Star Trek: Perdition's Flames (Inactive)

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"Starship Bastion, heave to and prepare to be boarded. Failure to surrender will be considered a violation of the Peace treaty between the Orion and the Federation. You are in Orion space, and as such are subject to Orion law. Our expetation is that you are allies. Please do not prove us wrong on this matter."

"Safe Bet, we have explained ourselves in full, and are willing to share our discoveries, but your request is far outside the bounds of established declarations of neutrality. Surely there must be some agreement we can come to."

Presence + Conn (12): 2d20 ⇒ (15, 14) = 29 Womp womp

The Orion ship moves toward the Bastion. Closing to Close range.

The Safe Bet I think I screwed that up and it is the Solid Bet captures the Bastion in a tractor beam.

The Difficulty to escape the Tractor Beam is 3. This can be done in a variety of ways as described on page 223 of the Core Book.

"I'm going to try to remodulate our shields to shake them off." Gareb's fingers danced across the conn before him as he prepared to thwart the Orions.

Control+Security 12: 2d20 ⇒ (5, 3) = 8
Structure+Security 13: 1d20 ⇒ 7

Jalla charges up the phaser banks and secures a target lock.

"Hailing the Safe Bet. Cease all hostilities. This is your final warning!"

Presence+Conn (12): 3d20 ⇒ (3, 7, 6) = 16
Untapped Potential: 1d6 ⇒ 1 Cancels out the Momentum spend

The Safe Bet is not going to cease all hostilities. In fact, it is going to ramkp up hostilities. Spending 2 Threat to take the Initiative and attack first. 15 Momentum 7 Threat. Let's see if we can remember how to run a combat.

Safe Bet is a Scale 3 ship, so it gets 3 actions.

The Safe Bet approaches, aligning itself with the plane of Bastion's orbit and making an attack run.

Attack Pattern: 3d20 ⇒ (11, 7, 7) = 25 Daring + Conn Task with a Difficulty of 2, assisted by the ship’s Weapons + Conn. 3 Successes reduce difficulty of attacks by 1.

15 Momentum 8 Threat.

Scan for Weakness: 3d20 ⇒ (8, 15, 11) = 34

Control + Science Task with a Difficulty of 1, assisted
by the ship’s Sensors + Security. Two Successes. 15 Momentum 9 Threat. Next attack Gains Piercing 2.

Control + Security Task, assisted by the ship’s Weapons + Security Difficulty 1: 3d20 ⇒ (15, 10, 9) = 34 6 damage and 3 effects, penetrating 2. Spread.

So that hits.

Effect Dice: 7d6 ⇒ (4, 4, 1, 2, 6, 6, 6) = 29

System Hit table: 1d20 ⇒ 8 Sensors6 damage is reduced by Resistance 4 and then by Shields, lowering Shields by 2.

Then this attack Spreads for half damage +1 for each additional effect, which is +2, so 5

This reduces Shields by 1, to 12 None of this manages to cause a Breach. In Star Trek terms, shields are down to 80%.

Now it is your turn.

TKarra would like to find a way to weaponize the transmission of the alien transmission into the Safe Bets sensor array etc to cripple them. What would I roll?

"Shields at eighty percent. It's time to show them this old girl has teeth. Lt. th'Qjaqir return fire." Gareb let the young officer focus on offense while he focused on restoring the ships shields.

"Shield strength restored to optimal levels. Auxiliary power at eighty two percent."

Regenerate Shields Difficulty 1
Control+Engineering 13: 2d20 ⇒ (3, 4) = 7
Structure+Engineering 13: 1d20 ⇒ 9
Base Success, restore 2 Shields. Two successes moved to momentum. One momentum used to restore shields. Shields restored to max.

16 Momentum, 8 Threat. Shields 15. Power 9

T'Karra: Let's do a Control+Engineering Task assisted by the ship's Communication+Security (11). Since what you are attempting is outside of the normal rules of combat, I'm going to say the Task is Difficulty 4. You should have plenty of Momentum to achieve that Difficulty.

Everyone but Gareb should have an action.

control+engine 16: 2d20 ⇒ (3, 7) = 10

comm+security 11: 1d20 ⇒ 19

ok three successes + 1 momentum will be four

T'Karra configures the information gleaned from the alien planet into a potent and overwhelming weapon that could overwhelm the communications and computer systems on the Safe Bet.

