Star Trek: Perdition's Flames (Inactive)

Game Master tumbler

Hadn't realized where we were in the War. Noted.

After the captain's admonishment, Takezo stiffens. "Aye, sir," he replies.

He listens to the mission parameters, and nods at his assignment. "I should like to take a look at your AAR from that mission, Mr. th'Chiaqis. We might be able to use the spacetime anomalies to help mask our approach to Orgun III, as well as reconfigure the sensors to help eliminate the advantage the Jem'Hadar had in that engagement. It's bad enough they can shroud their troops, we don't need another cloak-capable species in the Beta quadrant."

There's next to no reaction from Benjamin when the captain mentions that the Tesla was testing experimental weapons - this was war, and everyone had a skunkworks somewhere working on new tech to kill more people in more horrifying ways. "Captain, did Starfleet give any orders on what to do with the data, if we can't salvage the Tesla?"

Finam nods to the captain, ”Sir, I did take the initiative and have already begin a level 5 diagnostic of those systems. If you would like a more thorough diagnostic please let me know, but as you know it would take those systems offline depending on how careful you want us to be.”

Finam frowns at the mention of a pre-warp civilization being threatened, Sometimes I wonder if the universe is torturing me.

Dr. MacLeod follows the others to the conference room, taking a seat with a slightly nervous tension to him, and he's mostly quiet as the others settle into their seats.

The first-day jitters of the newly promoted quickly start to fade as his interest is piqued by the mission briefing. When he receives his instructions, he says, "Aye sir, I'm going there right after the meeting. I'll have it ready in time."

The next statement, however, has him visibly paling as he realizes the implication of the research. "They were looking a way to destroy the Bajoran Wormhole?"

actually I have a great deal of experience with subspace anomolies capable of destroying wormholes or entire planets. There are technologies capable of doing that very thing. T'Karra says simply

Taking your questions in order:

"There has been no contact with the Lormeans. Their technology is equivalent to 21st century Earth tech. We will endeavor to avoid making any such contact. This is not a First Contact mission.

"Mr. th'Chiaquis, I'm sure that your expertise is the reason you are still assigned to the Bastion for this mission given your chequered history."

T'Karra, what we are looking for here isn't a full fledged cloak. In TOS when they travel back in time they somehow scramble the ability of the local tech to detect them. That is what he is wanting.

"Takezo, if the Tesla is lost, we are to recover any contaminating material, protect the indigenous cultures, and move on. But it is imperative that we find out what happened to the Tesla."

"Dr. MacLeod, it isn't our place to worry about the purpose of the research unless it impacts our mission."

"Are there any more questions?"

If not, I'll move us on tomorrow afternoon.

Shouldn't be too difficult to spoof our signature using tech three centuries more advanced.

"I'm sure destroying the Bajoran wormhole would be a last ditch effort," Benjamin replies, his face flat. "But if the Dominion are allowed to continue unchecked, then I can see the justification for its use. Cut off the arm to save the patient, Doctor. Barbaric, perhaps, but effective."

T'Karra remembers a very similar conversation about removing the disease to save the patient by removing a limb and says this argument does strike some logical conclusion Mr. Takezo, yet it fails to examine all logical conclusions completely and does not take into account current or future loss of sentient life and that life's value.

Momentum 0, Threat 14

Captain Taylor says, "You have your orders, let's get to work."

So here is where we undertake some Tasks. There is a handy Task Cheat Sheet linked at the top of the page. For those who are new, note that Momentum is a shared resource, not something each person has. So if one person generates some, you can bank it for someone else to use. You can describe your attempt to work on the Task, creating flavor and description. If you need help with that, just ask. You want to roll low. If you roll under Attribute+Discipline, you succeed. If you can apply a Focus, and you roll under your Discipline, that is 2 successes. A roll of 1 is always two successes.

T'Karra should attempt a Difficulty 2 Reason+Engineering Task to modify. She is a very competent engineer, so she will likely succeed.

Galyn should attempt a Difficulty 0 Reason+Security or Reason+Engineering Task. Why a Difficulty 0 Task? You can choose to succeed automatically, or you can roll and possibly generate Momentum (also possibly Threat). So it is a risk reward situation.

Kestra, Takezo, and th'Chiaquis can undertake a Difficulty 2 Task to interrogate the maps of the system and current long range sensor scans to understand this region of space. Here I think you guys can converse a bit to figure out how to attack the Task. How this works is that if you succeed at the Task, you can ask a question and I will answer it. If you generate Momentum, you can spend that Momentum to ask more questions. You can decide whether to each make a check, or some of you can assist. Assistants roll only 1d20. You guys can also decide how to apply your Attributes+Disciplines and what focuses apply. Reason+Science are obvious, but Insight+Conn to have a hunch based on past piloting experience in a similar area could be a weird but useful way to contribute. Flex and be creative here.

The Doctor could make a Difficulty 0 Task to prep sick bay, or could spend some time reviewing what is known of Lormean physiology or culture, or something else of your own devising.

