>>45969783
>UNFUCK YOURSELF, MAGE!

>>45969783
>UNFUCK YOURSELF, MAGE!

>>45969904
I wuld aklso like to know the capabilities of our teleporter. Can we drop Ophelia right on the enemy's heads? Maybe even inside their ship?
Can we use it as a tactical transport, for that matter?

>>45969953
The teleporter has a roughly 100km range, enough to send a mage to the ground from low orbit around an earth-like planet, if the ship is directly overhead the destination. But the Nimbus is currently burning to intercept the freighter's expected flight path, so she's not in the proper position to teleport Ophelia down somewhere useful.

>>45970089
How about evacuating others, if it comes to that?

>>45970332
Same range and limitations.

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>>45969783

“Maserati... Riko, can you hear me?” you say softly, gently.

“Y-yes sir...”

“UNFUCK YOURSELF, MAGE!” You bellow at the top of your lungs. On the screen you see the poor mage jump from the shock and out of the corner of your eye the rest of the bridge startles from the surprise as well. Your previous skipper had a talent for this sort of thing, as a junior officer had described it, “information transfer via frequency modulation because the amplitude is fucking maxed”, and as a newly minted captain you’re doing your best to follow in his hallowed footsteps.

“GET OFF YOUR FAT ASS! I DON’T CARE IF YOU GIVE A FLYING FUCK ABOUT YOUR OWN LIFE, BUT SO HELP ME KAISER IF YOU GET RENAULT KILLED I’M GOING TO CLONE YOUR USELESS BLOODY CORPSE AND BLOW YOU UP AGAIN MYSELF! NOW MAKE LIKE A TROOPER AND START THROWING FIREWORKS UP LIKE ITS UNIFICATION DAY!”

Maserati freezes up entirely, not even trembling anymore. That’s a start.

“RIGHT HAND UP IN THE AIR! POINT IT AT THE SKY LIKE IT’S SATURDAY NIGHT!”

The ship’s doctor looks horrified and is moving her lips, making words, but she physically can’t make herself heard above your spiel of commanding officer rage.

Maserati’s hand comes up robotically, index finger pointed up at the sky.

“NOW SHOOT! SHOOT LIKE YOU’RE BALLS DEEP IN A BELKAN WHORE WITH THE DICK YOU DON’T HAVE!”

“Aaaaarrreeeeeaaaaaaaaaahhh!” Something snaps in the verbally abused girl and she lets out a crazed warcry. A huge magic circle materializes on the ground around her mount’s feet, large enough to encompass the giant lizard entirely, something more suited for a full squad of artillery mages preparing long-range saturation bombardment than a single young girl like her. A similarly sized circle appears centered on the tip of her finger, and then she’s shooting out enough magic bullets to make a warship envious.

>>45971146

Most of Maserati’s effort is randomly spraying in all directions, true, but it’s saturating the sky like you need it to as the missiles come down. One missile blows up in midair, then another, their plots disappearing from the tactical screen. Then they’re right on top of the mages-

“Renault, load cartridge and barrier the both of you!” you command.

“You don’t need to micromanage me, cap!” she screams back, but she’s doing exactly that, slamming a pair of cartridges in place one in each arm. “Dome Wall!” she strikes the ground with both fists at the same time, and a hemispherical wall of shimmering energy rises up from the ground, curving in on itself and meeting at the single point at the top to complete the half-sphere seconds before impact.

The explosion throws up a cloud of sand and smoke that obscures the video feed for a few seconds, before a gust of wind from within the cloud clears it all away. “Rose-Marie here. We’re fine! Riko too, the big crybaby.” Renault is on the move again, rollerblading on tank treads towards the outpost. She weaves left and right and has one hand held up sustaining a shield in front of her as she enters small arms range. The smugglers open fire, bullets throwing up puffs of sand and bouncing off her shield with flashes of sparks and magic.

Maserati wipes her eyes and sniffles before digging her heels into her lizard’s sides, following close behind Renault. “I’m not a crybaby!” she protests, as if she has something to prove.

>>45971666

“Sir!” comms officer Lowran announces, “we’ve re-established contact with Ohno! Putting her on screen now!”

