Star Trek: Perdition's Flames (Inactive)

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"That would be the worst case scenario, Kestra," Takezo responds. "Gareb has the policy down - scrub as much as we can, try to limit the contamination of their culture as much as we can. We should be able to hide the Bastion from their more primitive sensors, but if the ship has crashed on Orgun III, then we could have a potential GO1 crisis."

Jok'kem: The link at the top labeled Bastion Sheet has the Bastion's stats on it for ease of reference. Our main defense would be the phaser array, which is the style used by the Enterprise-D - our ship isn't so old that we have to rely on phaser banks, like the Constitution-class did. We've also got photon torpedoes, and it looks like we've taken on a load of quantum torpedoes as well. Those would be for serious engagements - I believe the High Yield property does bad things for ship systems, and both torpedo types have that. Quantums are more powerful than photons, but they also have the Calibration feat, which I believe means that no other minor actions can be taken if we fire them that round. We also have a tractor beam, for all the good that'll do against a Jem'Hadar warship.

Kestra nods with the explanations, after sucking her teeth quickly, something dawns on her and she whips out her data pad and scrolls back through her message list for about six months and she finds the message from her teenage daughter.

She then loses balance and falls to the ground and hiccups.

"Diasla is on that ship....my baby."

Gareb puts a hand on Kestra's shoulder. "You have my sympathies. Your insight into how she behaves and thinks means it's fortunate for everyone on that ship that you are here... obviously it's unfortunate that she was on the Tesla. Focus on your work, do your best but when you feel the need I'm here to listen."

Benjamin's heart skips a beat from Kestra's revelations. "Gareb's right. Focus on the positives. The Tesla is damaged, but we don't know how badly. If she's salvageable, then the best thing we can do right now is do the research and put some action plans in place. Once we get there, we can get them on board and into the doctor's medbay, if that's even necessary. And if she's not, then our work will hopefully save her life." He leaves the unspoken third option unspoken. While he doesn't believe in superstition, he'd rather not give voice to the phrase all hands lost.

I don't know how much Kestra would be using her empathic abilities, but I'll stick this down there, if she'd be sensing something from Benjamin.

Kestra says, "My daughter and I are... have been estranged to put it mildly. I signed her over to her father when she was a baby so I could go to the Academy. I wish I had been there for her" as she sobs.

She coughs, "I thank you for your empathy. No need to take it harder than I do."

I do hope all is well with your daughter. It us illogical to get upset until after we csn discover the shop as emotions left unchecked might hamper your performance and thus our ability to save the crew of the Tesla the 1st Ofimficer renarks.

"I'm pretty sure that's Vulcan for if you need a moment we'll all understand and there's an entire crew with you to save her. Between us we have centuries of experience bent towards rescuing the crew of the Tesla."

with my warp core specialty any chance of tracking the warp core signature of the Tesla

T'Karra will pull up the specifics of the Tesla and will then pull up her warp core signature as well as any other information from the federation computer banks. Then T'Karra considered. Perhaps she could track not only the core signature, but her sound. Each ships engine and this ship had a sound. The engines hummed at their own unique frequency as if a Vulcan choir sang in perfect harmony. Perhaps she could look up some engineers logs and hear the frequency and track this as well?

Jok'kem: The link at the top labeled Bastion Sheet has the Bastion's stats on it for ease of reference. Our main defense would be the phaser array, which is the style used by the Enterprise-D - our ship isn't so old that we have to rely on phaser banks, like the Constitution-class did. We've also got photon torpedoes, and it looks like we've taken on a load of quantum torpedoes as well. Those would be for serious engagements - I believe the High Yield property does bad things for ship systems, and both torpedo types have that. Quantums are more powerful than photons, but they also have the Calibration feat, which I believe means that no other minor actions can be taken if we fire them that round. We also have a tractor beam, for all the good that'll do against a Jem'Hadar warship.

Thank you!

"Not all of us can be as devoted to the teachings of Surak as a Vulcan, Sir," Benjamin replies. "Though I wonder how his philosophy might have changed if your species didn't require tactile range to facilitate your psychic abilities."

