So the PCs found themselves on the Count of Izmir's yacht, which was teeming with diseased and dying refugees from the incursion of a berserker-style robotic dreadnought. The sub-sector is in chaos and anarchy, as the sub-sector fleet was either destroyed or in headlong retreat. Sensors detected the jump flash of an inbound corsair that assumed an intercept course.
The PCs' Naval commissions had been reactivated, and in the tumult of the berserker onslaught a reduced platoon of Star Marines had been detatched to the PCs. Given the ready services of Gunnery Sergeant Raak and his battle-hardened leathernecks, the PCs decided to wait until the pirate corsair docked with the yacht and then bum-rush the invaders.
An ambush at the air lock was cobbled together. The engineer jerry-rigged a sandcaster barrel as a claymore, and blasted the first wave of pirates. The second wave got burst fire from marines in combat armor. The leader of the pirate boarding party, himself with a few terms of Marine service under his belt, decided not to tangle with his erstwhile brothers and slammed the air lock closed. The docking coupling was disconnected and the corsair pulled away from the yacht.
The exploding sandcaster barrel had jammed the yacht's air lock open, so the entire bay containing the PCs and Marines was subjected to explosive decompression. This triggered the AWESOME. The engineer, thinking quickly, ordered the Marines to tether themselves together and hook the tether line to the departing corsair with a magnetic grapple. As the corsair pulled away, it dragged a line of Marines and PCs with it like a wriggling, armored strand of christmas lights. Meanwhile, the pilot fired up the scout ship (docked at the other air lock) and started blasting the corsair.
So a long running battle ensued, with the PCs and Marines fighting to climb up the tether line under acceleration, grapple to the corsair's hull and plant a breaching charge on the corsair's air lock...all the while under fire from one of the corsair's turrets. The scout ship was also blasting away at the corsair, hoping to miss its allies crawling around on the outside. Eventually the strike team made it inside the corsair and subdued (then spaced!) its crew, but not before the scout ship's M-drive was disabled. The PCs took the corsair as prize, but without its armaments which had been blown up in the fight.
The idea of tethering one's self to one's comrades, then hooking onto a maneuvering spacecraft, may not be realistically possible under space-combat conditions - but it sure underscores the esprit de corps of the Star Marines in a way that makes me happy.
The PCs' Naval commissions had been reactivated, and in the tumult of the berserker onslaught a reduced platoon of Star Marines had been detatched to the PCs. Given the ready services of Gunnery Sergeant Raak and his battle-hardened leathernecks, the PCs decided to wait until the pirate corsair docked with the yacht and then bum-rush the invaders.
An ambush at the air lock was cobbled together. The engineer jerry-rigged a sandcaster barrel as a claymore, and blasted the first wave of pirates. The second wave got burst fire from marines in combat armor. The leader of the pirate boarding party, himself with a few terms of Marine service under his belt, decided not to tangle with his erstwhile brothers and slammed the air lock closed. The docking coupling was disconnected and the corsair pulled away from the yacht.
The exploding sandcaster barrel had jammed the yacht's air lock open, so the entire bay containing the PCs and Marines was subjected to explosive decompression. This triggered the AWESOME. The engineer, thinking quickly, ordered the Marines to tether themselves together and hook the tether line to the departing corsair with a magnetic grapple. As the corsair pulled away, it dragged a line of Marines and PCs with it like a wriggling, armored strand of christmas lights. Meanwhile, the pilot fired up the scout ship (docked at the other air lock) and started blasting the corsair.
So a long running battle ensued, with the PCs and Marines fighting to climb up the tether line under acceleration, grapple to the corsair's hull and plant a breaching charge on the corsair's air lock...all the while under fire from one of the corsair's turrets. The scout ship was also blasting away at the corsair, hoping to miss its allies crawling around on the outside. Eventually the strike team made it inside the corsair and subdued (then spaced!) its crew, but not before the scout ship's M-drive was disabled. The PCs took the corsair as prize, but without its armaments which had been blown up in the fight.
The idea of tethering one's self to one's comrades, then hooking onto a maneuvering spacecraft, may not be realistically possible under space-combat conditions - but it sure underscores the esprit de corps of the Star Marines in a way that makes me happy.