The screen shows an unconscious pink-haired girl lying in a small crater, her barrier jacket burned and torn in places. She still clutches her Device in her right hand, and her left leg is bent at a wrong angle where it shouldn’t be.

“Vitals are stable, but she’s unconscious,” Lowran continues, stating the obvious.

“She needs help, captain,” ship’s doctor Claren insists, staring at you coldly after your earlier outburst.

>Have both ground mages fall back to help her.
>Have one of the ground mages fall back to help her.
>She’s stable. Press the attack with both mages.

>>45971730
Sorry that took longer than expected. I'll try to have more frequent and slightly shorter updates!

>>45971730
>Have one of the ground mages fall back to help her.

Meserati,go. Renault, hold

>>45971730
>She’s stable. Press the attack with both mages.
>But try to move the ground mages' attack vector to block enemy's path to her.

Trying to help her now will only make targets of both her and the helpers.

>>45971730
Alright, this is good
>>45971837


deleting my vote

>>45971837
Go for this.

>>45971730
>She’s stable. Press the attack with both mages.

Calling it for
>She’s stable. Press the attack with both mages.
with a side of
>But try to move the ground mages' attack vector to block enemy's path to her.
because it's a smart idea.

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>>45971730

“Renault, Maserati, come around ninety degrees to port and approach the camp at bearing one-one-seven.” That would put them in between the smugglers and Ohno’s crash site, should the outlaws try to do anything funny. Claren glares daggers at you but refrains from challenging you out loud.

The desert offers little cover, but the missile launchers seem unable to launch a second salvo without their radar truck. Rifles crack, and even a crew-served machinegun hammers away, but they fail to get past the mages’ shields while they reposition as ordered. The mages return fire with a few shots of their own, keeping heads down, but the opposition is dug in too deep for them to do any real damage at range, either.

“Rose-Marie here. We’re in position. The buggers are dug in too deep for bombardment, permission to engage with strike arts, sir?”

>Stick to the plan. While the ground mages attack, the Nimbus (and Ophelia) stays in orbit as backup to intercept the freighter if it manages to take off.
> All hands, prepare for atmospheric re-entry! Nimbus for medevac and air support!

>>45972771

>> All hands, prepare for atmospheric re-entry! Nimbus for medevac and air support!

>>45972771
>All hands, prepare for atmospheric re-entry! Nimbus for medevac and air support!
>Teleport Ophelia as close to the freighter as possible and have her try to disable it.

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>>45972771
“Ground Mages, go! Remember, your first priority is the freighter. Take out its engines before it takes off. Take care of yourselves – we’ll be out of contact for a few minutes.”

“No problem,” Renault sounds a little puzzled, “but why... oh.... oh I see!”

“See you on the other side, mage. Nimbus, out.”

You turn to the bridge crew. “All hands, prepare for atmospheric re-entry.”

All hands are shocked into silence for a second. “I said, all hands prepare for atmospheric re-entry,” you repeat. “There’s a casualty down there who needs medevac and mages who need air support, and the Nimbus can provide both. Helm, give us a flight path that takes us over the camp. Make it happen!”

“But sir, we haven’t tested the heat-“ Harlaown, your executive officer, begins to protest, but you cut her off. Technically, the L-class vessels like the Nimbus are rated for atmospheric re-entry. In practice, most captains privately question whether the aging ships will fall apart under the stress of such.

“Now’s not the time to second guess ourselves. Ohno risked her life for us, and now it’s our duty to do the same for her. Doctor, you might want to prepare the med bay for incoming,” you suggest.

“Aye-aye, sir,” Claren salutes with new-found respect and takes her leave. The bridge is a flurry of activity as the crew gives the necessary orders to make the Nimbus ready for re-entry.

>>45973699
Bravado aside, re-entry places immense stress on a ship, and on one as old as the Nimbus the risk of breakup in atmosphere is very real.

Your first impression of the mages had been of a bunch of teenaged fuck-ups playing war, not even worth getting riled up over and barely meriting a facepalm at the time, but you committed them into combat nonetheless. Now you ask your ship to deliver, and you suspect that she will prove a tough old bitch rather than a prissy princess. If a captain does not have faith in his ship and crew, why would they have faith in him?

