Souls Set Alight - A 2300AD Solo-Play Fiction

[Clone95]

Hi folks, I've been working for a few weeks now on Souls Set Alight - a 2300AD story played/based on the Mongoose ruleset. It's a solo play featuring the first psionic human in the 2300-verse, a survivor of a gravistatic discharge aboard an Anjou-class.

The fic's available on Archive Of Our Own here and is about 2 chapters and 6,800 words long. The third chapter is a fairly lengthy space battle so it'll take me awhile to sort out the rules and get written.

Feel free to discuss here or comment over there - I'd just be glad to have some feedback!

 

[Leitz]

Okay, a few notes. The level of detail is amazing; I get the feeling you've either done a lot of study or make stuff up like no ones's business! The words felt like you knew what you were talking about in engineering.

That's part of the down side, though. There was a lot of explanation. Also, it surprised me that the dosimeter was a single point of failure for such a critical part of the ship. Since the techs had personal measures it's not a rare technology. To get the same effect maybe a rogue energy wave through space his the ship or something?

It would be unlikely for SEALs to be on a missile carrier as a standard practice. Marines, yes. SEALS tend to be more specialized and move around a lot.

It's an interesting story on how someone developed psionic abilities; keep it up!

 

[Clone95]

That's part of the down side, though. There was a lot of explanation. Also, it surprised me that the dosimeter was a single point of failure for such a critical part of the ship. Since the techs had personal measures it's not a rare technology. To get the same effect maybe a rogue energy wave through space his the ship or something?

So in 2300AD there's something called a gravistatic charge that limits the Stutterwarps to a maximum of 7.7ly in any given direction. I realize now that that dosimeter isn't mentioned as different from the dosimeters for actual radiation.

Basically what was happening down there was twofold - one, the gravistatic charge was reaching maximum levels (a combination of Captain Rastmussen's inexperience with gravistatic charges, being a primarily in-system Captain who rarely had to discharge his old lugs, and a charge-meter that was left unmaintained or damaged in an unexpected way.) and two, the results of a gravistatic overload.

When the stutterwarp overloads, the radioactive element that allows Stutterwarp (Tantalum-180m) decays into Hafnium, essentially releasing a shitload of very lethal radiation. That's what appears on Remi's personal dosimeter, blows up the engine room, and what kills the whole crew.

In terms of replacing it with something else, I feel it detracts from my overall plan for the story - Remi's hardly the first psionic, merely the first human one. The intent is that a gravistatic decay and crew death can sometimes result in a psion - Humans just screw up far less than some species.

It would be unlikely for SEALs to be on a missile carrier as a standard practice. Marines, yes. SEALS tend to be more specialized and move around a lot.!

Mid-Tier SOF like SEAL Teams and Green Beret ODAs are actually the most common shipboard forces on patrolling cruisers. Marines deploy primarily aboard LC-20 landers, close escorts, and big assault ships, where they're better served as flag-showers, guards for customs boarding parties, and heavy assault troops.

Aboard a Kennedy, which has the fastest stutterwarp in human space outside of a French fast courier or Voir sensor drone, you typically want to deploy a group capable of direct action and reconnaissance, which you find in the hands of SEALs.

In this case, a full platoon is deploying to help recon Aurore after the French lost a decisive battle in orbit.

 

[Leitz]

Okay, so this is sort of a personal preference; I go to the source when I refer to things. If you look at current era SEALs, they don't fit the model you are using. If you refer to a game supplement you get any bias or lack of knowledge of the supplement author. Standard ship board life can't really provide the level of training an actual SEAL team needs, that's why they don't live on ships for normal cruises. Marines do and provide a much better Quick Reaction Force (QRF) for anyone out and about for long times. Even with Marines, though, they'll need to cycle off to get more training, etc.


On the dosimeter question, I'd recommend really writing the crew as much more incompetent then. I understand what you mean, but it'd be a really slovenly crew that would let their lives sit in the lap of an unskilled captain.

 

[Clone95]

If you look at current era SEALs, they don't fit the model you are using. Standard ship board life can't really provide the level of training an actual SEAL team needs, that's why they don't live on ships for normal cruises.

Right, but that's on Earth - where you can throw SEALs on an airliner and deploy them straight from NAS Oceana or wherever to a staging area in a matter of hours.

You can't quite do the same thing in 2300. While you could throw a team of SOF into a Courier, they'd be stuck in micrograv, and that cruise would actually take longer than aboard a Kennedy.

Aboard a Kennedy, they have both a spinhab, full AR amenities for training, and the best quality of living outside of actually being on a planet. Considering what being on some planets can do to a soldier in 2300 (Terrible adaptation sicknesses, horrifying creatures, etc.) you're often better off on the starship.

 

[aramis]

Right, but that's on Earth - where you can throw SEALs on an airliner and deploy them straight from NAS Oceana or wherever to a staging area in a matter of hours.

You can't quite do the same thing in 2300. While you could throw a team of SOF into a Courier, they'd be stuck in micrograv, and that cruise would actually take longer than aboard a Kennedy.

Aboard a Kennedy, they have both a spinhab, full AR amenities for training, and the best quality of living outside of actually being on a planet. Considering what being on some planets can do to a soldier in 2300 (Terrible adaptation sicknesses, horrifying creatures, etc.) you're often better off on the starship.

The 3I isn't much better... a Seal Team trainin center, even if there's one at EVERY naval base, is still anywhere from 2 weeks to 2 months away from patrol...

It is even more stable for the troops, tho' - the 3I has artificial gravity, not just spin-grav, so can easily maintain musculature...

 

[Clone95]

Just updated with a space battle above Aurore.

It's not the best, I might edit it - but there's another 3,800 words to leaf through for those interested.

Next step's going to be Remi's trip to the surface - a rather hostile one with the Kafer army occupying the planet. We'll also see the introduction of two new party members I'll be rolling up - the brothers Artyomovich.