Ensign Ysatch Tori - Before the fire
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Patrick Hogan
May 28, 2026, 5:49:17 PM (3 days ago) May 28
to PBEM SB 118 Ops
((MFT Maximum Thrusters, Currently in the Temurian Asteroid Field))
It was a bit like herding sheep backwards.
Tori let his algorithm do most of the flying, making an occasional adjustment here and there when he saw problems. The probes had all accumulated massive amounts of mines, but they kept criss-crossing flight paths, leading their followers onto collision courses. The mines would take time to adjust to make sure they did not collide with each other, thus losing ground to the probes before they continued pursuit.
Lather, rinse, repeat.
sh'Sonora: YES! I mean, yes, Captain! Let’s lead ‘em along!
Ysatch: ::mimicking a sheep:: Baaaah. ::suddenly embarrassed:: Like a noise a sheep would make. You know what? Ignore that.
Foster: Even if they do move, then they have to follow us – that lets us choose the field, not them. Also it puts distance between them and the mine so it's one less thing to worry about.
sh'Sonora: Gotta warn you, Sir, that won’t last forever. Faster speed, no pilot, more maneuverable, they will eventually catch up to us.
Ysatch: Granted there's no room for error, if the probes' momentum slows even a little bit, that's the end for them. But so far, it's looking pretty promising.
Foster: Also, if they move…
The commander's thought was cut short by the commline.
Ross: =/\= Ross to Foster. What's going on? We ...we kinda need our lab back. =/\=
Kiro: =/\= (If any?)
Foster: =/\=You need a what?=/\=
Ross: =/\= Listen, if now is a bad time - but... we're kinda onto something here. I could use some of the instruments aboard if you don't mind. =/\=
Kiro: =/\= (if any?)
sh'Sonora: Gods-damn it Murphy…
Ysatch: oO Who's Murphy? Oo
Foster: =/\= We’re kind of in a fight right now, protecting the Pidgeon and trying not to get blown apart… can you hang on for a few minutes?=/\=
Foster: Get those mines into position. Mi’sh, get us behind that bigger asteroid, I’m not too proud to hide to block some of those blasts.
Ross: =/\= ...sure. Just... - call me back. =/\=
sh'Sonora: You got it, Sir!
Ysatch: The mine train is pulling into the station.
The probes were beginning their flyby of the Corsair. The neat lines of trailing mines suddenly turned into a cloud of confusion as their internal logic struggled to figure out what to do next. They wanted to blow up the probes. They didn't want to hit each other. They didn't want to hit the Corsair. So they tried their best.
The probes weren't making things easier as Tori's algorithm piloted them in spiraling dives in, over and around the Corsair. At this point, they were operating completely autonomously. The required pattern was too complicated for his humanoid brain. Any manual adjustments he made would probably be the end of the plan.
But Tori began to see the flaw in the idea. They needed the Corsair to make a mistake. Ship Mistress Nysari had fooled them once. If she kept her nerve and her pilot did their job, they could pull through this.
Mi'shune must have had similar thoughts.
sh’Sonora: Sir, Permission to eject one of our photon torpedoes… unpowered, set for proximity explosion!
Foster: ?
sh’Sonora: Yeah, it’s a firecracker next to those mines, but it’ll work, I swear!
Ysatch: It's a good plan, Captain. We've got the fuel and the kindling in place, we just need a spark to light it.
Foster:?
sh’Sonora: Get ready… dry fire torpedo!
Just about everything that could go wrong for the Corsair, did.
The torpedo detonation was the catalyst to set off their blaze. Shields failed, an asteroid fractured, mines exploded.
sh’Sonora: But wait… ::Jerking the controls around forcefully.:: …there’s more!
In its haste to escape, the enemy ship collided with even more mines. The damage was starting to stack up, while the Maximum Thrusters was still mostly unharmed
sh’Sonora: Gotcha!
Ysatch: Wow, I can't look away.
Any: ?
The mines, already confused as to what they should be doing, were easy targets for a sweep from the Maximum Thruster's phaser banks and the Orion ship was rocked by antimatter explosions on all sides. The damage had progressed to the catastrophic range. This was usually the point where the academy simulation ended and the instructor came in to congratulate you.
