, what are they taking?">>
"Four BLU-92 warheads with magnetic limpets, ten suited crewmen in vacuum-PAL suits, a rescue and salvage package, the Captain, Mister Samuel, and our CAG." Larry stated.
<<"A...commando raid.">>
"Something like that. The limpets are to make sure that Newgrange can't leave the system before you've captured it. She's assuming you can handle the Baron class destroyers, but we think it's the Erinyes and they've been giving everyone the slip for around thirty years or so."
<<"We will be moving the timetable up then. Are they past the wave off?">>
"Yeah. Embarked on the run over a week ago, we were able to keep track of their burn and their approach using passives, but the planetary moon's got full view occluded for another hour. If they're on-time with the plan, they should be on approach to the Newgrange right now and about five minutes off her starboard side."
<<"We are on our way!">> the Star Commodore announced.
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===Docking with a Leviathan===
soft...
...soft... Sam feathered the thrusters and matched velocity and vector by eyeball, to keep emissions low. Mister Bedwyr was a better fighter pilot and okay at second seat, but he was no Belter.
For this kind of work, you need someone who's worked the Burrows and Stations, someone wanted back home for doing exactly this sort of thing. The only difference being this isn't a claim-jump or a prank.
He sensed the increase in mass and resistance, and activated the electromagnets in the landing jacks.
Soft-dock achieved.
"Helmets!!" she ordered them all, and Sam closed his faceplate, bringing his own suit up on internal air, they all checked each other's suits and armor, weapons, and the various expensive items they'd brought.
Fabricating laser triggers wasn't that tough with the machine-shop on the Evanescent, and the Hydrogen fuel for the fusion bombs came right out of the fuel tanks.
The Captain had given him the job of making those when it became clear they wouldn't be able to land with the stealth-jacket on the planet, and she changed the plan. The warheads were SLDF patterns, at least, and would hopefully yeild enough punch to cripple the old warship's systems and prevent it from escaping what was coming.
Sam checked the team's EMU packs, made sure they were rigged correctly. He then 'bicycle' the thrusters on the warhead limpets.
One for the sail retraction assembly, one for the main thruster assemblies, one for the thin spot on the hull over the core.
One for backup.
There's no way they could take a ship like this in a fair fight, so cheating is the order of the day. Captain Roberts picked up her own 'mission gear' while the rest of the men under Mister Bedwyr moved out to plant the limpets.
"Keep the fusion plants running on low power, Mister Samuel, I'm off for a walk." she said.
"Aye, Captain."
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===Breaking and Entering===
Meter over the hull of Yardship Erinyes
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"Alright, Desmond...
...where am I going?" Amanda asked as she drifted up the length of the Newgrange Class Yardship with 240-plus kilos of blastex and detonators, a slicing rig, and her personal weapons.
<{"Going forward for another two minutes at this speed, then brake, look for a panel inset next to the antenna array just ahead."}>
"What of the dish?"
<{"Yes. The dish. when you reach it, use the number four screwdriver from the salvage kit, with the square tip labeled thirty five, undo the twist-lock fasteners, use your dive knife to hold the latch down while you open it."}>
"While I'm doing that, what am I doing?"
<{"The panel you will be accessing is a testing and maintenance service panel for the ship's sensor arrays, these have a direct line into the ship's navigation database through a hard-line connection. We are gathering intelligence on where this ship has gone, and where they are likely to be headed...as in where they intend to go from here."}> Desmond told her.
"Gotcha...why?"
<{"That's because even a very large vessel, with ample room?? cannot be self-sufficient. This ship is getting maintenance and fueling somewhere, their crew has to eat something, they need water and periodic atmospheric replenishment, filters, spare parts too large to fabricate, and a work-force. There must be a base, it can be cross-referenced and that base is another target."}>
"The likely destination of the slaving raids?"
<{"It seems probable that this is the case."}>, concluded Desmond
She saw a wireframe form at the hatch, showing her where to insert her 'dive knife' after opening the twist-locks. a puff of gas released when she opened the panel, and applied rigging tape to hold the plunger of the latch-alarm down.
Step, by step, just like with the trunk-line at the destroyed OMC Naval Base, Desmond showed her how to hook up the slicing rig, which plug connector to use, how to route the dummy-load, and finally, she was able to reach into her suit's integrated mission equipment compartment and plug her artificial eye into the rig.
"How long?"
<{"A few minutes to grab the raw files after defeating the security programs. I can manage this and still assist you....their systems are air gaps between communications, navigation, and the non-operations data center where you might find your answers."}>
"Where would they keep it?"
<{"Unless the avionics were significantly modified, near the CIC (Bridge), in the interior."}>
"Help me get inside."
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