GM Isweyg's Return To The Stars [d20 Future Homebrew]

Game Master MaybeNever

At the height of the Terran Commonwealth, centuries ago, there had been a network of planets, bound together under a common government on Earth. Seemingly alone in the universe, we forged an empire - democratically governed, but an empire all the same. Hundreds of worlds were exploited for the benefit of their new inhabitants, exploited for the benefit of Earth. And through it all ran an armada of starships made possible by the invention of faster than light propulsion.

But then the Systems War came and tore apart that empire and those wonderful vessels. And in the void that followed that war, the aliens came and swept mankind from the stars. No more was there a commonwealth of hundreds of worlds. Now there were hundreds of worlds living in their own isolated darkness, any attempt to fight back, to return to the stars, to take out our rage on our fellow man, ruthlessly suppressed by the aliens.

For two hundred years, we have lived in their shadow, their spire taunting us from the middle of Asia. For two hundred years, we, the people of Earth, have lived as slaves. For two hundred years, the Commonwealth government have bowed their heads to the aliens.

But today we are taking the first step to changing that. We are launching a vessel again. We are returning to the stars. We are fighting back.

-Director Anwar Said, Deronda launch address

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The Deronda is a small vessel. At the time of the Systems War, she would have been on the verge of obsolescence, perhaps a light escort for merchant shipping. She was not made for comfort. But these were the only schematics known to survive the aliens. And she is your home now, gleaming steel carbont plating and all.

The ship has four decks, plus the bridge, to serve a total crew of 43. Rumor has it that the ship will not run with even that many for her shakedown cruise, though. In shape, she looks like a bird with wings outstretched.

The bridge is the nerve center of the ship, placed at the bird's head, cramped and filled with controls and displays of every description. In the middle of it all sits the captain, Ramjay Anish, surrounded by the bridge crew manning weapons, science consoles, and engineering readouts. Near the main screen is a bronze plaque, and on the plaque words can be seen to read: "The free ship Deronda, launched 7 August 197 New Calendar. We shall brave the stars for the betterment of all humankind."

Deck 1 is the top of the ship, spread across both wings and the body of the bird. It serves as the armory, shooting range, and supply storage, under the control of quartermaster Gunnery Sergeant Eli Quint. Quint is a large bear of a man, brawny and red-faced, from the Rocky Mountains of Colorado, USA.

Deck 2 serves as crew quarters. There are also a canteen, gym, and assembly room in the event the crew needs to gather.

Deck 3 is home to engineering and the main computer systems, under chief engineer Lieutenant Commander Docila Santos, a Peruvian woman from Cusco. Santos is quick-witted and kind, her face no stranger to laugh lines.

Deck 4 is larger than the others and serves as the hangar bay for the ship's two shuttles that brought you on board. Deronda's limited manufacturing ability is found here as well. The hangar is overseen by a deck officer and an enlisted assistant, changing regularly. Because the hangar is very cold, this tends to be unpopular duty.

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Your quarters are small and sparse, with a narrow bed, footlocker, bathroom, and a desk with chair. Nothing here to write home about, but maybe it could be spruced up a bit.

You have an hour before the captain will address the crew in the assembly room, at 1600 sharp.

Deronda has been in orbit for a few weeks now. You can have arrived at any time up to today. Feel free to walk the decks, explore the ship, meet people in the canteen (or find something to eat), or whatever else you want to do. Just make sure you're on time for the meeting!

Jazzming sighed and leaned back in her chair, rubbing her eyes after pulling another all-nighter the night before. 'So much to do, so much to learn!' she thought to herself, running her petite hands through her purple hair. She looked around her room, already decorated with posters of various movie stars and rock bands, her lucky lamp providing the majority of the light in the room for now, the bulb shining through the light blue, beaded shade. She gave another sigh and looked at the clock on her PDA. 'Still about a half hour before the big meeting the captain wants, so plenty of time to mainline some caffeine.' With that pleasant thought, she stood up and made her way to the canteen, happy that her room was only a few hallways down from the area.

Jazzming smiles at her fellow crew member and nods towards the coffee machine. After getting a cup, a really BIG cup, she walks over to the other woman and sits down. "Hey, Jennifer, right? Honestly, I'm looking forward to it. All the data we can confirm after centuries of being planet-bound is exciting!" Jazzming exclaims. "If everything goes right, and we don't have any problems, we'll be able to go further out, maybe even outside our galactic sector!" Jazzming looked practically giddy with excitement, her hazel eyes sparkling in the lights. She took a big gulp from her cup and sighed as the magic of caffeine flooded her veins, helping to keep her awake. "Speaking of missions, any idea what the cap wants with us?"