Weapon is ready to go. You will need for them to be receiving the transmission. Just blasting it at them isn't going to work. At that point we would treat it as a targeted attack against their computer system with the potential to spread to communications system that ignores their ship shields and resistance.

commander T'Karra to bridge. Signal the Safe Bet for communications and prepare to send a transmission from engineering. It should disable their shields and capacity to attack as well.

"Open a hailing frequency."

Gareb moves towards the viewscreen. "Safe Bet this is the Bastion, we're not just going to roll over. Talk with us and we can give you the data."

TKarra prepares and will transmit as soon as they are receiving

Captain Vulko appears on the screen, green skin, white hair. "We accept your capitulation. We are prepared to receive the data."

She looks at someone off-screen, the back at you and nods.

TKarra sends the transmission to the Safe bet as she gets the integration through communications linking them to the alien transmission to disable the ship. By the time the safe bet figured out the transmission the ship would transport their civilization elsewhere.

T'Karra Control+Security: 2d20 ⇒ (7, 6) = 13
Communications+Security: 1d20 ⇒ 20
Effect Dice: 8d6 ⇒ (6, 1, 2, 4, 4, 4, 4, 2) = 27

Spending 1 Momentum to increase damage

The information pours into the Safe Bet's computer systems, quickly overwhelming them. Systems across the ship are disrupted as their processing power is redirected to dealing with the immense amount of data. Finally, the communications system is overwhelmed and cuts communication with you.

Computer system on the Safe Bet is damaged. Communication system is Impacted.

16 Momentum, 16 Threat

Gareb set about trying to get the holoprojectors synced up. Concern over more morally questionable Orions showing up gave him a little extra focus. After a few minutes he contacted the bridge. "I think we're ready down here, I'm going to turn it on."

Reason+Engineering. I've got a Theory +1 Dice. Momentum +1 Dice 15 or Under: 4d20 ⇒ (11, 8, 12, 4) = 35 Difficulty increased to 3 from the previous complication but that's enough.

Momentum 16. Threat 16

Gareb's hands move over the display, engaging the power to the holo-emitters. A hologram shimmers into existence. It is a featureless humanoid with silvery gray skin, large black eyes, and small mouth, almost like something from 20th century alien abduction stories. In this case, it is merely the result of the computer starting simply as it attempts to process the information from the Zachra.

OK, you have a functional Zachra hologram.

Its small mouth opens and a chaos of sound emerges.
"Greetins, we are the Zachra. This is a repository of all that we are."

What now?

"Alright thats some progress at least."

Short of let's make some more engineering rolls I'm not exactly sure how to proceed.

We could be done here. The main challenges of the episode have been dealt with. Maybe we should head over to discussion, regroup, and see how we want to proceed.

Dot

Dot as well.

HELLO

T'Karra sits in her quarters pouring over technical manuals and schematics on the computer looking over the changes of the years so logical and interesting at the technological innovations in engineering. Hours mount into hours turn into several days after their mission has ended. In the back her mind she considers what Star Fleet might do with her now.

Lt. Commander Kestra Nostum... Starfleet helmswoman has seen her share of adventure in the cosmos but a good deal of setbacks too. She thinks about her time on the Potemkin and what happen with the Borg assimilating her captain.

She thinks of her deceased husband, who had been replaced by a "Founder" whatever the hell that means, skin shifters.

She lays back on her bunk in her temporary quarters and she reads through the manuals of the different starships and studies her datapad for the different merchant vessels.

Finam works at tactical calibrating the phaser arrays and torpedoes. He hums a tune to himself.

"We're coming out of warp, sir," Yeoman Xedis says, sparing a glance to his right. "We'll be in hailing distance in a few minutes."

Benjamin inhales and opens his eyes - at some point he must have dozed off - and blinks a few times to get his bearings. "Thank you, Mr. Xedis. I'll raise the hail once we're in range." He picks up the PADD next to him, pulling up the Bastion's schematics again. "Constellation-class. Ever see one of them up close?"

"No, sir," comes the reply. "I only graduated from the Academy a year ago, though, so my experience has been at the starbase."

"Thought not. They used to be a workhorse for the Federation - these days, the ones that haven't been made warp inactive are glorified transports. There's a reason we never made more quad-nacelle ships, after all. The warp efficiency and speeds never quite justified the more complex power allocation and routing. Do yourself a favor - if you want to get onto a ship, look for a Miranda or Nova. They're just better ships, which means they usually get better assignments."

