bit-tech plays Space Alert

Mission 1 Begins

Panic ensues as soon as we begin the first mission. The CD tells us there are threats inbound, and that we need to get a move on to deal with them. Doing so is a delicate balancing act, involving some quick calculations to determine who's where at what time, whether you've got enough power for the shields and lasers and whether you can actually destroy the threats.

Captain's Log: Day 1

Captain Paul My strategy was basically to react to the threats, and see if we could limp through the inevitable onslaught. I had no doubt that some of my crew would die, though I didn’t have the heart to tell them this. Frankly, they deserved nothing less after the mass of disorganised screaming I just witnessed. I knew I'd be safe as long as I stayed in the zone with the least threats. In hindsight, though, I may have concentrated too much on shooting, and not enough on making sure the guns had enough power to shoot. This resulted in a last moment dash to the lower decks by myself. I can only hope it was enough…..

Battle 1

Observation Droid Alpha-1 submitted the following report:
A Deadly Pulse Ball arrived on the scanners, coming toward Blue Section; the crew jumped to battle stations. As well as organising the crew to deal with the Pulse Ball, Captain Paul decided to conduct a shake-down test of the main forward laser. The power cells glowed bright and the mighty beam of energy tore into the dark void of space. Captain Paul claimed afterwards that he wanted to put a warning shot across the bow, but as Communications Officer Clive pointed out, he had fired a warning shot across the bow at nothing.

Soon after this, a Destroyer appeared, homing in on the central section of the ship. Under orders, Medical Officer Joe fired the left laser at nothing (he’s not a soldier, damn it). This wild shot also attracted unwanted attention, with a Stealth Fighter arriving to see the shizzle. After the Pulse Ball disabled the shields, Paul ruthlessly ordered almost the entire crewto fire upon it, destroying it utterly. However, the rest of the mission saw the crew pressing buttons to no effect, or dumping a huge amount of fuel into the main reactor only for no-one to use it.


The mission ended with the Destroyer and Stealth Fighter both unleashing their weapons on the unshielded USS Sitting Duck until they became bored and left. After this, the good ship Sitting Duck unleashed a vicious barrage of laser-fire, ‘just in case there was another Stealth Fighter out there.’ The Sitting Duck then returned to Starbase, only one damage-point shy of destruction, and was space-docked for three months as repairs were made.

Captain’s Debrief

Captain Paul Well, frankly I think I deserve a medal. My imperious leadership ensured that both the crew and I survived the encounter, with not just one but three simultaneous threats *takes pull on cigar*.

Okay, there may be some nay-sayers that point out that an extra point of damage to our central section would have vented our entire atmosphere to space. They’d be right, of course, but they weren’t there. They don’t know what the chaos was like, they didn’t see the blood run down the walls and stare into the very eyes of death… or something like that. I’m incredibly proud of my team too; they acquitted themselves efficiently, with Ben’s last-moment decision to raise the shields in the Red zone an inspired individual move. They obviously learned lots from me.

Star Base Report

Captain Paul has been demoted for excessive damage to the StarShip Sitting Duck during a training mission, and he will resume his duties as an Ensign under the leadership of newly-installed Captain Butler. Butler’s stellar work in sucking all the power he possibly could from the reserves stands him in good stead. Even everyone only frittered it away by shooting at space, or activating shields to protect the ship from threats that had already been destroyed.