Sergio rubs his eyes and double checks the read-outs on the monitor in front of him. If he thought constructing this bird was stressful, prepping it for it's first cruise was even worse. These last few weeks had been grueling. He'd seriously considered consulting some of the female crew members about using make-up to cover the bags under his eyes. Instead he just decided to ignore every time someone told him that he looked like crap.

Lieutenant Commander Santos, my next diagnostic will be running well into the captains address. Permission to grab some food?

If I'm lucky I might even have time to shower! He thinks to himself as he inputs the requisite commands.

Out of curiosity, what's the food like? Mass Effect had a chef on board. Star Trek had their replicators (in which case I'm getting me some earl grey), and Firefly had protein packs. So what's our grub situation?

Jazzming glanced at the clock and noticed that it was almost time for the captain's address. Downing the rest of her coffee, she stood up and tossed the cup in the nearest trash receptacle. "Yeah, we probably should. Still, if science-fiction is to be believed, if something was to go wrong, it would be on our first mission, and it'll be of galaxy-wide importance," she exclaimed happily, the caffeine hitting her just right to get her mouth motors working. "I mean, we'd probably end up encountering one of the great and powerful alien overlords that we've not heard from in decades, or encounter some new species looking to make us slaves or food or something, or maybe find some ruins of an even more ancient alien civilization that'll grant us knowledge centuries ahead of our current level, or even-" Jazzming finally stopped her rant as the entered the assembly room, noticing that it was already half-filled with other crew members. "Well, guess we should find ourselves a seat! Come on, maybe we can sit together!" With that, she grabbed Jennifer's hand and drags her around, looking for two seats together.

Thank you! Sergio nearly leaps from his seat, and immediately hunches back down to double check his inputs.

Davis you probably don't even need come over here really, maybe every fifteen or twenty minutes to make sure nothing is going to kill us in flight!

Sergio makes his way to the crew deck, eyes on his personal computer the whole way, double checking calculations that were verified days ago. Though not normally paranoid, one does not sit idly by when his life long dream is coming true.

Because he was working on the way he lost precious time, so instead of real nutrition he swings by the dessert bar and snags some cookies (not as good as his abuela made them but still delicious) and a cup of coffee and starts to wolf it all down on the way to the assembly hall.

Arianna sat in her tiny office next to the medical bay, typing idly on her pda, updating her crew files. A popup box appeared, showing her a reminder that the captain wanted all hands for a meeting as they were beginning to head out, or so one of the junior officers had told her. She made a note to unbutton a button when she next planned to talk to him, to see if he was willing to share more info on where exactly they were headed. Standing, she stretched her arms and grabbed her tablet so that she could, in theory, take notes about what was said, but so that she could really take notes about what the crew thought about what was said. Her blonde hair fell and bounced the precise amount that made her 2 hour regimen every morning worth it. She adjusted her collar with the brand new sub-lt. rank on it and headed out. She chatted along the way with most of the people she saw, keeping her body language tightly under control as she made her way: leaning forward ever-so-slightly to convey interest in the subject of conversation, mirroring gestures to put people at ease, and making a dozen minor mental notes about the crew.

Opening the door to the mess, she moved swiftly over to the coffee to grab some.

The soft whine of something electrical woke Liam from a snooze and made him frown in irritation.
Checking his watch made him scowl more as he realized it was still an hour until he had to be at the assembly room.

The hangar bay was not a place you would see people who were not there on duty, well, except for Liam of course.
Not exactly a people person, when not on any duty, he would often be found there, either reading a trashy novel or sleeping.

As he slowly rose and stretched, his body let out a series of pops and cracks, followed by a long yawn.

If I go now, I could grab a good seat before they are all gone, I might even be able to take another nap there.

Having made a decision, he headed for the elevator and made his way to the assembly room.
He didn't really acknowledge anyone there on the way except if they specifically spoke to him.

In the assembly room, he located a chair at one end, making sure he wouldn't have to sit between people.
After a few moments of getting as comfortable as he could, his head slowly fell down against his chest, and soft snoring began to sound.

Are you planning to sleep through the briefing, or only until it begins?

Just to the briefing, Liam will set his watch, and I imagine SOMEONE will wake him anyway when it starts.

