CHammer

War for the Ragnarok Array

Whoops, did everyone just fall into the October slump?

War for the Ragnarok Array

Mercury-class CIC

Example of a Mercury-class Battlestar's CIC (Battlestar 'Pegasus')

C.I.C.
Battlestar 'Lysander'

On the bridge of 'Lysander', a shout went up from the Battlestar's comms station. Snapping her head up from where she had been looking at the positional map table, CDR Cunningham inquired, "Yes, Ensign?"

"Transmission intercept from the surface, ma'am." the fresh-faced officer replied, twisting a dial to try and get better reception. "You better hear this."

That got the Commander's attention. With her XO nodding to her to accept it, she ordered, "Put it up on speaker, Mr Evans. Channel 1MC."

With a click from the speakers, the somewhat garbled, rambling transmission filtered in over the bridge's tannoy:

Transmission

To anyone who might be out there, for the love of whatever god is listening I hope you get this and get it fast!

We've been on the run this past month or so, fuck knows I didn't keep track. Soldiers, monsters, hell god-fucking-damned sorcerers showed up in the mix! It's been a shitshow from the start and we were caught with our pants down. Despite it all we managed to make our way south, us and some other folk we found along the way. Then met up with some... well tribals I'd guess you'd call them, said they were gods or some such bullshit. They were camped around some huge generator or something, I don't fucking know. Anyways, for a while it seemed like a safe place, they were strong, stronger than any of us that's for sure. But out of the blue a bunch of Road-Warrior rejects showed up and set the place ablaze. Some of us fought, most of us hid while the tribe went to meet them in force. It didn't take long for the bunch of savages to get ripped apart by the bastards.

We ran as quick as we could when the chief's head was cleaved off his shoulders and dashed on the rocks. I ain't fucking around man, these psychos got all sorts of weird grimy-lookin' tech on 'em. Big guns, mechanical arms, blades and spikes all over 'em. Hooping and hollerin' like a bunch of dumb animals as they wen't round rippin' out innards and quartering bodies. It was about a a day and two nights before they were done, and we heard their buggies and trucks roaring behind us. We scattered, different folks from different groups spreading out so some of us could try and make it out. Not many of us made it this far, found some big ass fort and locked it up tighter than a virgin in Gomorrah. Wasn't long before they found the place and now they're beating down all the fucking walls around us. Don't know who's out there, if anyone is, but help us out and we'll owe you, big. Sending coordinates out, and just gonna hope something worse than those bastards doesn't come a knockin'.

Fuck it.

The tail end of the transmission dies with a crackle of static and Ensign Evans killed the line. Sighing, Cunningham paced her end of the table, examining the still sketchy terrain dradus map that had been compiled by her pilots over the past month.

"Co-ordinates for that transmission, Mr Evans?" Stephanie gritted.

"Dradus bearing 484 canum 159." Evans rattled off; he hastily jotted down the latitude and longitude before passing it up to Cunningham's XO.

"Ma'am, that grid places us within several clicks of Base Alpha's location." the Major added, passing the slip of paper to his superior officer. "But Varrnes' men won't be able to make it on foot. Not in time, if this is anything to go by."

"Agreed, Major. I want a Marine platoon and a flight of Assault Raptors scrambled. Get Green and Red Squadrons off of CAP and have them escort the birds in."

"Yes, ma'am." Major Paulson replied, reaching for his tannoy receiver.

Cunningham reached for her own receiver and, once the brief 'ping' of white noise died, her voice boomed over the ship-wide tannoy, "All hands, go to Combat Alert Level 2. Scramble Blue and Grey Squadrons for CAP. This is the commander..."

War for the Ragnarok Array

@Lmpkio@CHammer Do we want to collab our stuff before I post, so we can get it all out at once?

@Zarkun

I wouldn't mind, either, however I'm probably going to be extremely busy today.

War for the Ragnarok Array

*shrugs* Whatever works. Just bear in mind that you'll have a squad of power-armoured fellows, a scond Ghost and a Sspectre also coming in in due course as well.

War for the Ragnarok Array

Post done. Also added introduction of the Battlestar 'Lysander' and outlined their general situation at the moment.

War for the Ragnarok Array

With extraction now inbound, Nova could settle down for the moment until the evac aircraft got close. Well, comparatively speaking - in the middle of this sand storm, however, she had to keep herself alert for trouble. Picking up her rife once again, she got up into a crouch and began to wait out the storm, trying to ignore the sand that was being driven against her face and cheekbones.