But this wasn't a simulation. From the ravaged engineering hull, a cylindrical object emerged at high velocity, and every radiological alarm on Tori's console suddenly spiked.
sh’Sonora: Warp core ejection! We have a warp core ejection! Mobility kill! I repeat, mobility kill!
Ysatch: Well the good news is, the Corsair is pretty much out of the fight. Main power down and emergency systems only. The bad news is that thing ::pointing at the warp core::
Already overloaded and with no support systems to keep it in balance, the matter-antimatter reactor was tumbling end-over-end towards a cluster of rocks, probably created by the recent cascade of explosions.
sh’Sonora: Oh frell, we have a warp core ejection!
Ysatch: When the core hits those rocks, it's going to lose containment and we are way too close. I'm diverting all available power to shields, but every kilometer we can put between us and it will help.
Foster/sh'Sonora: ?
Ysatch: We've moved far enough away from the Pigeon and the Nyarrite rig that they should be safe from the blast and radiation, but they might get some bumps from the shockwave.
Foster/sh'Sonora: ?
Ysatch: Here it comes.
Time seemed to slow down as the core tumbled, almost gracefully, through space. It reminded Tori of an Olympic diver, pirouetting through the air and descending towards the water's surface.
Then the core hit the rocks and Tori was blinded as the viewscreen lit up with the brightest light he had ever seen.
He screwed his eyes closed, the light too painful to look at, so he didn't see the moment when the shockwave hit and his console exploded. He just felt the ship tumble in all directions at once and then a wave of heat and smoke hit his body, with painful embers singeing the sides of his face.
Ysatch: Ahh!
Any: ?
He opened his eyes -- he was somewhat comforted that he had eyes to open -- and saw the danger was not gone. The innards of his wrecked console were still giving off heat and sparks. Probably an internal fire. How did fire control even work on this ship? A central system? hand-held extinguishers? He didn't know!
He fumbled at the clasp on his restraints. He needed to get away from the console. Fast.
~*~
tags/tbc
~*~
----
Ensign Ysatch Tori
Com/Ops Officer
StarBase 118 Ops
O240303TY1
It was a bit like herding sheep backwards.
Tori let his algorithm do most of the flying, making an occasional adjustment here and there when he saw problems. The probes had all accumulated massive amounts of mines, but they kept criss-crossing flight paths, leading their followers onto collision courses. The mines would take time to adjust to make sure they did not collide with each other, thus losing ground to the probes before they continued pursuit.
Lather, rinse, repeat.
sh'Sonora: YES! I mean, yes, Captain! Let’s lead ‘em along!
Ysatch: ::mimicking a sheep:: Baaaah. ::suddenly embarrassed:: Like a noise a sheep would make. You know what? Ignore that.
Foster: Even if they do move, then they have to follow us – that lets us choose the field, not them. Also it puts distance between them and the mine so it's one less thing to worry about.
sh'Sonora: Gotta warn you, Sir, that won’t last forever. Faster speed, no pilot, more maneuverable, they will eventually catch up to us.
Ysatch: Granted there's no room for error, if the probes' momentum slows even a little bit, that's the end for them. But so far, it's looking pretty promising.
Foster: Also, if they move…
The commander's thought was cut short by the commline.
Ross: =/\= Ross to Foster. What's going on? We ...we kinda need our lab back. =/\=
Kiro: =/\= (If any?)
Foster: =/\=You need a what?=/\=
Ross: =/\= Listen, if now is a bad time - but... we're kinda onto something here. I could use some of the instruments aboard if you don't mind. =/\=
Kiro: =/\= (if any?)
sh'Sonora: Gods-damn it Murphy…
Ysatch: oO Who's Murphy? Oo
Foster: =/\= We’re kind of in a fight right now, protecting the Pidgeon and trying not to get blown apart… can you hang on for a few minutes?=/\=
Foster: Get those mines into position. Mi’sh, get us behind that bigger asteroid, I’m not too proud to hide to block some of those blasts.
Ross: =/\= ...sure. Just... - call me back. =/\=
sh'Sonora: You got it, Sir!