At the appointed time, Captain Ramjay Anish steps into the assembly room before the gathered crew. Though it could seat about fifty, only perhaps twenty people were present today. The captain walked to the front of the room, his bearing upright and military. With a touch on a large display, an image of the Sol system appeared with its familiar eight planets. On the left was the sun; far to the right, beyond the planets, beyond Pluto, stood another sphere nearly the size of the sun.

When the captain spoke, his voice was soft and even though the room's acoustics allowed everyone to hear, and lightly accented with his native north Indian tongue. "Welcome aboard, all of you. Some of you I have met, and others I have not. We will have our time to do that. Let's begin."

He pointed to the large object on the right side of the display, which highlighted. "For our shakedown cruise we will be traveling to Sol-B, an object that was nearly a twin to our sun but never managed to become a star. Along the way we will be running battle drills, weapons tests, and intensive diagnostics. We expect to reach our destination in a few days."

Now the view changes so that Sol-B fills the screen, an immense gas giant with bands of multi-colored clouds. A dotted line showed an orbital path. "While there, we will be placing a probe in orbit to watch for the aliens. Then we come home. I trust each of you will handle your tasks well."

He waited for questions before dismissing the crew.

After the briefing, you'll have a day to do whatever you'd like to do. While in flight, Deronda will need maintenance, on-board gear needs regular calibration, the crew will need to handle cabin fever on the shooting range or in the canteen, the hangar can use a deck officer, and there are plenty of consoles on the bridge for people who want a front-row seat.

The things you do on board can matter! If Deronda gets into a fight and someone has run maintenance, bonuses can apply. Well-calibrated gear can give a bonus to using it; time spend carousing with the crew can either make useful friendships or give a little boost in the event diplomacy is called upon in a mission.

We'll arrive at Sol-B tomorrow or the day after. I'm sure it will be a sleepy mission. These kinds of things never have any surprises. Right?

When the captain opened the floor for questions, Jazzming was quick to stand up with her hand raised. "Sir, Corporal Jazzming Brokato, Technician. I'm just wondering what you think the odds are of encountering any of our alien overlords. Do you think they'll be waiting for us? What about any other, previously unknown alien lifeforms? Do we have any preliminary readings on Sol-B? Could there be an alien warship lying in wait? What are your guarantees for the female crew in case of alien boarding actions and they get a little too touchy-feely? What about-" Jazzming was cut off mid-sentence as Jennifer stood up and placed her hand over her mouth, effectively stopping the onslaught of questions pouring out of her. Jazzming did remain standing, however. She wanted her questions answered!

Of course! Sergio mumbled to himself.

The tests, the odd diagnostics, the number of supplies being boarded. What he's assumed were precautionary measures were just standard procedure for an extended flight. It was only a few days, but it was a longer test than he'd expected given that this was the first spacecraft built in centuries.

He popped a few equations into his personal computer and added a reminder to sleep at some point.

He waited patiently for the Corporal to rattle off her questions, and after the captain responded, followed up with his own.

Captain Anish, will we be running with a full crew or are we all going to be, well, wearing a lot of hats so to speak? If we're to be covering multiple stations when will our assignments be forwarded to us? Lastly, why Sol-B, I understand wanting to keep a probe that far out, but doesn't it also leave a larger window for potential detection?

During the Captain's short speech, Arianna had been furiously taking notes, but an astute observer might notice that she was not paying attention to the Captain at all, but to the people assembled around her. She noted her immediate thoughts about the questions asked, as well as how they were answered. This was in addition to recording what was said.

Liam was listening with studious disinterest on his face, his fingers were idly playing with an unlit cigarette.
The only reason he had not lit up was that he did not want the hassle of being told to put it out.
What bothered him the most was that so far, nothing had been said of any possible problems, unexpected events or possible "side quests" that might pop up.
They were essentially sailing blind, and Liam did NOT like being blind-sided.

Captain Anish nodded at the questions. "Corporal, we're all heading into the unknown," he said softly. He paused to gather his thoughts. "In the past, the aliens have responded almost immediately and very decisively to forbidden actions. The fact that they have not shown themselves yet despite our vessel being in orbit for several weeks is a mystery, but it does suggest that they are not watching us closely. Perhaps they are not watching us at all."

"Our only information about Sol-B is old. Pre-war. If we encounter the aliens, we will attempt to escape the system rather than fight. If it does come to a fight, I trust every member of this crew to do their duty. Other aliens may be out there as well, yes, and in that case we will try to talk to them."

He smiled. "If we are boarded, then it is a good thing we will be running battle drills, including repelling boarders."