She couldn't tell how long she had been there, but as she cast her psionic senses wide to try and supplement her reduced visibility, she thought she detected a pinprick of a presence in the back of her mind. Where, though, she was not certain. Calming herself, she tightened her grip on her rifle, carefully listening to this unknown's surface thoughts as she waited.

You've got me dead to rights, she thought to herself as her finger hovered above her C-20A's trigger guard. And yet you're not firing at me. Why?

One wrong move on either of their parts and this tense situation would diverge into a firefight that Nova was neither keen on getting into, or would not want to fight in the middle of this storm ...

---

PER ARDUA AD ASTRA

Battlestar 'Lysander'
In geo-synchronous orbit of the Array
31 days since 'arrival' from Scorpio

Ship's Time - 1037hrs

On the far orbit of the Array, a ship - far more clunkier in appearance compared to the dagger-like form of the Empire's Star Destroyers - hovered above the eastern orbit of the Array. Here and there, once can make out the blue-white sparks of arc welders as crewmen in EVA suits continued to make repairs to clearly-damaged sections of the ship, while arrow-like fighters buzzed around the ship on their assigned C.A.P.s.

CTN Stephanie Cunningham

A 'close-as' reference of Captain S. Cunningham's appearance

Onboard and in the comparatively crammed bulkheads that made up Captain Stephanie Cunningham's office, she was in the middle of a meeting with her XO (MAJ Silas Paulson). The latter - a wiry man within his 40s - was rattling off a list from a clipboard containing more and more bad news for the morning.

"We've hove to for damage inspection for Decks 6, 18 and 19 ..." he droned. "But we estimate that complete repairs to external armour would not be ready for another three days. We're also in the middle of scrubbing our systems for any signs of a possible Cylon virus-"

"Just-" Cunningham held up a hand to stop Paulson. "Just leave the information on my desk, Major. I'll go over it myself. What's the status of Base Alpha?"

Paulson placed the clipboard onto his CO's desk. "The one in the rainforest? Well, we've established communications from groundside and Colonel Verran assure me his men have established a safe perimeter around the structure we had recon'd earlier. However, beyond that, exploration of the surrounding area is slow; vegetation is thick in some areas to the point where ground and aerial recon is nearly impossible. Verran is requesting reinforcements to bolster security in the area, but with our limited Marine compliment on-board, I just don't see how he's going to be able to get what he needs."

Cunningham nodded, glancing down as she began to flick through her XO's report. "And our fighters?"

"Red and Green Squadrons are on CAP rotation as we speak. LT Grant and his boys and girls are on station until 1200 hrs. LT Ash and her squadron are on Alert 4 standby status in case 'Lysander' gets jumped."

Stephanie looked up at Paulson, a slight smile on her face, as she nodded to the Major. "Thank you, Major. That'll be all for now."

Paulson nodded to Cunningham and, with a brisk "Ma'am." about-turned and exited Cunningham's office. The captain waited until he was outside and the vault-like door clanged shut, before she dropped her demeanor and put her forehead into a hand.

"What a frakking mess." she muttered, returning her attention to the report.

War for the Ragnarok Array

"We're in route, Terra. Pop flares in two mikes so we know where to land."

"Negative! Negative!" the reply crackled back to Rave.

Back at her position, Nova tried to make herself heard as she took a knee, struggling to keep herself upright within the swirling clouds of dust as she cradled her rifle in her gauntlets. "I'm caught in the middle of a storm system and can't ID my position with flares! Not as if I even have any on hand right now."

A breath passed through gritted teeth as she lowered her visor. With no orbital satellites or data uplinks that it could consult, her visor was practically useless as a map reference tool, but it could still allow her to see through the grit. She radioed, "My visor's positioning system is down as well! I'll try and indicate my location once you're in range, but you're probably going to have to fly by instruments to get here!"

A bitter laugh passed through before she signed off with: "No chance of me going anywhere, anyway. Terra out."

Setting her equipment pack down and bundling her cloak around her (while keeping her rifle on hand), Nova sat herself down in place, trying to keep the sand out as she began what would likely be a long wait for her exfiltration ...

War for the Ragnarok Array

@CHammer

Approved. May want to expand your OoB a bit.

For your character, TR 1 with 3 PP

@Red Alice

That'll be a bit difficult to get blood out of a stone - there's only 248 craft total on-board.