"Sir?", Xedis says, a bit uncertain. "If I can speak freely?" The Bolian waits for a response from his passenger, and continues once he notices the Lt. Commander nod. "If you don't care for the ship, why did you accept the position?"

Benjamin smiles to himself. "Because there's a war on, Yeoman. After all these years, if Starfleet is offering me a position of authority aboard a starship again, then we are in a graver position than I thought. Besides, the front is well away from the Beta Quadrant. There's next to no chance the Bastion will ever encounter the spoon heads...ahem, the Cardassians." There's an awkward silence between the two men after the senior officer casually drops the slur, broken by a chirping from the sensors. "Seems we're in range." Benjamin pressed a few buttons on the console in front of him, and opened a channel to the Bastion.

"This is Lieutenant Commander Benjamin Takezo, aboard the USS Bhramaputra, requesting docking authorization. Please respond."

After it's first mission out of mothballs, the Bastion returns to Hephaestus station to dump its memory into the much larger memory banks of the station. A communications link is created between the Zachra planet and the station. Captain Dell is reassigned to the Station to manage what is now being called Operation Rebirth, the processing of the Zachra Ark.

The Bastion stays docked with the station for a week while it's crew is shuffled. Jalla zh'Qjaqir is reassigned to the USS Gryphon, While a new engineer is assigned to the Bastion. Starfleet isn't willing to restore T'Karra's commission immediately, but they give her a position in engineering on the ship due to her knowledge of these ancient systems. Everything to do with her situation is Code Word classified above Top Secret.

The newly assigned Captain of the Bastionis an ancient man named Griff Taylor. He comes aboard with little fanfare, and orders the ship out of dock with Hephaestus station before even making his way to his own quarters. He has his personal items beamed directly to his quarters and makes his way straight to the bridge.

Captain Taylor is a Caucasian man throwback in his 80's. To us, he might seem like a healthy 65 year old.

"Lt. Commander Kestra, set course for the Orgun system at maximum warp."

Kestra would certainly be aware that travelling at maximum warp is above the limit of Warp 5 without proper authorization.

Kestra knowing regulations but then thinks to herself that she does not want to make a poor first impression, salutes, clicks her heels together and says, "Aye Aye! Cap'n!" and does as she is asked.

She thinks War has its own rules

Another of the new arrivals boards the ship only a few minutes before the captain, though he goes to his quarters first. Unpacking only takes him a short time, setting a couple of old medical books on his desk, an old manual scalpel with a display stand on a shelf, and then finding a suitable place for his copy of the sacred texts.

That complete, and glancing out the window to see that they have gone to warp, he straightens his uniform as he takes a moment to settle his nerves, and then heads to the bridge.

Stepping onto the bridge, he pauses for just a moment to make sure he's not going to interrupt anything and then steps up to the captain, "Doctor Daniel MacLeod, reporting for duty as chief medical officer."

He is also Caucasian but seems to be on the other end of the age spectrum from the captain. He looks to be mid-20s at the oldest, and has Lieutenant Junior Grade pips on his collar. He's also wearing a Bajoran earring.

I don't know if the earring is still against the Starfleet uniform code at this point in the story, but since he isn't even Bajoran I imagine that for him it is. :-)

Gareb was... apprehensive. Their had been a number of transfers. Unfortunately he still felt as if things were not fully resolved with zh'Qjaqir but Starfleet had sent them a more seasoned tactical officer in Lieutenant Finam Galyn.

More experienced and seasoned were a common theme over all in the new arrivals. Captain Taylor was a fine Captain, with far more command experience than the newly minted Captain Dell. Less needing Gareb's assistance as first officer though now he could focus on his duties as science officer.

All the more experienced transfers... it's like Starfleet Command had plans, plans they weren't sharing... at least with a former Maquis Officer.

T'Karra makes her way then to engineering to see where the chief engineer would assign her. Perhaps to the bridge console for monitoring, it perhaps to the warp engines. She sits and waits in engineering again pulling the technical manuals reviewing the changes through time.

Finam as is usual was the last to embark. He said to the captain at attention before taking his post, ”Lieutenant Finam Galyn reporting for duty, Chief of Security." He added after a short pause, "Sir."

He made sure there were no outstanding items that required his immediate attention and then set about familiarizing himself with the offensive and defensive capabilities of Bastion. He did a personnel review to try to head off at the pass any potential personality conflicts between crew members.