If I've left out anything else you want to do, have at it.

Kestra gets together with Takezo and th'Chaquis and says, "Ok, so how shall we tackle this issue?"

MacLeod looks a little startled at Takezo's analogy, but then nods to the captain, looking a little frustrated but not arguing, "Aye sir." Still, he turns back to Takezo and T'karra as they all leave to go about their assignments, nodding in agreement with the latter. "The loss of the Prophets would be a disaster, and not only to Bajor. And even if you don't believe they are gods, sir, they aren't enemies and destroying the wormhole would still mean killing their entire species. If Starfleet is willing to do that, I think that we've already lost our soul even if the body lives."

Then, it's on to deck seven and the sick bay. He starts to set about meeting the medical staff, then getting their help in inventorying the supplies (and replicating the things they don't have), and making sure all equipment is working flawlessly while they don't have any patients.

What should I roll for that difficulty 0 task? Might as well try to earn that momentum. :-)

Probably Reason+Medicine. But you can always make an argument for a different combination. If you are trying something crazy and experimental, you could roll Daring+Medicine, for example. Wouldn't make a difference for you since those numbers are the same. Or Control+Medicine could also make sense.

T'Karra arrives at engineering and goes to the deflector and communucations array and looks over the manuals as she starts to make the necessary modifications to cloak the ship from pre warp technology somewhat like a submarine from earth history she considers the analogy a strong one.

reason+engineer 16: 2d20 ⇒ (4, 11) = 15

three successes 4 is under five and I have bold in engineering generating two successes to match the difficulty and the third success builds a momentum

T'Karra to Chief Clarke, the array is set for ability to cloak our presence from prewarp society.

What do I need to do to make the schedule?

"Well, first off, let's see how well the holosuite is at doubling as a stellar cartography simulator," Takezo says as he presses a few buttons on the LCARS system to open up the chamber. The three walk into a bare holosuite, the black paneling only broken by a bright yellow grid. "Computer, interface with the data in the long-range scanners for the Orgunian region of space. Create a holographic projection of that data, and pinpoint our current location. Display all known spatial anomalies between the Bastion and Orgun III within a course deviation of 6.5 parsecs."

After receiving the chirp from the computer that it had completed the simulation, he nods. "Begin program," he says, waiting to see the display of the stars around the three officers.

"This should give us a good map to begin with, to ensure that we're not flying into an unknown singularity or ram into a gravimetric eddy. I'd suggest examining the pinpointed anomalies, and see if we can make out some sort of pattern between them. My initial read-through on the Expanse is that the whole area is riddled with anomalies like these."

Ok, one of my focuses is Astronavigation and another Helm Operations, I am pretty positive the former helps but the latter may help

"We can check what records we have access to see if our long range scans have any differences. If the Dominion or other forces are manipulating them it might highlight them for us." Gareb starts sourcing and adding the additional information to the simulation.

Seperate rolls or two people assisting one? What do ye think

Reason 11 + Medicine 4: 2d20 ⇒ (1, 9) = 10

What do I need to do to make the schedule?

Difficulty 0 Control+Command

Reason+Security, DC 13: 1d20 ⇒ 10
Reason+Security, DC 13: 1d20 ⇒ 18

Work's been rough the last couple of weeks, sorry for no flavor surrounding the rolls. I believe that's 1 success, which adds to momentum?

Takezo nods at th'Chiaqis' suggestion. "Proceed," he says simply, already tagging unusual activity and attempting to understand the unusual spacetime distortions in this sector. "Commander Kestra, could you run some simulations of how the Bastion would fare if we get close to some of these anomalies? If we use the ship as a frame of reference, we could make some accurate projections on what we could expect as we traverse this area."

I always forget the number of people who can assist - if we all can assist, then I suspect it makes the most sense to have Gareb run lead, and Kestra and I assist. I'd be going after a Reason + Science (TN15), and Kestra would probably run a Conn + (some appropriate Attribute) to assist. Since Gareb can get a 16, it makes the most mechanical sense to let him do it. Also, as the science officer, this is sort of your wheelhouse.

Usually 2 people can assist.

T'Karra generates one Momentum. Dr. MacLeod generates 3 Momentum, Galyn generates 1 Momentum.

Momentum 5, Threat 14

OK, in that case, I'd recommend that's how we proceed.

I would imagine Astronavigation plays into my roll somehow

Astronavigation would apply to either your individual roll or to your assist.

[ooc] I am giving this a whirl, Conn(Astronavigation) + Insight 15 or under 2d20 ⇒ (8, 11) = 19 so that is three successes

She says, "Well we should take this trajectory at this speed and we should be."

You needed 2 successes, so you can use the extra success to answer one question.

Is that four successes or only 3?

For your focus to matter in generating successes, you have to roll lower than your discipline score. So this is only 2 successes. Insight+Conn is 15, so each roll lower than that is a Success. These rolls are only 2 successes.