Ysatch: The mine train is pulling into the station.
The probes were beginning their flyby of the Corsair. The neat lines of trailing mines suddenly turned into a cloud of confusion as their internal logic struggled to figure out what to do next. They wanted to blow up the probes. They didn't want to hit each other. They didn't want to hit the Corsair. So they tried their best.
The probes weren't making things easier as Tori's algorithm piloted them in spiraling dives in, over and around the Corsair. At this point, they were operating completely autonomously. The required pattern was too complicated for his humanoid brain. Any manual adjustments he made would probably be the end of the plan.
But Tori began to see the flaw in the idea. They needed the Corsair to make a mistake. Ship Mistress Nysari had fooled them once. If she kept her nerve and her pilot did their job, they could pull through this.
Mi'shune must have had similar thoughts.
sh’Sonora: Sir, Permission to eject one of our photon torpedoes… unpowered, set for proximity explosion!
Foster: ?
sh’Sonora: Yeah, it’s a firecracker next to those mines, but it’ll work, I swear!
Ysatch: It's a good plan, Captain. We've got the fuel and the kindling in place, we just need a spark to light it.
Foster:?
sh’Sonora: Get ready… dry fire torpedo!
Just about everything that could go wrong for the Corsair, did.
The torpedo detonation was the catalyst to set off their blaze. Shields failed, an asteroid fractured, mines exploded.
sh’Sonora: But wait… ::Jerking the controls around forcefully.:: …there’s more!
In its haste to escape, the enemy ship collided with even more mines. The damage was starting to stack up, while the Maximum Thrusters was still mostly unharmed
sh’Sonora: Gotcha!
Ysatch: Wow, I can't look away.
Any: ?
The mines, already confused as to what they should be doing, were easy targets for a sweep from the Maximum Thruster's phaser banks and the Orion ship was rocked by antimatter explosions on all sides. The damage had progressed to the catastrophic range. This was usually the point where the academy simulation ended and the instructor came in to congratulate you.
But this wasn't a simulation. From the ravaged engineering hull, a cylindrical object emerged at high velocity, and every radiological alarm on Tori's console suddenly spiked.
sh’Sonora: Warp core ejection! We have a warp core ejection! Mobility kill! I repeat, mobility kill!
Ysatch: Well the good news is, the Corsair is pretty much out of the fight. Main power down and emergency systems only. The bad news is that thing ::pointing at the warp core::
Already overloaded and with no support systems to keep it in balance, the matter-antimatter reactor was tumbling end-over-end towards a cluster of rocks, probably created by the recent cascade of explosions.
sh’Sonora: Oh frell, we have a warp core ejection!
Ysatch: When the core hits those rocks, it's going to lose containment and we are way too close. I'm diverting all available power to shields, but every kilometer we can put between us and it will help.
Foster/sh'Sonora: ?
Ysatch: We've moved far enough away from the Pigeon and the Nyarrite rig that they should be safe from the blast and radiation, but they might get some bumps from the shockwave.
Foster/sh'Sonora: ?
Ysatch: Here it comes.
Time seemed to slow down as the core tumbled, almost gracefully, through space. It reminded Tori of an Olympic diver, pirouetting through the air and descending towards the water's surface.
Then the core hit the rocks and Tori was blinded as the viewscreen lit up with the brightest light he had ever seen.
He screwed his eyes closed, the light too painful to look at, so he didn't see the moment when the shockwave hit and his console exploded. He just felt the ship tumble in all directions at once and then a wave of heat and smoke hit his body, with painful embers singeing the sides of his face.
Ysatch: Ahh!
Any: ?
He opened his eyes -- he was somewhat comforted that he had eyes to open -- and saw the danger was not gone. The innards of his wrecked console were still giving off heat and sparks. Probably an internal fire. How did fire control even work on this ship? A central system? hand-held extinguishers? He didn't know!
He fumbled at the clasp on his restraints. He needed to get away from the console. Fast.
~*~
tags/tbc
~*~
----
Ensign Ysatch Tori
Com/Ops Officer
StarBase 118 Ops
O240303TY1
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