Of course, that your crew hasn’t immediately mutinied is a good sign. “Course plotted,” the helmsman calls out. “Sir, we don’t have time for a retrograde burn. It’s going to be an anti-radial burn, with high velocity re-entry and extended aerobraking.”

“As long as we don’t lithobrake,” you joke grimly.

“Shields and barriers online. Thrusters warm and standing by. On your command, sir.”

“Make it so.”

You are pushed sideways and upwards as the Nimbus swings her bow towards the camp and accelerates towards the planet surface. The smoothness of spaceflight is gradually replaced by the jolting and turbulence of the atmosphere. Everyone is strapped into their seats, and everything is bolted down, but despite that the chairs, controls and panels still clatter all over the place as the Nimbus shakes and shakes as though she is tearing herself apart.

The crew is calling out meaningless numbers, temperatures and pressures, power levels and integrities, as though they are still in control of the Nimbus. Either her shields hold preventing her from burning up in a fireball, and her structural integrity remains intact preventing her from breaking up into a million pieces, or they don’t. Either way, it’s out of your hands now.

“Comms blackout,” Lowran calls out. “We’re out of contact until we reach the lower atmosphere and slow down enough.”

>>45974405

>Ohno’s POV
>Maserati’s POV
>Renault’s POV

>>45974438
>Renault’s POV

>>45974438
>Ohno’s POV

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>>45974438

Lol when I forgot my trip like the noob I am.

Anyways, the next update's going to take a bit longer 'cuz I'm getting some food meanwhile.

>>45974571
Still open for votes though, in case it wasn't clear.

>>45975436
>Renault’s POV
give it a bit. KQ's running right now

>>45975794
Thank you based tiebreaker-sama!
Calling it for
>Renault’s POV

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>>45974438

With the Nimbus in atmospheric re-entry, maybe you, Rose-Marie Renault, will finally be able to get something done, now that you don’t have that incompetent captain who got Ohno shot down like five minutes into the mission trying to micromanage you.

Barrier jacket’s strong, mana reserves are good, and your blood’s all fired up. Mecha arms are fully functional, ready for both shooting and strike arts, and your tank legs are kicking up a desert storm behind you. You are finally, finally rumbling directly towards the enemy, after having redirected to the side presenting your flank to them for so long, all to cover for the captain’s mistake.

“Maserati, put up some covering fire if you’re done crying,” you tell her without bothering to look behind you.

You zigzag towards the enemy line, which consists mostly of infantry putting down single shots of rifle fire downrange at you, trying to lead your weaving movements. There’s also a machine gun nest and a turreted armoured vehicle putting long lines of tracers and the occasional explosive shell into the sands, respectively. Your left hand is raised up, sustaining the shield that’s keeping bullets and shrapnel away from your fleshy body.

At least Maserati isn’t locked up anymore. Her lizard is roaring not too far behind you and a few beams of magic are passing by you on either side, forcing some of the shooters to duck.

>Shoot!
>More shields!
>Spin up the drill!

>>45978066
>More shields!

I don't like you laready, Renault. Even your battle bikini won't make me like you now.

>>45978066
>More shields!

>>45978066
>>>More shields!

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>>45978066
>More shields!

With your right hand you raise another shield, and now you are nigh invincible, so you stop zigzagging and charge straight ahead.

The machinegun zeroes in on you and sends a unwavering stream of bullets to break uselessly against your protective spell. Not even an explosive round from the armoured vehicle can slow you down, it merely splashing harmlessly against your shield.

Keeping your shield up does drain your mana at a slightly faster rate than you’re comfortable with, but being able to close the distance in a straight line means you don’t have to keep it up for as long.

As you get closer, you start getting bullets coming in from wider angles. Shields only protect from one direction; barriers are the omnidimensional spell. But you have two shields up, so you angle them one on each side to protect yourself in an 180 degree arc in front of you.

>Infantry first
>Machine gun nest first
>Armored vehicle first
>Actually, while you’re tanking all the bullets, Maserati can break through to the freighter. If she doesn’t screw it up, that is.