Reason+Science 16: 2d20 ⇒ (14, 5) = 19 Two successes but Gareb has the Studious talent so if we spend one momentum or more we'll get a bonus question. It'd be worth it.

Assist Gareb: 1d20 ⇒ 11

And that will get you an additional success, sir.

I am not sure what questions to ask, so feel free to pick something.

remember T'Karra is a floating assist ready and willing to happen if you grab her

command check 4+2d20 ⇒ (10, 13) = 23

Did I do the rolls correctly?

Yep! Basically, you add your Attribute and Discipline together for the TN - in your case, your Control of 10 and your Command of 4 generates a TN 14. Any d20 that rolls equal to or lower than this generates a success, and if you roll a 1, that's a critical success, which counts as two successes. Talents could also come into play here as well - think of them like Improved Critical, increasing your threat range. If you had a Talent that could apply - like "Personnel Managament" or something - you would generate a critical success on a 4 or lower. You didn't obviously, so your Talents aren't incredibly useful in this roll. However, you did generate 2 Momentum!

What can I do with Momentum?

One of two things. First, you could spend it right now. We should get a base level of understanding since we succeeded, and you can spend Momentum on to Obtain Information. Basically, for every Momentum you spend, you can ask a question to the GM about the info you just learned. So, maybe we learn that there is a black hole, a nebula, and an asteroid belt in between us and Orgun III. You could spend a Momentum to ask stuff like "What's the composition of the asteroids?" or "Is there anything unusual in the nebula?" Really, the sky is the limit there.

The other option is to bank the Momentum for future use. Momentum can be spent in several ways, not the least of which is to obtain additional dice on a roll. Moreover, Momentum is not a personal resource - it's a table resource for the players. So, your success here could make something we do later better!

Seeing how most of the other teams have rolled well, I'd suggest using the Momentum to ask some questions. We're capped at 6 Momentum, and anything we don't use is lost, so we we might as well put it to good use.

So we should have successes and two extra for momentum. So four questions. 1) Any signs of other ships going along the plasma trail of the Tesla 2) Any unusual disturbances in the anomaly? 3) Any sign of Dominion warp trails or fragments of transmissions in the area? 4) Can we identify the more dangerous anomalies to allow us more easily avoid them? -Just possibilities, more on the anomalies might be wise

I would like to see the GM's description before we start asking questions. Plus I do not think we can get those answers from our work in the Holodeck.

This region of space is unique for its concentration of naturally occurring wormholes. Your scans (and the resulting holographic displays) currently show 72 wormholes of differing types, most of them microscopic in size and a few as large as 3 meters in diameter.

That's your success. You get three questions past that.

I like Garab's questions.

T'Karra would be looking with all these anomolies for the alien technology she ran into knowing they use these as energy sources

So we should have successes and two extra for momentum. So four questions. 1) Any signs of other ships going along the plasma trail of the Tesla 2) Any unusual disturbances in the anomaly? 3) Any sign of Dominion warp trails or fragments of transmissions in the area? 4) Can we identify the more dangerous anomalies to allow us more easily avoid them? -Just possibilities, more on the anomalies might be wise

There are no signs of other ships following the plasma trail, nor of moving about in the area, no plasma trails, no ion trails large enough to propel a ship. There are traces of smaller engines, such as those you would see from photon torpedoes or probes.

Watching the wormholes on the sensors is like looking at fireflies on a summer night.They are constantly emitting radiation of various types, and occasionally expelling small amounts of matter. This concentration is not at all "usual," but nothing you see falls outside of the parameters observed in the recent past.

Warp trails would be very hard to detect here due to the subspace disturbances caused by the wormholes. The most threatening anomalies are, surprisingly, the smallest ones. They seem to drift around the area and could possibly appear in an area suddenly. If one were to appear right in the path of a vessel, the results could be catastrophic.

No subspace transmissions detected.

Is it ok for me to have a contact on the ship, basically my character being Kirkish from WOK?

Kestra thinks to herself, Why does that name sound familiar...

She thinks out loud, "Ok so what if the ship crashed on that planet? How would we undo any potential damage to the natural progression of their planet?"

This mission probably wouldn't allow for children, but an ex is certainly workable, Kestra. It could be an ex you have a kid with, but the ex would have left the kid behind for this mission, which woulc also lead to some fun interactions.

Unless I was misunderstanding and it would be an adult ex. I wasn't thinking you were old enough for that.

I was thinking maybe my ex and my daughter are on board. Maybe she is on an internship on the ship being that she is 18... Kestra had her when she was a teenager. Kestra did not want to miss Starfleet Academy at the time so she went straight to Earth for training.

That works. Feel free to give me names, some personality guidance, or whatever else you want.

"Mitigate it as best we can. Make it look like a hoax or at worst case remove all modern technology. It's bad enough if they become aware their are other intelligent life forms beyond their star system, in this case they might already have suspicions about their less advanced neighbour.... but if one nation state tries to reverse engineer our technology it might have a far more severe effect both technologically, culturally and geopolitically."

What is our weapon's array?