When he was able he made sure to introduce himself to each of the crew with a warm smile, if they smiled back he gave them a dashing wink. ”You can call me Finam if you like. Say… what do you say to a card game or other entertainment later? My quarters, with a few of the other officers, some light music and refreshments.” I’ll have to plan on at least two maybe three parties to make sure no one feels left out because they’re on duty.

The young Vulcan had arrived at the station two days early, in order to ensure that he was going to be on his newly assigned ship in order to ensure that he would be able to inspect the it before the Captain arrived. [I] It is only logical that I am here ahead of the Captain and familiarize myself with the ship in order to be of support to the Captain and the rest of those assigned to duty here. [/I}

After setting his quarters up he went about to see the more important parts of the ship, engineering, the bridge, and other places. He took mental notes as to the rest of the crew. in order to help them later improve their work.

As the time drew near for the Captain to arrive Jok'kem was there early to meet him.

A hiss from the turbolift doors presages Benjamin's arrival on the bridge. The seasoned officer steps onto the bridge slowly, as old memories threatened to rise. It had been years since he was a bridge officer aboard a starship, and for a moment he was lost in his thoughts. The hiss of the doors behind him snaps him out of his reverie, and made his way to Captain Taylor. "Captain,", he says in a natural break in the action on deck. "Lt. Commander Takezo, reporting for duty, operations manager. If you have no immediate need of me, I'll report to my station."

After his conversation, he sits down at ops, reviewing the power readings and the Captain's recent order to maximum warp. He sends a quick message down to Main Engineering - 'request estimation on maximum sustainable warp factor and prognosis on length of sustained warp reaction' - as a way to get to know both the limitations of the Bastion as well as the efficacy of her crew.

As soon as you are under way, Captain Taylor rises from his command chair. "XO, let's see if our junior officers can keep from flying the ship into a spatial anomaly for 30 minutes while I get everyone up to speed." He taps his combadge and calls out. "Senior Officers to the Conference Room. And Lt. Commander Clarke, bring that Vulcan Expert along with you."

He steps down from the command platform to the left, toward the turbolift. The doors his open, and he steps in, turning to look at you. "Well..."

I'll give everyone a chance to react to that. Just wanting people to get a feel for characters at this point. Since this is probably your first time meeting everyone, this is a fine time to do a brief intro so everyone is on the same page. Also, a couple of you need to finish your profiles and put shortcuts in your alias. The Conference room, what you would call the observation lounge on the Enterprise D, is one deck down on deck two here. The only functional space on deck 1 is the Ready Room and the bridge. There are some handy diagrams on "Bastion Area Map" in the campaign header.

Kestra gives some inaudible instructions to the Ensign sitting next to her about flying the ship, maintaining course and speed. She then waits till she gets the customary "Aye Aye Ma'am" and she then stands up and joins the Captain in the Turbolift.

She then says to the Captain, "Sir, it is an honor to get to serve with you. I hope my flying has been up to snuff so far."

When the chief comes to collect her she stands and nods saying yes, chief having at one time out ranked this person and been longer on post as well, however, her accident and run in with the alien life form left her with much to learn and only her experience on constitution class ships without the advances of technology. She boarded the turbo lift and centered herself. What ever her role she would be productive as always.

Benjamin briefs the junior officer relieving him about the current projects - "There was a small surge in the top starboard PTC a half hour ago, check back on that in ten minute intervals until I return," - and then joined the rest of the officers in the turbolift.

On the way to deck 2, he nods to LC Kestra respectfully. "It really is a small universe, isn't it? I didn't realize I'd be serving alongside someone else from Betazed until I stepped on bridge. It's been an age since I've been back - I've seen several hundred worlds in my tours, and nothing is quite as picturesque."

Kestra nods back and says, "Are you from Rixx? My aunt had a summer house there but I grew up in a small farming village near the equator. I have not been back in over a decade. Starfleet keeps us flitting around the galaxy."

With typical Vulcan stoicism, Jak'Kun replies to the Captain I am confident that even the junior officers are more than capable of operations while we have the meeting you requested, Captain..

"I didn't live in Rixx proper, but my parents occasionally brought me along on business trips to see the big city. We would make a day of it, seeing the water gardens, eating lunch in some streetside cafe, go visit a museum or two. Of course, that was when they weren't giving reports on their research to their employers. I miss those days sometimes - the replicators can never quite get the bitterness of uttaberry jam correct." A soft smile creeps across his face.