>>45978705
>Armored vehicle first
It will serve as cover while we thrash it.
Then pick it up and throw at the machinegun

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>>45978705
The armored vehicle is a big fat target. It’s front protected by an earthern berm, only the top of the vehicle and its turret is exposed. It’s main cannon and coaxial machine guns fire again into your shields to no avail. Imagining the panicked looks on the faces of the poor shmucks inside brings a fierce grin to your own face as you roll right up close enough to touch it.

You take a magic-assisted leap several meters in the air, the riflemen caught off guard and unable to react in time, the vehicle’s weapons unable to traverse fast enough to follow you. Your right hand is already revving up and spinning in a drill by the time you land directly on top of the vehicle’s turret. With such a short spin-up time you’re unlikely to chew through its armor, but the hatch is another matter entirely.

You make short work of the hinges with your drill, grip the hatch with your free hand, and tear it off entirely. The vehicle’s commander stares up at you in disbelief. You give him a smile and a wave before you fire a simple knockout spell into the interior and drop over the side. There’s a flash of light as it goes off and renders the crew unconscious.

The rifles find you again, spitting bullets in your direction. With your shields spent your barrier jacket’s absorbing the brunt of the hits, and more worryingly the machine-gun is swinging around in your direction. You bend your knees, get a good grip on the bottom of the vehicle, and lift. Even reinforced with magic, your arms and legs groan as they support twenty tons of steel. The incoming fire slows down, no doubt people too in awe of your feat to react.

And then you throw.

The machinegun’s crew scatter out of the way just in time as the vehicle lands, crushing the nest and its contents into so much scrap metal.

“Renault, status.” Damn it, it’s the captain’s voice again.

You are the captain of the TSL Nimbus, now in Uninhabited World Number 117’s arid atmosphere.

“Hull temperature dropping.” “Anti-grav steady.” “Re-entry procedure finished, we have flight!” The reports coming in from the bridge crew are favorable.

The screens flicker back to life, the first one showing an external view of your ship, her hull red-hot but still in once piece. Telemetry from your mages comes in one by one, Ohno waking, Renault throwing – throwing! an entire vehicle at the smugglers, Maserati smacking people with a long stick from lizard-back while her mount breathes magic fire.

“Bring us within teleport range of Ohno’s position,” you order.

“Already there. Locked onto her coordinates, sir!” the crewwoman in charge of the teleporter reports.

“Beam her up already!” That done, you move on. “Interdictor status at the camp?”

“They’ve got one active,” Lowran responds. About five minutes after the teleporter was invented and the potential to teleport troops behind enemy lines was realized, the interdictor was invented to prevent exactly that from happening within a radius of several kilometers. He brings up an overhead layout of the hideout’s buildings, one of them highlighted. Your mages will have to go out of their way to reach it. “The freighter’s engines are going houuut!” He announces, voice cracking from the suddenness. “We’ve got a few minutes at most before it takes off!”

>>45979854
>Take out the interdictor and teleport Ophelia in right next to the freighter!
Subchoices:
>Ground Mages, prioritize the interdictor and take it out.
>Take a shot with the Nimbus’s Augusto cannon. It’s not a question of whether there will be collateral damage with evidence possibly destroyed, the question is how much.


>Ignore the interdictor and send Ophelia out as close as possible. All mages break through to the freighter!

>>45979973
>Ignore the interdictor and send Ophelia out as close as possible. All mages break through to the freighter!
I want Renault a chance to utterly fuck things up through no fault of the Captain.

>>45979973
>Ignore the interdictor and send Ophelia out as close as possible. All mages break through to the freighter!

It seems like breakong through to the interdictor and the freighter would take about the same time, so why waste it?
But have Ophelia advance along the freighter's predicted flight path.

>>45980046

>Ignore the interdictor and send Ophelia out as close as possible. All mages break through to the freighter!

>>45979973
“Ground mages, the freighter has started up its engines. Disengage and proceed to the objective. Repeat, disengage and proceed to the objective, don’t let it take off!”

