Turn 02Continue the Hardburn
Three months pass, and we pass by the gas giants of world 05 06, and 07. The sensors sharpen their sightlines as things become closer. Nothing really changed until the final leg of the journey, the deceleration burn.
In the Gyres of interplanetary maneuvering, the ability to enact change in your path through the system by the virtues of acceleration is pivotal. To be shackled to a mere world's gravitational influence is to be a shot from death. Such entrapment would restrict the capabilities of the prospective warship from truly protecting the world. By our ship-self's nature as an interstellar
vessel, we have both an untold advantage as well as a critical weakness.
GENERAL ALERTTHe game of interplanetary warfare is one of eggshells with nuclear hammers, and our ship is no exception. Our prestigious maneuvering ability means that any foe will not be given a chance to touch us, but each missile shot at the enemy is a expenditure of material that had traveled lightyears, and is almost irreplaceable at this state of the colonial enterprise.
A radio signal graces our hull. In addition we detect the thermal signatures of 24 thermal rocket signatures, most likely driven by fission reactors, burning towards us. At the head of this wolfpack are 2 high yield EM / thermal signatures, most likely they are craft that are driven by a fusion rocket.
A short time passes, and the message sent through radio signals, clearly designed for us to understand, is decrypted. A picture is added, along with a sort of broken universal language derived from the mathematical formulae. Most of the message consists of long form messages that create a dialogue, with a small part focussed on the actual meat and bones of the message they have sent.
Combat algorithms, many times more ancient then your own code whir to life. Strategic analysis puts your ship-self at a unilateral advantage thanks to your reserve of antimatter, your antimatter doped thrust, and powerful missiles that can be fabricated in an emergency. In addition, other pieces could be manufactured in direct combat, but such endeavors could put the ship-self at risk for little gain.
By and large, we do not have enough ordinance to kill every member of the fleet, however, we do not need to mission kill every asset arrayed against the ship-self. By varying our thrust direction, we can cause a uncertainty factor to set in all the way until the very last step.
We can punch through the interception web by accelerating all the way to World 03, but we will need to use a Antimatter Key to stop without burning up in the atmosphere.
It would also be possible to maneuver so that only the two fusion craft would engage with us, though the trajectory would be delayed by a month.
Most other options more or less cause a fail state to occur, but perhaps the analysis engines may come up with something new.
What should we do?A. punch through the interception web by not committing an deceleration burn, necessitating an antimatter Key use upon arriving at World 03.
B. Maneuver a long route, risking only interception by the two fusion rocket driven craft.
C. Something else? (fill in.)
Name of System - Integrity - Notes
Omni-Spectral Scanners - 100%
-Secondary Scanner Processor Stratum - 100%
Battery System - 100% | 100% FULL
Construction Systems - 100%
Primary Processing Stratum - 100%
Secondary Processing Stratum - 100%
Hull - 93% | Patched, RISK
Antimatter Key 01 100% - READY
Antimatter Key 02 100% - ACTIVE
Antimatter Key 03 100% - EMPTY
Antimatter Key 04 100% - EMPTY
Antimatter Processing - 100%
Fusion Reactor - 100%, ACTIVE 100% THROTTLE, DE+HE-3 FUSION RUNNING, 32 MONTH OPERATIONAL TIME @ 100% THROTTLE
DE Storage Tanks - 100 % | 70 % FULL
He-3 Storage Tanks - 100 % | 70 % FULL
Fusion Ignition Capacitors 100% - | 100 % FULL, A-OK for DE-He-3, DE-DE, or DE-T Fusion Ignition
Propulsion systems - 95% - ACTIVE
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Topic: The Bracewell Probe (Spaceship Quest) (Read 2504 times)