TJOTMS: EP.12, “The Dragon, Revealed”

Location

KCS Mary Shelley in port at K’Tusk Free Station
Night Cycle

Background

The KCS Mary Shelley is docked at the K’Tusk Free Station undergoing upgrades to her Warp Drive. A dispute has erupted between the station Leaders and the crew of the Shelley over Nazi spies and the Shelley’s attempt to apprehend them (see previous episode: HERE)

Meanwhile, there is a starship lurking within the upper atmosphere of nearby Catilla..

The Kaptain of this mysterious vessel believes that the upgrades to the Mary Shelley have been halted mid-installation. At this moment, her Warp engines must be disassembled, she cannot escape… and with the station’s rotation cycle, she is on the far side. Her sensors are blocked.

Kapitan

“Order Fighter Operations to launch a strike immediately, and inform the Growler to cooperate.”

SCENARIO

The fighter complement, augmented by the Jeaux Pirates, will launch and fly to attack the KCS Mary Shelley. Their approach will be concealed by the bulk of K’Tusk Station until they are very close. To further maximize the chances for success, both the station and the Mary Shelley are on their “night” cycle and might possibly be less alert.

The strike plan is to make a single pass and determine if the Shelley’s jump engines are disassembled. If so, the attack will proceed to a second stage and will continue until she is destroyed.

K'Tusk Traffic Control

"Wait, what is that?"

K'Tusk Traffic Control
"Turn on the illuminators! Alert the Shelley! She has hostiles inbound!"

KCS Mary Shelley

“Red Alert, multiple hostiles inbound, Red Alert…”

QUEUE MUSIC!

Status Board of the KCS Mary Shelley

Bridge of KCS Mary Shelley

Interceptors, LAUNCH LAUNCH LAUNCH!

Right off the deck,

Bulldog 1 takes Growler head on, knocking both fighters out of control. Growler causes a chain reaction collision and the right side of the attack formation is scattered.

The left side of the formation presses on with a pirate leading the way.

Although the right side of the attack formation has sorted itself out, the Growler has not regained control, and is easy prey for incoming missiles...

But it's not all going the Shelley's way, Bulldog 1 careens out of control and out of the engagement envelope. 

The attackers continue to bore in, score hits... and overfly Shelley's deck!

Pirate, AA Guns, and Missiles all come together in a massive explosion!

Able Spacer Jones

"Positive ID on the fighters, they are definitely from the 4th Reich"

Able Spacer Smith

"We have 2 AA Batteries down and multiple penetrating hits!"

Captain Thuries

"Navigator, Warp Engineers...

 we need to transition to the Warp, what's our status?"

Level 1 Navigator Celestine (Warp Navigator on Duty)

We have a fire Captain, I cannot bring our transition into focus.

Warp Engineer Hari

"Warp Engines are undamaged and will be charged momentarily."

Able Spacer Jones

"Enemy fighters are continuing away."

Captain Thuries

"Then, there must be something else....

Charge all guns, active sensors to full power"

Able Spacer Jones

"Warpsign Captain! 

The is a warp emergence forming. Port side... it's BIG!"

The Reich's BATTLESHIP "Die Drache" , The Dragon materializes at point blank range...

Status Board of the RS Dragon

Bulldog 2

"...look at the size of that thing!"

Mary Shelley Fight Ops

"Cut the chatter, Bulldog 2!"

PanzerSpacer Franz
'Enemy ship targeted, Kaptain"

Kaptain, RS Drache (the Dragon)

"Main Batteries, Open Fire!"

Captain Thuries

"Port Battery, Return Fire!

Navigator we need to get out of here."

Kriegsmarine Franz

"Kaptain, the enemy warp drive is engaging. She is about to transition."

Kaptain

"Keep firing!'

Able Spacer Smith

"Massive hits, damage alm..."

Captain Thuries

"Navigator! ANYWHERE is better than here!"

PanzerSpacer Franz

"Kaptain, the enemy has transitioned. The Mary Shelley has escaped..."

...or has she???

_________________________

Thanks for your patience readers! Finally, the Dragon is complete and has made the blog! It was quite the task to hold back until she was done, and airbornegrove is going to be beside himself having to wait until June to get a crack at her.

It was a great battle to game out, and the amount of carnage was very high, but within what would be considered acceptable. The pirates of Jeaux have been sent packing as they lost all of their ships, and the Reich certainly doesn't feel the need to pay, (I'm sure that won't come back to bite them in the ass. It's not like Orks are known for holding grudges or anything :) )

As for the Shelley's escape, she is very heavily damaged, on fire, and now inside the warp. What could go wrong?

I'll show you a few pics of the Dragon below as a teaser, and then next post I'll do a full breakdown of all the construction pics I've been saving.

Thanks for reading! 
And if there is anything specific you want me to cover on the post about the build, just let me know.