“I heard you the first time,” Renault shoots back. The sound of gunfire in the background is… much subdued, actually, she must be mopping up the last of the resistance. Without force multipliers, mundane weaponry stands little chance against trained mages, after all. “Maserati, rein in your pet lizard already and follow me! Damn it, mic’s still on.”

You call the ship’s doctor next. “How’s Ohno doing?” you ask.

“She’s stable.” Claren’s voice turns suspicious. “You’re not thinking of sending her out again in her state, are you?”

“Of course not,” you quickly deny, and move on to the next call, in the teleporter pad.

“Ophelia reporting in.”

“I’m deploying you as close to the freighter as the interdictor allows. We’re no longer in space but the plan hasn’t changed: take out its engines before it can escape. “

“Understood.”

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RL got in the way, postin' now


>>45980546
The orders given, there is little more you can do other than watch your mages execute them, at least until the next unexpected event puts a twist in your plans. Plan, contact, enemy, survival (or rather, the lack thereof) and all that.

The twist happens much sooner than you’d expected, though. “New contacts!” Lowran calls out. “Magical signatures – they’ve got mages on their side! Two of them, at least one aerial mage!”

“How come we never detected them earlier?” you demand.

“They must have been actively suppressing their magical signatures. We wouldn’t have been able to pick them up at long range, only when our own mages get close. Like right now.”

The two enemy mages split up to intercept your own forces, one flying up to cut off Ophelia in the sky while the other stands her ground in the middle of the base, directly on the path that Renault and Maserati will take.

>>45981287
Let's just tell Renault and Ophelia about the new contacts, remind them that the freighter is still the priority target, and leave Renault to pick targets and tactics.

Make her deal with actually doing things and the consequences of her choices.

>>45981328
For shame, anon. The mission takes priority over personal grudges.

>>45981287
The aerial mage’s barrier jacket is black and gold, reminding you of the enforcer uniform. An ex-enforcer? You hope not: enforcers aren’t meant for straight-up combat, but they’re all very good at it since most of their cases end up that way. Ophelia’s barrier jacket is skin-tight for speed and agility but covers most of her body, while this mage’s barrier jacket takes the other approach, not hugging skin as tightly but exposing toned muscles. The ship’s scanners zoom in and you get a closer look at her face, the most distinguishing feature a long scar running down her right cheek, with cold blue eyes and dirty-blonde hair cut no-nonsense and short. Her staff sports a conical tip like a lance.

The ground mage wears a dark brown trench coat styled barrier jacket and one of the most arrogant smirks that you have ever seen. The pair of dark shades she’s wearing don’t help. Freckles and green braids make her young face look even younger, but her stance is relaxed and confident. Her device of choice, resting on one shoulder, resembles a rocket launcher; already large, it seems even more oversized compared to her short stature.

“Any match with the known criminal database?” you ask.

Harlaown checks and replies, “Negative – they don’t match any known description.”

“Mercenary mages charge by the fight and don’t come cheap. They must be desperate and out of options – this must be their last trump card,” you declare with somewhat more confidence than you feel.

>Take the enemy mages down fast and hard first. Can your mages win before the freighter takes off? Or will the freighter escape while they’re occupied?
>Break past the enemy mages and disable the freighter first. Can your mages evade enemy fire? Or will they get shot in the back?

>>45981421
>Have Ophelia engage the mage; order Maserati to continue towards the freighter to disable its engines. Leave Renault to use her judgement to prioritize the targets.
Put Renault to the test and see if she fails.

>>45981421
>Occupy the ground mage with Renault. Have Ophelia try to outrun the aerial mage to the freighter if she can, if not - distract the enemy. Guide Maseratti to the freighter, encouraging at every step. She can hit a spaceship, right?

>>45981477
>>45981517
Can Renault keep the ground mage occupied? Will she be able to hold her own, or will she only serve as an inadequate speed bump?

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A heads up that this is the last update for tonight, the next thread will be next week, any changes will be announced on the twitter.

But votes are still open, there's no majority yet to decide what happens next thread!

>>45981517
also voting for this - Ophelia should try to go in the rough direction of the freighter if she can while evading the shots and keeping her defense up.