If you mean phrasing and wording, I'll see what I can do

War for the Ragnarok Array

(Reposting for Examination)

LT Christopher Grant

Name: Christopher Grant
Callsign: 'Stick'

Appearance: Stands at 6'1", Caucasian complexion, buzzcut brown hair with some sideburn stubble, blue-irised eyes and possesses a weedy build. Generally not seen out of his 'work blues' (Naval BDU uniform) or (while spaceborn) his pilot's EVA suit.

Age: 28
Race: Human (Colonial)
Gender: Male
Origin: Battlestar Galactica (2000s series)

Objectives: Personal objectives will vary depending on the operation and day. If there's a long term objective Chris (and, indeed, his comrades and commander) holds, it is to return home to find out what had happened to it.

Temperament: Sound and calm behind the controls of his fighter and generally cares about his squadron mates (especially fellow squadron leader Rebecca Ash ('Beck' in informal situations or ones requiring brevity). Otherwise acts as a human would in every other situation (horrify him and he'll cringe or panic, tell a good joke and he'll laugh, etc).

Affiliation: Red Squadron, Battlestar 'Lysander', Colonial Navy
Alignment: Lawful Good

Background Summary

A competent pilot who had been more used to the peace-time of th Cylon-Human Armistice that ended the First Cylon War, Christopher had no idea what he was going to be getting into in the year leading up to the fall of the Twelve Colonies. A pilot with a generally excellent flying record and who had recently been 'fast-tracked' to the junior officer rank of Lieutenant, Grant eventually found himself aboard the newest Battlestar in the fleet ('Lysander') as a squadron commander.

While he quickly began to apply the ropes he had learned during his officer raining (and with guidance by his fellow class-mate, turned Green Squadron leader Rebecca Ash), Grant ultimately could not expect or prepare himself for the moment the Cylons returned to the galactic scene in explosive fashion. Unable to return to return to his homeworld of Aires and helpless as his pilots were forced to stay aboard as 'Lysander' charged towards the exit node away from Scorpio, all he could do was hang on for the ride.

The emergence above what has been termed the Ragnarok Array' and the month spent establishing orbital and ground presence has seen Grant take on a dual role as both a Viper Squadron CO and as a replaement bridge officer (owing to losses sustained at Scorpio). Like the majority fo the crew, Grant is eager to return home and to find out what happened to the Colonies. Unfortunately, with more immediate concerns and with no way back to Korbal for anyone, that wish is now on nigh-indefinite hold.

Skills: Apart from basic competencies expected of any member of the Colonial Navy, Grant has piloting experience on both the Viper Mk VII and the Raptor multi-role assault craft. As a squadron leader, he is expected to be able to fight against the enemy, be aware of his squadron's locations and be able to take the initiative at any moment - no easy task when your brain has to be capable of doing at least four things at once.

Abilities: None
Equipment:

• Personal sidearm
• EVA flight suit
• Formal and 'work' uniforms
• Viper Mk VII fighter craft

Protagonist Points: 3
Threat Rating: 1

Battlestar BST-79 'Lysander'

Faction Name: Battlestar Group 79
Leader: CDR Stephanie Cunningham

Ship Heraldry:

An example of a ship's 'seal' (in this example, the iconic BST-75 'Galactica')

Top Arc: “Battlestar Lysander”
Bottom Arc: “BST 79”

Mottos:
“Strike Swift and Sure!” (Battlestar Group 79's motto)
“So Say We All!” (common refrain among the Twelve Colonies)

Alignment: Lawful Good

Universe of Origin: Battlestar Galactica (2000s series) (AU, User-created ship)
Starting Situation: Void-Based, Bloodied

Background

The third-last Mercury-class Battlestar produced for the Colonial Navy of the Twelve Colonies of Man, 'Lysander' was commissioned as part of Battlestar Group 79, acting as the flagship of a group consisting of 'Lysander', three Defender-class Battlestars and a flotilla of mothballed Marauder-class corvettes.

Having spent a year patrolling the border of the Colonial-Cylon Armistice Zone, 'Lysander' was recalled to rendevous at the Scorpio Shipyards in order to be outfitted with new computational hardware and software, including the Computational Navigation Program (CPN). However, BGS-79 had been diverted and returned late. By then, the shipyards were burning and swarmed by a Cylon invasion force. Forty years of peace had been broken and the instrument of the Fleet's destruction had been a back door in, ironically, the very program the Battlestar was due to be refitted with.

