FTL: Harmony Edition IC

Copperette struggled a bit to disentangle herself. "Ooooow.... Sweetie, you're.... There," she said, finally coming loose. ".... Wait. Where are the -"

She was interrupted by another crackling sound above her as a thick steel cylinder popped into existence above her head.

".... disks," she finished, lighting her horn to take control before they fell. They wobbled a bit at first, the enchantments needing some readjustment, and stabilized.

Seva's appeared as impassive as ever, but their systems reeled as they attempted to compensate for the unanticipated presence of Copperette and Sweetie. Unknowns were bound to happen – threat level of enemies on board, difficulties in accessing ship functions, but these two? At least so far the only trouble was temporary teleportation sickness, but still...

""Neither of you are supposed to be here,"" Seva stated. They way they spoke was still monotone, but there was slight rise of tension.

Now they needed to keep an eye on them while also being wary of enemy combatants. As they readjusted processing priorities, attention split between the two uninvited boarding party members and the task at hand, it seemed there was no practical solution except to indulge the others' expressed desire to “help”.

""Assist in locating an access to this ship's reactor systems,"" Seva ordered, taking a look around themselves – not just to located a potential access panel, but to identify any doors, any points of entry through which enemies might enter.

---

Perception Roll (Seva attempts to locate access to the reactor): 1D20+7 => 9

"Sure," Copperette agreed. She looked around, picking a direction at random. She redirected her disks, spreading them out and forming a sort of wall in front of her that advanced as she walked down a hallway.

Belgond took one look at the 'face' of the leader of this band of pirates before looking away coldly. Truthfully it wouldn't have mattered what species, race or gender the prick was, the fact that he was something of a vulture that preyed on the weak would have oozed through sooner or later.

Focusing on the task at hoof, Belgond quickly made use of the PA system to ask Borealis "If you can get in contact to co-ordinate with the station, I'll focus on keeping us alive. As much as Degree might want the lead ship of this fleet, tactically it needs to go. We can always salvage stuff from it later."

With that declared, Belgond decided on one last juggling act of the power; Since it was doubtful that they were going to be teleporting anyone else -onto- a ship, the teleporter could afford to loose a bit of power so that the Dawn's missiles were back online. There were four primary reasons that he was aiming for the leader's ship:

1. No allies aboard the ship to worry about.
2. Cut off the snake and the body will die; Or at least run around like a headless snake.
3. Logically it had the most dangerous weapons out of all three ships.
4: With the damage it had already taken, hitting it wasn't going to be hard.

A fifth, unofficial reason was because the captain had seen his face. Couldn't let the son of a bitch live after that.

While the missiles were coming back online, the zebra decided to aim all three of the Dawn's lazers right at the bridge of the leader's ship before firing them all at once.

Dice Rolls:

Looking around with great urgency, wanting to get this over with as soon as possible, Seva found their processes distracted, unsure of where to locate the reactor access. And of course they also needed to mind – where was Copperette?

Seva turned back towards one of the doors they swore they had been looking at not long ago, and there was Copperette, going down a hallway.

""Copperette, stop,"" Seva stated loudly, rushing over to the filly in question. Trying to nudge her the other way, she explained ""The objective is located back in the engine room, and it would be dangerous to explore this ship further – pirate personnel are onboard.""

"Huh?" Copperette snapped to attention, stopping to consider Seva's previous words. Locate an access to the ship's reactor systems. Reactor. She paused, holding unusually still as she contemplated the word. Oh. Right.

"... Oh. Right, sorry," she said apologetically, looking around at the engine room. What exactly were they trying to accomplish again? They needed to disable this ship. Well, if her experience with the Onset Dawn's engine room was any indicator, this was the ideal place to do it. She pondered her options, gazing around almost absent-mindedly at the machinery as she sought out inspiration...

Checks:

"I hear you," Borealis quickly flips back to the long range comms, trying to contact the station. "Junction B5, do you copy? This is the HMS Onset Dawn, we are carrying refugees from Daedalus-2, requesting immediate fire support. Our crew are neutralizing the two smaller corvettes but covering fire would be appreciated."

