Several potential options are available, and it will likely take a combination of these tactics to bring our quarry to heel. Success rate of any of these options could be improved by way of landing an electronic warfare tag on the Crooked Star; however, this could tip our hand as it would almost certainly require all of the same tactics just to get the tag in place.
– Induce target to doubleback on ordnance in flight.
Horizon attempted two separate close-quarters launches of heavy ordnance in our last engagement. On both occasions, the target narrowly escaped by means of jump drive or warp burst. The less effective means at the Crooked Star’s disposal seems to be the warp drive: at warp speeds it is only marginally faster than heavy ordnance. It is possible that a ship, perhaps in concert with another vessel, could lure the Crooked Star on such a flight path at warp speeds that our target doubles-back on the flight path of our ordnance.
– Through coordination, catch them with Teleback systems cooling down.
Coordinated action between multiple vessels could also result in a successful delivery of heavy ordnance. The goal here is to take advantage of the target’s inability to jump repeatedly in rapid succession. This maneuver would involve one vessel confronting the target and inducing it to Teleback, where a second vessel would be waiting to deploy their own ordnance at close range.
– Extreme risk, point-blank firing of ordnance.
Imagine an Echo-2, but instead firing Omega-3 at a range of less than 100 in order to all-but-eliminate target’s opportunity to react. The potential pitfalls of this option, even performed at warp speeds, are obvious. Risk is substantially reduced if deploying more conventional torpedoes, though if our target has a tractor emitter getting locked down could still have a deadly result.
– E-War Tag
Tagging the target should reduce the Crooked Star’s jump range, and possibly its warp duration, preventing it from fleeing out of ordnance range quite so readily, but it still has a good chance to escape incoming torpedoes through a combination of its jump and warp modules.
– Cluster Mine
Even after we’ve landed an EMP, our target’s shield grid is extremely resilient. Bringing it down would require several successful impacts from heavy ordnance, and it’s abundantly clear that self-propelled projectiles are hit-or-miss. The ability to make our own miniature minefield in a desired location on-demand could provide the necessary impact and deliverability.
Our safest, most effective option is probably a point-blank delivery of an EMP and E-War Tag, followed up by luring our target over a cluster mine. Should the safe method fail, greater risks may become necessary.