It doesn't take that long to reorganize sickbay to his liking, and once it is well on the way to being resupplied from the replicators, MacLeod sits down at his desk and taps his personal console. "Computer, access the observation files on the Lormeans of Orgun III, and show me all of the known data on their physiology."

He might as well, he figures, get some studying in while he can. There likely wouldn't be time once they arrived.

I hope that's okay, not sure if it's been long enough to add another task to the preparations but I wanted to get a post in today and wasn't sure what else since he's not at the holodeck with the others. :-)

It would be illogical to expect non Vulcans to truly understand. Vulcan culture. There tends to be merit in most cultures, especially those whose philosophies of code of conduct help to control emotional outbursts. Emotion can get in the way of duty. he replies.

Kestra says, "Emotion is the key to the soul. Without emotion there is no duty. Fore duty is a product of emotion. What you speak of is obligation. Logic leads to obligation."

It is easy for T'Karra to follow the warp trail of the Tesla. It moves toward Orgun III before disappearing.

The Lormeans resemble Earth lemurs, but they are bipedal and advanced humanoids. An extensive study of their DNA has not been completed. They have only been observed from a distance via drones and ships in orbit. There are only about 34 million of the Lormeans on the planet, concentrated on a single continent. They have not spread across the planet like many advanced species do.

T'Karra looks for anything that may have caused the warp trail to disappear. Does it go toward the planet as if crashing? Is there wreckage?

You follow the warp trail as it nears Orgun III. Where the trail ends, you can detect a plasma trail. Adjusting for the drift of the particles, you can determine that the ship was heading toward the planet.

If you wish to scan the planet, the character at Ops can make a Difficulty 2 Reason+Science Task assisted by the ship's Sensors+Science.

Momentum 6 Threat 10

Does he get to help with any of those checks?

The most likely think you could do to help is Create Advantage, which is a very vague Task. You have to explain what you are doing, and that would determine what Attribute and Discipline you would use. That is a Difficulty 2 Task.

Benjamin presses several keys to initiate a perfunctory scan of Orgun III, and see if he can find out the fate of the Tesla.

We're full up on Momentum, so I'll go ahead and spend 1 to get an additional die. Best I can do for foci is Quantum Mechanics - we're following a particle trail, so maybe that works? Let me know if that qualifies, GM. Anyone want to roll for the computer?

Reason+Science = TN 15: 3d20 ⇒ (3, 4, 13) = 20 3 successes - maybe more if Quantum Mechanics applies.

When the ship assists your role, you can just roll that d20. The ship's stats are in the Bastion Sheet link at the top of the page. Quantum Mechanics is not the same as Warp Engines or Impulse Engines.

Ship assist 13: 1d20 ⇒ 10

So a total of four successes. Plowing that Momentum back into the scan since you can't bank it.

Your scan reveals an unusual amount of electromagnetic interference in the planet's atmosphere, making detailed scans more difficult.

The scans reveal that the S.S. Tesla crash-landed, relatively intact, in a wilderness region, about 200 km from the Lormean capital city. No humanoid life-forms are shown in the vicinity. The energy fluctuations around the planet are interfering with the sensors, making it difficult to differentiate human life-forms from the native Lormeans. The scan also shows an extremely powerful energy source, about 5 km underground, not far to the north of the capital city. Due to the unusual energy fluctuations around the planet, the transporters are too dangerous to use.

You notice an underground energy source to the north of the capital city is far more advanced than anything on the planet and is of an unknown kind. It is definitely not natural, and unlike any energy source used by the Lormeans.

Human life-forms are detected in the capital city. A sensor lock for transport cannot be obtained, but they, or most of them, are almost certainly in the city.

The subterranean energy source north of the capital city appears to be impacting the geologic instability and may be responsible for the electromagnetic disturbances in the atmosphere.

Kestra reads the information gathered by Benjamin and says, "Should we take care of the ship first or save our people? I would suggest the former as opposed to the latter. Hopefully, but I have faith my daughter is alive and well."