With no other way out except to punch their way through a trio of Cylon Basestars, Commander Cunningham gave orders for her battlegroup's subordinate craft to veer away and either engage at their discretion or to return to their homeworlds. With the nominal jump exit out from Scorpio blocked off, Cunningham ordered the initiation of a 'blind' jump, all the while the Battlestar was being hammered by fighter-borne nuclear missiles and anti-ship fire. Narrowly able to limp away (and, unknown to them in the chaos, with their sister ship 'Pegasus' also retreating), the 'Lysander' succeeded in initiating their 'blind' jump … and disappeared.

One month after their arrival at the Ragnarok Array, the crew of the 'Lysander' have been busy with damage repair, coming to terms with the loss of much of their fleet (unknown to them, the entire Twelve Colonies were also wiped out) and keeping their immediate space clear of interference. While Commander Cunningham plans to begin further exploration afield, early encounters with unidentified spacecraft had blunted exploration efforts and resulted in casualties and further damage. 'Lysander' is well-equipped to withstand a major battle, but no-one aboard has any idea where they are, why they are here or that there are far worse things then Cylons both in orbit and below ...

Officers:

• Battlestar Commander: CDR S. Cunningham (NPC). The 40s-something, somewhat embittered commander of 'Lysander'. An expert naval tactican who knows how to use her Battlestar and its crew to the fullest, but is struggling with both recent events and as-of-yet unidentifiable foes facing her men.
• Executive Officer (XO): (Open)
• Marine Commander: (Open)
• Red Squadron Leader: Christopher Grant (PC)
• Green Squadron Leader: Rebecca Ash (NPC). Grant's counterpart and friend. Somewhat joking and a bit of a tease, but also a firm hand when frak goes south.
• Six additional Viper Squadron Commanders
• Commander of Battlestar's Raptor Wing

Victory Conditions: TBD by Admin.

Special Resources:

Tylium Ore
A rare ore found on certain planetoids, tylium ore is the primary fuel source of the Colonial Fleet. In theory, a Battlesrat of either Jupiter or Mercury class could be powered for two decades with a single supply of Tylium for its reactors. In practise – and with full flight operations occurring regularly – the onboard supply could be exhausted in as little as four months by constant FTL jumps and the requirements of its subordinate craft.

It could be said that, without the mining and distribution of this ore, the Twelve Colonies of Man and its Navy would cease to function.

Order of Battle

Skirmish
1 or 2 Viper flights, with 1 or more Raptors acting as AWACS.

Battle
3+ Viper squadrons, with at least 2 Assault Raptor flights as bombers and 2 Raptors configured for AWACS. 1 or more Marine units aboard transport Raptors (if battle is groundside).

Climax
All Viper and Assault Raptor squadrons are scrambled to engage the enemy, while 'Lysander' provides anti-fighter screening and direct fire support. Marine-carrying Raptors (with infantry) may also be utilised if engagement is taking place ground-side (e.g.: the storming of New Caprica) or boarding a ship is required.

Nuclear missile launch may be authorised under strict, generally "no-'win'-otherwise" scenarios.

Starting Location: Orbit above the Array. One Node within the southern rainforest area (salmon pink on the map).

Battlestar Lysander (BST-79)

Name: Battlestar 'Lysander'
Class: Battlestar (Mercury)

Dimensions:
Length: 1600 meters
Width: 678 meters (approx.)
Height: 331 meters (approx.)

Crew Compliment: 2,300 (maximum), 1,950 (current)

Armament:

• 4 Heavy Kinetic Energy Weapons (bow; fixed) (primary)
• 30 x 2 K.E.W./HAA turrets (multiple locations; secondary)
• 322 Point Defence turrets (multiple locations; anti-fighter/anti-missile)
• 10 nuclear ICBMs (dorsal bow) (fixed, retractable) (authorised deployment only)

Aircraft:

• 8 squadrons of Viper Mk VII fighters (approx. 200 craft)
• 4 squadrons of Raptor multi-role craft (48 craft)

Total Compliment: 248 aircraft.

Special Features:

• Flight simulator training facilities
• Viper and Raptor Repair and Manufacturing Facilities
• 80 magnetic launch tubes (72 Viper, 6 Raptor; flight pod mounted)

Faction Theme: 'Against All Tyrants' (Destiny of the Chosen (Immediate Music))

War for the Ragnarok Array

Posted once again with Nova and finished off m application for Battlestar 'Lysander'. Took me long enough.