"Of course, that was long ago. They're long retired now, and they split their time between Earth and Betazed. Friends and family on both planets, after all, though I think I've got more on Betazed than Earth."

Betazed folks, note that in this campaign we are acknowledging the Beta-canon events surrounding the conquest of Betazed by the Dominion. We are now a couple of months after the liberation of Betazed led by the Enterprise-E. 4 in 10 telepaths were eliminated in this battle, and that 75% of the population of the planet perished or fled. Betazed is deeply affected by the Dominion War.

As you settle into your seats in the Conference Room, the Captain calls you to order.

"Perhaps we can delay the personal conversations until your off duty hours. Speaking of which, Mr. Jok'kem, please organize the crew into watches of 6 on/12 off for this mission. Those going off watch will handle whatever adjustments and maintenance are necessary. For the rest of you, I know that my assignment here and our sudden deployment are surprising. This crew is a sort of Frankenstein's monster of stitched together personalities. But I am confident that all of us are competent Starfleet officers and will do our best. For now, we have a mission to carry out, and we will.

"We have been assigned to find a missing science vessel, the S.S. Tesla, which went missing six weeks ago while researching anomolies in an unstable region of space. This region is notorious for an unusual number of temporal and spatial anomalies, some benign and others extremely dangerous. Eighteen hours ago, the U.S.S. Bellerophon picked up a plasma trail, likely from a damaged ship. The Orgun system has two Class M planets, both with populations protected under General Order One: The Prime Directive. Orgun II has a primitive civilization, equivalent to medieval Earth. The residents call themselves the Slithar and are a violent and warlike culture. The residents of Orgun III, who call themselves Lormeans, are quite different, being a mammalian species resembling humanoid lemurs that are noted for a peaceful and communal society. Their technology is equivalent to mid-21 st century Earth, just pre-warp tech, but still covered by the Prime Directive. The plasma trail from the S.S. Tesla leads directly toward Orgun III.

"Clarke, you will assign T'Karra to modify the deflector array to cloak us from the sensor capabilities of these pre-warp societies. Lt. Galyn, I want a level 5 diagnostic of the phaser and photon torpedo systems. I want your hands on all of those systems. We may be headed into a dangerous situation, and I don't want to be caught with our pants down."

"Kestra, Takezo, and th'Chiaquis, I want you to carefully review the maps of this region and understand the spatial distortions in this Sector. This ancient ship doesn't have a dedicated Stellar Cartography, but I understand that they have recently installed a rudimentary Holosuite. Use that.

"Dr., we have good reason to expect to encounter hostilities, so make sure sick bay is ready for casualties."

"And now, the interesting part. I've been dragged out of retirement to find this lost ship. This is all to be kept in this room, but the Tesla has been testing weapons in this region. Weapons related to wormholes and spatial anomalies. I don't have to tell you that the Federation is not faring well in this war. The Tesla's mission is important. The Prime Directive is important, but what does it matter if we lose to the Cardi's and their Gamma Quadrant friends."

in the turbolift She replies solemnly, "I hope it still is."

During the meeting

Kestra asks, "Captain, what kind of rudimentary contact has been made with the Lormeans if at all and when was it made? What information do we have on the SS Tesla?"

"Depending on what's happened to the Tesla we might have to bend the Prime Directive to cover any breaches up. Fortunately I am able to report I have extensive experience in the fields of astrophysics, anthropology and experimental technologies. All are pertinent."

"However we should consider that the Dominion or another group may have become aware of the Tesla's mission and tried to destroy or seize it. I do not believe the Dominion have any equivalent to the Prime Directive. We may end up on damage control. As I'm sure you're aware Captain in a recent mission the Jem'hadar had been using and enchancing hazardous stellar anomalies to cover their raids. I'll be glad if they aren't involved but we'll be ready for the possibility."

"From what I have read on the reports regarding "The Founders'" treatment/enslavement of the Djemhadar, the skin shifters do not have any such punktion."

Yes, Captain. I have already begun a preliminary duty and watch schedule. It is pending your approval of course. he responds to the Captain.

T'Karra remained silent and considered how much a delfector array could cloak a ship. Perhaps the holodeck along with spatial jamming could reverse engineer Klingon or romulan cloaking devices entirely? Every logical alternative would be investigated.