Now the captain turned to Sergio. "For this cruise, we will be traveling with approximately half crew while our colleagues on Earth finish assembling. You will each find duty rosters on your personal consoles in your quarters. It should not be too taxing, but this is an opportunity to know this ship inside and out. The people on this ship right now represent the senior crew, and that will show in the expectations we place on you." Anish gestured to the screen.

"Sol-B was chosen for several reasons. The first is that it represents the farthest point in our system to place a probe, giving Earth as much chance as possible to prepare if the aliens do come. The mass of Sol-B should also hide the probe from their sensors. This distance allows a limited test of sub-light and FTL drives without abandoning the possibility of rescue. Finally, we believe the odds of being detected or encountering the aliens to be quite low at this time, and the difference between stopping at Jupiter or Mars instead of Sol-B is negligible."

Satisfied with his answers Sergio jots a few more notes down and waits out the rest of the briefing. When it's over he swings by his quarters to grab his new work assignments then back by the canteen for an actual meal and another coffee. He finds an open spot at a table large enough for him to run a few piloting simulations on his computer and starts working out a new schedule for the coming days to see if he can fit in all his work plus some extra training on the top deck.

Sol-B! He mumbles to no one in particular. In just a few days we'll be at Sol-B! Amazing.

Jazzming grins, slightly manically, at what she considered some of his non-answers. But, it was good enough for her, so she sat back down on her chair and listened to the rest of the Q&A session. 'Senior crew!' she thought to herself excitedly. 'Whoda thunk that I'd be senior crew on anything, let alone something of this magnitude! I mean, I know I'm great and all, but this is awesome!'

As the briefing wound down, Jazzming headed back to her room to check her schedule for the following days - 'Computer diagnostics, system calibrations, KP duty, rectal exams' - she grabbed her PDA and looked over her notes on what she'd learned about the ship and crew. "Should be a fun ride," she muttered to herself.

And there it is, no plan, nothing but conjecture and guesswork.
The look on Liam's face was like a man biting into a pasty full of bitter-root.
He took a moment to look at the other people in the room, seeing excitement on most of their faces.
That only made him scowl more.
I'm the only one who doesn't like this eh? No surprise really, I must be the only one who doesn't even WANT to be here.
Bet most of these others were recruited for their skills, or worse, volunteered for this.
Figures...

But the most bitter of blows was the lack of bacon, no bacon at all...
Instead of heading to the mess to eat yet another deeply unsatisfying meal, Liam merely remained in his chair as the rest of the people headed out.

The trip to Sol-B is busy, but uneventful. There is no sign of the aliens, known or unknown, no boarding actions, no mechanical failures on the ship.

The first day is spent passing Pluto's orbit at sub-light. The second day is spent testing the FTL drive. As it activates, there is a momentary sensation of falling, then of being pulled in eight different directions. Then the feeling passes, and the ship and its crew are leaving their own photons behind.

By contrast, coming out of FTL is much more peaceful. If not for the slightest change in the ship's vibrations, it would be imperceptible. The probe is quickly deployed.

An hour later, it discovers something: an unfamiliar energy signature. As the picture resolves on the main screen, it is clear the probe has not found an alien ship. It has found a human one.

Sol-B is immense, the second largest object in the solar system. It is so large that its size is almost incomprehensible. The same cannot be said of the ship, which is merely the size of a city, several kilometers long. It is completely dead in space.

"Well, well," the captain says, turning to Commander Skyllang. "It would seem we need a boarding party of our own."

Guess who's on the boarding party! As contact team 1, the four of you have the following orders: restore power to the ship's computer and life support, download its logs, and scavenge any useful supplies. If necessary, neutralize on-board defenses. CT-2 will be focused on restoring the engines and seeing if the ship itself can be salvaged.

Jazzming was lying on her bunk, listening to a little classical music - "I'm blue, da ba de da ba di..." she sang softly to herself - and going over the different test results from their first successful FTL jump when she got a ping from one of the commanding officers. 'Lessee, report to the bridge, yadda yadda yadda... Wait, we get to board an ancient human ship?? Jackpot, baby boyo!' she though excitedly as she jumped out of her bunk and quickly assembled her away uniform. "Shirt tucked in, belt belted, boots tied, survival knife sharp and pointy, my kit in my belt. Yup, all ready for some action!" she exclaimed before rushing out of her room.

