>>6017496The spectrograph whirs madly as the Ayutthaya releases its charge. There is no escape, the laser cuts clean through the hull lengthwise, followed by nearly a dozen secondary explosions. By the time the beam winds down, nothing is left of the elite light cruiser but a rapidly expanding rad-hot cloud of debris.
Silas falls back into his seat, “Spine-mount capital-grade laser. I have heard rumours of such radical modding, but never thought it possible outside of vanity projects. The power strain is simply too immense.” Elysium chimes in, “Sir, capital ships don't mount that kind of lasers either. No physical shell to dump at least some of the heat in.”
Moynihan shows you the rough report from the sensors, “Lastly, most lasers are useless against shield. Photons just don't have the momentum necessary to warp the electron membrane. Not this piece. Look.” He points to a peak in the graph. “Tens of thousands of atto-pulses, each measuring 2 quettawatt. To put that in perspective, each pulse briefly dumps the entire energy output of a star into a 20-inch circle. Not even Coretech would appreciate that. The poor Marlin never stood a chance.”
Silas takes out his derringer, “Same principle as this, but several orders of magnitude more powerful." Moynihan smirks at him, “I hope you still remember that your pistol can only cycle microsecond-long pulses. It might be effective on women and noguns, but your talk of femto-pulses this and that will just get you laughed out of marine barracks.” Moynihan's admonition seems to enter one ear only to exit out the next.
<span class="mu-s">Salzar perks up, “Ma'am, we got another transmission, Thanaret wants to meet you. Face-to-face.” On the holo-projection a new tiny blip starts meandering on an intercept course for your ship. You drop your favourite dice set, 4 1d100 in all, onto a conveniently-placed empty fruit bowl.</span>
>Convince Thanaret to join your attack on Molosses. You could use someone like him. (DC 85, charisma bonus applies)>Give him a friendly reception, nothing more. He has too many enemies, some of whom could easily turn on you. (DC 70, charisma bonus applies)>Challenge him to a wrestling match. You have read it's a tradition where's he from. (DC 90, physical bonus/malus applies)>Fire on the shuttle and jump away. The easiest bounty you have ever collected. (DC 90, tactics bonus applies)>(Optional) Ask Thanaret to tell you more about his ship. (DC 75, charisma bonus applies)>Write-in (I will decide DC) 