Mr Takezo, report to the captain that the Tesla is down on the planet and that there is a technology far past the planets in the area. Awaiting further orders, T'Karra out. her professional and functional voice logically conveys that the prime directive is in serious jeapordy.

"Aye, sir," Benjamin replies to T'Karra, already finishing up a memo for just that purpose. "I'll defer to the captain's judgement, Kestra, but I think your read on the situation is right. Sensors don't show anyone in the presence of the Tesla, Lormean or otherwise. Our first priority needs to be to remove the advanced technology from Orgun III, and limit the contamination of their culture. After that, we can figure out how to extract the survivors." He pauses for a moment, searching for the right words.

"I wish I could say I found evidence of Betazoid life-signs on the planet, but the interference is just too great. The best I can say is that there is evidence of non-Lormean life in their capital, and if the Four Deities are watching over her at all, Diasla will be there with them." He leaves the implication open, knowing full well there's no way he could hide it if he wanted to from her.

Also, will do on the assists from now on.

Can we determine if there are any humanoid lifesigsns wearing a com badge?

Because the Tesla is a civilian vessel, the crew don't have commbadges.

Tesla crew manifest
Captain Andrew Forrest (Human – Lead Scientist and Systems Engineer)
Dr. Emmet Sherman (Human – Lead Astrophysicist)
Ibab Thi’vhet (Andorian – Geologist)
Dr. Norma Grange (Human – Physicist)
Orimu Faz (Trill – Chemist/Xenobiologist)
Dr. Scia Lort (Human – Biologist/Medical Doctor)
Diasla Forrest {Human/Bajoran- Lab assistant/Intern)

The Tesla is a civilian version of a Raven class science vessel.

Captain Taylor's brows curl together when he hears that the scientists are in contact with the Lormeans.

"Despite the chance of contamination from the scientists, I agree. We have to take care of the ship first. But I also want you to make sure none of our tech has wandered away from the crash site. Mr. Jok'kem, put together a team and take a shuttle down there and clean up this mess. I don't want any Prime Directive violations on our first mission. No, wait. Take a runabout. An away team plus seven scientists is too many to cram into a shuttle."

The Bastion has the extensive shuttlebays Talent, which allows you to support two Scale 2 craft. For this mission you have your uniforms, Type 2 phasers, and tricorders. Dr. MacLeod gets a medical tricorder. Anything other equipment you want costs Opportunity (Momentum) and/or Escalation (Threat).

The Prime Directive is a Directive for this mission. Values and Directives are explained on page 280 of the Core book.

I hope it is obvious, but I'll say it anyway, that the PC's are the away team. If you want additional security or medical personnel, that is possible.

I hope that is all of the info you need to proceed. Let me know if you have any more questions.

We haven't used a runabout yet, so you guys can name it.

Is it possible to pull up dossiers for any/all of the crew?

Diasla is Betazed not Bajoran. Not sure if I wanted her to be half human...

Bajoran was just a slip of mind. If you want the Captain to be a Betazed and Diasla as well works for me.

Pulling a dossier on a civilian should be easy barring involvement in something secret. Probably a Reason+Command or Security Task Difficulty 0. You can ask 1 Question per Success and spend Momentum for more.

Having been curious, MacLeod is stepping onto the bridge at pretty much the same moment that the captain is just starting to give instructions. With a look to Jok'kem to confirm that he's on the team, he says, "I'll get my gear."

A med kit is also standard issue for medical personnel, do I get that as well or do I need to spend for the Opportunity on that on this particular mission? If so, I will spend a momentum on that.

OK. I'm not going to spend any Momentum on this one.

Reason + Command = TN 14: 2d20 ⇒ (17, 12) = 29

Welp, that's a single success. I'll go ask about Dr. Sherman. Kestra, is it bold to assume you know Captain Forrest?

She knows Captain Forrest. :)

Dr. Emmett Sherman is a renowned Astrophysicist with Advanced degrees in Mathematics, Astrophysics, and Subspace Dynamics from the University of Alpha Centauri and the Vulcan Science Academy. He won a Zee-Magnees prize for his work on Tetryon particles as a subspace communications medium.