Then she hit the elevators. 'All the frakkin' technology in this baby and the elevators are slow enough to drive Ms. Daisy,' she grumbled in her head as her foot tapped on the floor. Hours later - only a minute or so - she was rushing down the hallway towards the bridge for her first mission briefing. When the door opened, she stepped forward, saying, "Sirs, Corporal Jazzming Brokato, reporting for duty, sirs!"

The pilots seats in the shuttle were uncomfortable. They hadn't even taken off yet, just preliminary tests that they'd been running in preperation for the launch, but Sergio was already tired of them.

He checked the time, it was still early, the rest of the boarding team still had plenty of time to arrive, so he decided to take a couple minutes shut eye. The seats may not be comfortable, but neithet was his bunk.

As the news are relayed, Liam actually looks interested for a change.
So something unexpected DID happen, why am I not surprised?
After suiting up, he took a moment to check his weapons.
I wonder if they have an armoury on the ship? Might be able to snag myself something with more stopping power than this...

Arianna went and picked up her gear and moved to the gathering point. While she was surprised that she had been ordered on the away team, she assumed that it would be to deal with anyone that they found on the derelict ship. She made some quick notes on her pad, put on her best "make them relaxed" smile, and said "Hello, I'm Arianna, the ship's councilor. I look forward to working with you all as we uncover what exactly is going on out there."

After his alarm stared him awake Sergio made his way to the designated gathering area on the dock, he'd already received his debriefing from Santos and hadn't been needed on the bridge.

As the ships councilor introduced herself Sergio saluted her.

Ensign Sergio Ordonez, please to meet you ma'm. If I'm not mistaken you are the ranking officer for our hopefully enlightening mission here. Looks like you're calling the shots. Sergio remembers to smile and addresses the rest of the team as a whole.

I recognize Corporal Jazzming from the Captain's address, though I don't believe I've ever met our fourth member here, though I think I may have been the pilot for the shuttle the brought you here. Just let me know when everyone is ready, the shuttle is prepped and ready to go.

What is Liams rank?

Arianna smiles a somewhat dopey smile at Sergio and says "Oh, I'm not a leader by any means. I'm mainly here to treat people who might be suffering from a variety of disorders. I don't even really know how to use a gun, so I'll be relying on your well-trained expertise in that regard."

Arianna makes some mental notes about her group to add to her growing files later.

"Liam Patrick Dougal O'Hanlon McGregor, Sub Liutenant O-3 of the medical corps."

Having given his name and rank, Liam scowled and found a seat as far away from the others as possible in the shuttle.

With a look that said Well he isn't very pleasant. Sergio shrugged at Arianna.

We don't seem to have too many crew members with any actual situational experience on our crew, in fact aside from my engineering and astrophysics background I'm not entirely sure what the rest of our parties specializations have to do with operating an unknown space station at all. I should be able to pilot us to the station, but it's been 200 years since human space flight and we had to make most of thus up as we went a long. I figure it's about a 5% chance we'll actually be able to hook up to their docking bays, so I suggest before we take off everyone get into the supplied flight suits, just incase.

He stops talking and plugs a few numbers into his computer. It's also unlikely to have functioning life support considering we have to figure that out on arrival so, you know, there's that too.

Arianna nods at Sergio's speech and says "That's good thinking. We should probably all suit up and get moving." Arianna pauses for a moment, and then adds "Someone want to show me how to suit up?"

"Yes, I will, but pay attention.
There may be a time when you have to do this under pressure, with no help, your life depends in learning these things.
I am here to keep you alive, but YOU need to do your part."

Liam will demonstrate how to suit up, slowly, meticulously and with care.
And he will never lose his scowl or the coldness in his eyes while doing so.

Jazzming shrugged and slipped on her suit, having memorized the instructions earlier. "I think that figuring out how to get the place up and running will be my job. I have a way with technology, it just seems to speak to me at times," she says looking at the others. She glanced at the other woman that just screamed 'shrink' and added, "Of course, they don't actually speak to me, it's just a figure of speech."

"Relax; I am not here to judge any of you. It's actually okay to believe that machines talk to you. My pad talks to me all the time." Arianna smiles and then continues, "In all seriousness, however, there are several religions that believe that all things have a spirit."

Alright Corporal, looks like the science and tech will be up to you and me. Once we're there we should be able to figure it out.

He finishes putting on his own suit and waits for some communication from Deronda that they're good for launch.

I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm looking forward to what we might find in this space station. I know the engineering crew has been taking bets on if we'll find anything worth salvaging. If we don't, I'll be out of quite a bit of money.

