09-14-2026, 11:39 PM
(This post was last modified: 09-14-2026, 11:39 PM by Alexander Talion.)
Talion listened to what Mala was saying, but he didn't respond. The Captain seemed to want t target the life support systems of the Hutet Class. That was perhaps the best option. It wouldn't be catastrophic, but it would be life threatening. They might have to abandon ship if they couldn't get it working again. They certainly wouldn't want the Federation to be able to board it, so in a worst case scenario, they might scuttle it instead of risk it being captured. That could be a long time though. There was quite a bit of room in a ship that size and they could stay alive for a while without life support.
It wouldn't matter though, if the bots turned out to be unable to penetrate the shields. A plan was beginning to form in Alex's mind. This wasn't quite chess, but it might as well be. The use of brute force was out. They had to be able to sneak past the defences. Once they did, how to best render them helpless? Even a draw was a win here.
As the battle raged around him, he moved to his console and looked up how many bots had been produced yet that he could use. The date soon showed him that there were quite a large number. Even if only a portion of them made it to the target and were able to get through, he could make use of them, but if too few did, then it might be useless...unless...the controller had to be capable. That part of the program needed to be able to adapt to fewer bots, if needed. There would also be redundant life support that would have to be taken out.
Alex turned back to the view of the battle and was very calm. He couldn't do anything other than tell his people to load the bots into more probes. He knew what to do, but it didn't matter if the three they had fired failed. If the Aquila got shot and destroyed, it was over. If the bots were of no use, it was likely over. He needed more data from the ones on their way to the target and they were about to make contact. He had lost track of the time, they might have already been released. There had been 10,000 bots in each probe. He looked to see if the numbers changed...and he waited...
== Tag for GM Input: What happens with the released bot payloads from the probes? Do they make it to the ship? Are they able to penetrate the shields? The ones released were aimed at the shields, so they would only be trying to cause a feedback issue between the shields and the structural integrity, causing each to damage the other and shorting each. If one was turned off, then it would only do half as much damage the the one remaining on, but it would prove that they could penetrate the shields. ==
It wouldn't matter though, if the bots turned out to be unable to penetrate the shields. A plan was beginning to form in Alex's mind. This wasn't quite chess, but it might as well be. The use of brute force was out. They had to be able to sneak past the defences. Once they did, how to best render them helpless? Even a draw was a win here.
As the battle raged around him, he moved to his console and looked up how many bots had been produced yet that he could use. The date soon showed him that there were quite a large number. Even if only a portion of them made it to the target and were able to get through, he could make use of them, but if too few did, then it might be useless...unless...the controller had to be capable. That part of the program needed to be able to adapt to fewer bots, if needed. There would also be redundant life support that would have to be taken out.
Alex turned back to the view of the battle and was very calm. He couldn't do anything other than tell his people to load the bots into more probes. He knew what to do, but it didn't matter if the three they had fired failed. If the Aquila got shot and destroyed, it was over. If the bots were of no use, it was likely over. He needed more data from the ones on their way to the target and they were about to make contact. He had lost track of the time, they might have already been released. There had been 10,000 bots in each probe. He looked to see if the numbers changed...and he waited...
== Tag for GM Input: What happens with the released bot payloads from the probes? Do they make it to the ship? Are they able to penetrate the shields? The ones released were aimed at the shields, so they would only be trying to cause a feedback issue between the shields and the structural integrity, causing each to damage the other and shorting each. If one was turned off, then it would only do half as much damage the the one remaining on, but it would prove that they could penetrate the shields. ==