Degree
The crate apparently contains some fairly heavy machine parts, as it takes even the lean drake a few good shoves to get the cargo to tip over. The effect, however, is dramatic - the crate falls like an anvil, smashing into the floor with a resounding crunch. Somehow, Degree doubts the crunch is from the machine tools that spill out of the broken box.

Mere moments later, Degree's fiery pile-drive comes down like a meteor, and a strangled cough is the only response - aside from a squelch from the blood that's starting to spread across the floor. The male - a unicorn stallion - seems to have been flattened completely by a hydraulic hammer. The pegasus mare is almost equally wounded, with everything below her pelvis trapped under an engine block. As the flames die down, burning away at the pirates' skin, Degree sees that the mare is still alive and conscious, at least for the moment. The alarm begins to blare, and Degree estimates that he has maybe a few minutes until someone comes to check.

Copperette Seva
Having spent most of their time not on a military corvette but on a hospital barge, Seva is at something of a loss as they examine the engine block for the critical power supply. Copperette, meanwhile, spots a few things of interest. She recognizes the series of transparent tubes and pistons that keep getting filled with and drained of swirling clouds of magical particles. A similar component was on the Dawn, and Golden had pointed that out to be the reactor core. A console is nestled away in the corner, which can pretty easily be turned on, to her knowledge. She'll probably need a little help from Seva, though, if she wants to disable the ship through hacking. She could also interfere with the enchanting arrays that presumably keep the engines active, that shouldn't be too difficult, though it's not a permanent solution. Should throw a wrench in the pirate's plans, though.

Borealis Belgond
The laser beams cross the distance between the ships in a blink. One of the beams glance off the ship's curved hull, doing minimal damage, but the other two beams cut clean through the hull around the bridge, causing chunks of paneling to shear off - though not enough to compromise the structural integrity of the ship. Finally managing to wheel around, the ship - which is apparently named the Hail Stalker, according to the name stenciled to the front - lets off two quick blasts of roiling plasma. The first shot goes wide, and the next slams into a chunk of debris close to the ship, eating through the metal entirely. Without warning, a blast of gold comes from behind the Dawn, cutting across the path of one of the advancing ships and forcing them to retreat. Another few shots streak through space, driving the ship away from the dawn.

<<Onset Dawn, we're reading you loud and clear.>> The communication channel opens up again, and a glitchy male voice comes through. <<If you can, keep a few of them alive or avoid damaging their computers too much - our comms haven't picked up any signals at all the past few days and apparently they have intel about why that is.>>

"How. Many?" Degree seizes the mare roughly, digging his claws in her shoulder until it starts oozing blood. "No, you answer my question, then you die. How many are there?"

Persuasion: 1d20 + 10 = 21

Degree
The mare gasps in pain before coughing violently, spitting out a wad of blood before shuddering fearfully. "T-ten - there are... ten of us..."

Copperette tapped her chin as she considered the options, before turning to the robots in the room to explain.

"Okay, it looks like we get three options," she began. "Option one: I can disable the ship altogether, and it should be pretty easy," she explained, gesturing to the tubes feeding magic to the reactor core. (Or was it from?) "Buuuut, I don't know what else might get disabled if I do. We might not have lights, or air, or the medi-field, or anything." She shrugged as she moved on.

"Option two: I can probably disable just the engine, and it'll be moderately difficult," she said, gesturing to a series of gems that kept the enchantments in check. "But it'll be temporary, at best, and it won't help the three of us especially."

"Option three: We can try to hijack the control systems, and it'll take one or both of you with some help from me, but it shouldn't be too hard," she explained, pointing at the computer terminal. "But if it works we basically own the ship, as far as I can tell. I, personally, would vote for option three," she explained, looking at her companions. "What do you think?"

Degree bares his teeth, sinking his claws further in. "I don't give a crap about how many roaches are on board. How many slaves have you got shackled up? Answer me before I blow this ship to kingdom come."

Degree
"Four...!" The mare whimpers, her eyes suddenly widening as the claws dig deeper into her shoulder. She hisses, and when the pain becomes intolerable a scream escapes her lips, her limbs flailing weakly in a panic.