Note that this isn't a station, but what was once a huge capital ship, caught in orbit around Sol-B.

As the shuttle approaches the derelict, it becomes obvious why it is adrift: the enormous ship is covered in scorch marks and holes in the hull. These gaping wounds in the ship do solve one problem, at least as there is no need to use a typical airlock. Sensors reveal numerous areas where the shuttle could simply land, some of them hangars, some of them recreational areas now exposed to the void.

Someone, please give me a Computer Use roll to determine just how much information you can gather about the ship with your sensors.

Per your orders, there are four main areas of interest:

-The bridge, which might be able to affect life support, the main computer, and have its logs.

-The computer core, controlling the computer (duh) and possibly the logs

-Engineering, which might be the best place to handle life support and which is where you'll most likely find the members of CT-2

-The medical bays and storage rooms, obvious locations to find salvageable goods.

Sensor scans could reveal other areas of interest too!

You can land the shuttle near most of these places, and once on board you are able to walk between them. For this mission, you can select one mission or duty bundle in addition to your regular gear.

The bundle will have to be returned following the mission. You can change the bundle at any time during the mission, but this does require returning to Deronda as both of its shuttles are currently out. This could be a problem if you find yourselves pinned down...

Computer Use: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (11) + 4 = 15

Huh, I wonder why I kept thinking it was a space station Sergio mumbles to himself as they near the ship. And none of you corrected me!

He checks the read outs on the ships sensors and turns around to face the rest of the crew.

Figuring out the life support first would probably be best, don't know how fast it'll work, but it means maybe not having to to the rest of our job in these suits. After that it's potential salvage, ship logs, salvage. Everyone ready?

Figure we can pick a docking spot after we see what the sensors say. I'm going to take the research bundle, I assume I have to pick the specific skills the manuals are for? Also is there any benefit that comes from the logbooks, or are they just flavor?

"Do you all think it would be a good idea to split up? We have a lot of ground to cover, and splitting into groups of 2, one headed to the bridge, another headed to engineering, would probably be the fastest way to complete our objectives."

Regardless, Arianna will shoulder her pack and prepare to move out. Once on the ship, she will begin videotaping everything she sees.

I'm taking the Observer Bundle

Liam perks up a little at the idea of splitting up, meaning fewer people to deal with.
Problem was, whom should he team up with in that case?

"Oooh, oooh, oooh, I call engineering!" Jazzming yelled, bouncing up and down in her seat. "I can't wait to see what kind of tech this ship's got! Oh, and I'll see about getting life support running. Eventually. If I find the time." With a grin, Jazzming got her stuff ready to go, and waited to find out who her partner would be.

Going for the computer specialist bundle. Backpack, electronics kit, and laptop computer.

Sergio laughs a bit a Jazzmings enthusiasm.

Well, if we're splitting up it, than Jazzming and I should stick together and work on the life support. Looks like the sub lieutenants, will be salvaging together.

I'll park the shuttle nearest to engineering provided no issues.

"We'll head to the bridge then and see what we can see."

Ignore the logbooks. They're a relic of a time when tablet computers didn't exist, mostly. Obviously I haven't updated the bundles for the setting, and I probably won't due to time constraints. You do get to select the skills affected by the manuals - assume they represent reference texts uploaded to your computer.

Now that the shuttle's sensors have a chance to study the ship more closely, they do pick up an anomalous organic reading near a large room in the lower part of the ship. The details aren't clear, but whatever it is, it seems big.

There is a gap in the ship's hull two decks above engineering, about six decks above the organic reading, and twenty or more decks below the bridge. The approximate configuration of the ship is this. Engineering is on the lower right side, the bridge on the upper left. Considering the size, there was probably some sort of on-board transportation system. It might still be functional?

As you board the ship, you discover that, among other systems, its artificial gravity is offline. The shuttles will clamp to the floor, and you will be able to move about with magnetic boots, but you might be able to do some fun things with this weightlessness.

The interior of the ship is not in much better shape than the exterior. The walls are scored with obvious weapon impacts and explosions, and some look as though they have been literally smashed through. Whatever happened did a lot of damage.

Since the two teams are splitting up, it would be best if your posts for the time being are in spoiler tags. Obviously this is the honor system, but I'd prefer it if you guys kept to the bits meant for you. Communication between the teams can be done in the open.

"Bridge team to Engineering...I've always wanted to say something like that...Is this still on? It is? Well, shoot. Anyway, have you guys encountered any people or bodies yet?"