Having been curious, MacLeod is stepping onto the bridge at pretty much the same moment that the captain is just starting to give instructions. With a look to Jok'kem to confirm that he's on the team, he says, "I'll get my gear."

A med kit is also standard issue for medical personnel, do I get that as well or do I need to spend for the Opportunity on that on this particular mission? If so, I will spend a momentum on that.

Yes, a medkit is fine. Also, note that later in the adventure you guys can spend Momentum or Threat to have some piece of equipment on the Runabout. You don't have to gear up in advance for the entire adventure.

Kestra, you can inject pretty much whatever history, credentials, and personality you want into Captain Forrest. The adventure is very sketchy about character write ups and leaves a lot of stuff to me, and I'm happy to tell your story. I know that is sort of a strange situation for a game, so I thought I'd be more up front about it.

Kestra thinks and says, "Captain Forrest is the father of my daughter, we met at school... he is more precisely half-Betazed and half-human... which makes my daughter three-quarters Betazed. He is an intelligent man with some cunning but he is a scientist. He is the source of one of my greatest failings and triumphs... I guess that is how most relationships are. He gave me the gift of my daughter from whom I am estranged. We decided that he would have more time to look after our daughter than I while he was studying at University than I would at Starfleet Academy. He is a bit quirky and I know I haven't been the best mother... I guess you could aptly call me one of the worst mothers and Diasla has always been curt with me and I shan't blame her."

"Rescuing her from such a dire situation might just help thaw things a little between ye. Take comfort that we know where the shuttle is and it's largely intact. Hopefully they will have left an entries in the Tesla's log before they left explaining the situation."

Benjamin's eyes widen as he does his research. "Oh, of course, Dr. Sherman! I read his research on subspace communication mediums - there were some fascinating implications in the mathematics."

For the Roundabouts name, how about Actium?

Kestra nods at Gareb's remarks.

She says, "The quicker we get down there, the quicker we can save the crew of the Tesla."

She then goes to her quarters and gets her Away Rucksack and takes out a phaser and whatever gear she needs before she gets ready to board the small vessel. She has the replicator make Betazed field rations and a survival kit.

We will do what we can to rescue our fellow Starfleet officers and compatriots, but it is not our primary mission. I believe that our team shall consist of myself, Lt. Commander Kestrra, Lt. Commander Takeo, and Dr McLeod. Ta'karra, though you have no rank, the skills of an engineer would be most beneficial on this endeavor. Please be ready to leave in 15 minutes.

He would need a phaser and tried-corder, correct?

I hope that I did not forget anybody.

Excluding the Captain might could be an issue :)

Oh, no. Please exclude the Captain. If we had a PC Captain they we would send him to the surface, but since we have an NPC Captain and Captains aren't supposed to be on away missions, it works out both narratively and to give the players the focus.

Phaser and tri-corder is correct.

"Aye, sir," Benjamin replies to Commander Jok'kem. "Before we go, it bears mentioning that if we can't get a lock on them with the Bastion's sensors, then we probably won't be able to communicate with the ship when we're down there. I'll see what I can do about setting up a relay between the Actium and the Bastion, but we should be prepared to act autonomously." With that said, he returns to his quarters to grab his sidearm and tricorder, spending little time there before heading to the shuttlebay.

Scene 2

Momentum 4 Threat 10

The Actium enters the planet's atmosphere. T'Kara has made the necessary modifications to shield the ship from the sensor tech of the Lormeans.

Kestra finds that the energy fluctuations within the planet have stirred up a lot of turbulence. The ship rocks and rattles as it descends.

Kestra, make either a Control+Conn or Daring+Conn Task with a Difficulty of 2. The ship assists with Engines+Conn (9). A character at Ops may assist in this Task, using Control + Engineering to modify power levels to compensate for the fluctuations, or Reason + Science to figure to figure out that the shuttle’s shields can be used to mitigate the effects. Only one character can assist.

Kestra using her Helm Operations or Astronavigation Control 11 + Conn 5 DC 16 or lower2d20 ⇒ (14, 17) = 31 one success.