Copperette Seva
"We can assimilate the ship-" Sweetie Bot bounces on the spot excitedly. "It will be like the Third Battle of Argentum. There will be lasers and space dogfights and FUN. Option 3 will bring optimal chances of victory."

Degree snorts and unclenches his claw, drawing away from the mare. "If you're smart, you won't tell-" He pauses, eyeing the mare apprehensively. He needs the element of surprise. He can't risk her telling anyone. Leaning back down, He grabs her neck and starts to squeeze, until she falls unconscious. Or dies. Either works.

With that done, he looks up, and starts off as stealthily as he can to search for the slave quarters.

Stealth: 1d20 (9) + 18 = 27
Perception/Streetwise: 1d20 (11) + 10 = 21

Degree
The slave quarters are close to the engine room. In the state of emergency the doors to the quarters are locked down from the outside - the slaves can't open the door but Degree can do so easily - and a quick peek inside shows that there are four thin cots on the ground, and four fairly downtrodden looking ponies huddling in the corner, all earth ponies. The eldest looks to be around middle aged - a stallion - and the youngest, a filly, is just a little younger than Copperette. They look at Degree with fearful eyes.

Seva tilted their head off to the side for a moment as they considered Copperette's suggestions. It was curious to see Copperette feeling so certain after they didn't even realize they were wandering off into the wrong area to disable the reactor. Then again, Seva was usually competant themselves, though they were not sure how to work this reactor themselves. Perhaps Copperette was not used to this particular ship configuration in some ways.

""Option Three presents the most ideal outcome. We support this course of action.""

While the lazers might not have done the job that was required of them, there was no denying that the lead ship of the pirates would no doubt be feeling the pressure of that last barrage. However, the message from the station caused him to pause before he attempted to launch a missile barrage to finish the job; As much as he hated to admit it, the captain of that damn ship was the most likely pony to know anything important and that made him a VIP... failing that, the computers on his bridge would most likely contain important information as well.

There was also the risk that the death or disablement of the lead ship would cause the other two to flee with their crew mates on it...

After a few seconds of thought, he sighed as he decided to send to the station while he redirected the missile lock from the lead ship's bridge to their last remaining engine. "This is the Onset Dawn. We have crew members attempting boarding actions on the two lesser of the three pirate ships. Would humbly request that you attempt disable rather then destroy hostile ships." With that message sent, the missiles would be fired.

"Great!" Copperette said, trotting over to the terminal. She looked it over, choosing to ignore the displayed interface in favor of carefully removing a side panel to look at the internals.

Copperette didn't quite understand what hacking was - she wasn't even familiar with the term. What she did understand was locks. Locks were designed to be opened - after all, why lock something up if you can't get it out again? You may as well chuck it off a cliff somewhere. She understood well enough that the controls were "locked", it was just a matter of opening it.

Eventually, she observed a familiar looking rune among the tangle of wires and boards. It was a simple thing - it took magical signals, flipped them, and sent them on their way. It was used as a sort of magical traffic director, sending signals in the appropriate directions. This one looked fairly major - this was, evidently, where most of the various signals eventually passed. Perfect.

"Come here, Sweetie," she said to the robotic filly. Her horn lit up, illuminating the appropriate contacts. "Let me see that wire thingy and I'll plug you in. You should be able to redirect the signal traffic from there - I need you to direct it from the interface, around the security systems, and back to the rest of it," she explained, using her hooves to gesture as she spot-welded Sweetie's cable to the traffic rune...

Enchanting 2/3:

Degree pauses, holding up a claw to his lips - keep quiet. Leaving the door slightly ajar, he backs away, and blending into the shadows, starts to make his way to the bridge.

Actions:

Seva looked over the area that Sweetie had started work upon. Looking for connections to make in the hardware, they held out their hoof.

""Engaging hardware rejunctioning.""

A few flagella-like sections of nanomachine material peeled off of Seva's hoof and started to connect to different sections, trying to make connections that would otherwise not be there to ease the process.

---

Mechanics Roll (Seva attempts to assist the hacking effort): 1D20+10 => 17

Degree
The ship isn't large, and it only takes a short while for Degree to locate the bridge. It doesn't take much for Degree to sneak into the bridge, still melded into the shadows, and he can see that the bridge is dominated by a large central holo-display, showing a 3D model of the battlefield. The ship is bearing down on the Dawn, but is kept at bay by the energy lance blasts from the station. There are four lightly barded crew members - all ponies of various kinds manning auxiliary stations - scanners, communications and whatnot, two more well armored ponies, a unicorn and a pegasus, each manning the piloting station and the weapons, and another two, even more well armed griffons standing guard at each side of the bridge. One of the griffons seems to be issuing commands to the others.

Copperette Seva
Sweetie Bot's eyes glow brightly, streams of data visible on her green irises. Her voice, more digital than before, reports, "Initiating soft access..." A faint humming can be heard as she slowly makes her way through firewalls and security measures, occasionally jumping past hoops with help from Seva's nano machines. The humming gradually turns into a soft rhythm that is reminiscent of a lullaby - though Sweetie seems wholly focused on the hacking process. Make a single mistake, and she could trip any number of system alarms.

After what seems like an eternity, her eyes dim down, and what can be interpreted as a sigh can be heard. "Access granted. Movement and weapon systems hijacked."

Alarms begin to blare.

"...oops."

Hoofsteps can be heard approaching from the distance. "Life signatures approaching. Three - four individuals. ETA one minute."

Degree looks around for a few moments before heading to the holo-display, lighting a very visible flame, before fishing for a flashbang canister out of the holster and pulls the pin, letting it drop audibly onto the projector of the holo-display, using the few seconds delay to duck for cover.

Actions:

Degree
The pirates look up in surprise at the purple flame suddenly appearing in the middle of the room - and even more so at the canister that seemingly appeared out of nowhere. One of the griffons approaches the canister warily, and - THOOM - the room is flooded in a blinding flash of light that sends most the pirates stumbling, clutching their eyes in pain. The griffons appear to be mostly unaffected - still disoriented, but evidently they're more well trained as the moment they realize what the canister is they immediately averted their eyes.

All enemies sans griffon raiders are blinded, save ends!

Degree gets a surprise round!

---

Initiative Order:
Degree
Literally Every Pirate On The Ship
(Breaks down into Recruits 1 to 4, Crew 1 and 2, and Raider 1 and 2)

Taking advantage of his quickly-wearing-off invisibility, Degree takes careful aim with the Burninator, and first, launches a flare into the first griffon raider's face to throw them off, before pivoting on the spot and unleashing a breath of dragonflame on the other griffon raider - despite the overwhelming odds, Degree's lips curls into a wry grin as adrenaline pumps through his limbs and his inner flame flares out, the burning of his enemies filling him with strength.

Not missing a single beat, fire bursts from beneath his scales again, the self-immolation continuing to feed his battlerage. But this time, instead of focusing on whittling away at his enemies, Degree digs even deeper, channeling all the dragonflame he could muster, bringing it to the surface but not letting it go. The magical flames builds in power and pressure, but still he keeps it all contained under his scales until it feels as though his very skin will rip from his flesh-

"Let's dance, scumbags." Degree growls, and in a single burst of dragonflame, immolates the entire room, setting everything, and everyone, on fire. Purple flames dance around him as he cackles maniacally, hefting his Burninator like a giant club.

---

Surprise Round:

Round1:

Degree
In the roaring inferno of purple flame, the four lightly armored ponies don't even stand a chance - charred to a crisp, they're bodily knocked back by the wave of heat that accompanies the fire. The griffons stand firm, however, and the remaining crew immediately draw laser rifles that they train on Degree. Even disoriented and blinded by the flashbang, the shots cut through the purple flames and blasts Degree. One of the griffons simply stays back, surveying the situation, while the other draws a plasma pistol and fires a clean shot into Degree's chest as well.

Degree takes 7+1+5 damage and is weakened, save ends.

Crew 1 saves against Ongoing damage.

---

Initiative Order:
Degree
Literally Every Pirate On The Ship
(Crew 1 and 2, and Raider 1 and 2)