Star Trek: Amity (Inactive)

Game Master tumbler

With the issue with the escaping shuttle temporarily neutralized, Xin goes back to working with the ship's computer on a simulation of the probe positioning.

Reason+Science--17: 2d20 ⇒ (15, 16) = 31
Amity: 1d20 ⇒ 4

The Amity's tractor beam captures the Tellarite ship, dragging it closer.

So you crushed those checks to grab the ship, but then what do you do with it? If you bring it into your shuttlebay, you will infect the ship. If you transport the occupants to the ship, it will infect the ship. I suppose you could site to site transport them back to the surface and destroy the ship?

I would say we should scan to see if they are infected. Why can't we hold them there until the crisis is abated? We could bring the ship into our shuttle bay and not allow them to leave their ship.

The Captain flips open her communicator, "Mr. Barstow, what is the sitrep in orbit?"

I think you did scan them, and I didn't update that.

The inhabitants of the ship are riddled with the virus.

Coop depresses the communication switch and leans into the arm of the captain's chair. "We've caught a small tellarite warp shuttle in Amity's tractor beam. Seem's they were interested in breaking quarantine, Captain. We can hold them like that for a long time, but that ship is rife with disease. I was just about to inform their captain and give them some options."

For just a moment, he switches the microphone off and turns to T'sai. "Keep the tractor beam on them and the shields up. I don't want anyone transporting over here from that ship."

Then he turns the console back on. "My plan was to offer them site to site transport back to the surface or for them to stay on their ship in our tractor until we've got the situation under better control. Unless you have a better recommendation, Captain."

The Captain says, "Good, keep me posted. Were you able to initiate contact with Starfleet Command and also the Orion Syndicate?"

I think we need the rolls on K'rist's action dice and for Gullerg or am I missing something?

I think that is correct.

Can't you roll them or can I roll them?

I can roll them, but I'd prefer if those PCs rolled them. Do you guys not understand how to do that?

Not sure what I need to roll here. I know its d6s, but how many?

Sorry, moving everything to a new computer is slowing me down.

For extended Tasks, page 90 of the core rules, you roll 2d6 (effect dice) plus dice equal to your Discipline, in this case Medicine. So you would roll 7d6. You can spend 1 to 1 Momentum for extra work. You can also spend 1 Momentum to re-roll as many dice as you want from those effect dice.

Extended Task: 7d6 ⇒ (5, 3, 3, 3, 2, 1, 2) = 19

Well, crap.

6 successes that is actually good.

[ooc] Let's spend a momentum and reroll those 3 3s.

3d6 ⇒ (5, 1, 5) = 11

Sorry, don't have my book in front of me as I am in Georgia with my parents this week and my book is at home. Doh!

That will fill the work track and exceed 5 work, so 2 Breakthroughs. The Magnitude (number of Breakthroughs needed) was 3, so you have finished this extended Task. That takes another 4 hours past the time when the small ship was tractored.

K'Rist's analysis discovers a Tetryon based microbe. This microbe is consuming normal biological matter and turning it into Chromiu m-54. Normally, Tetryons occur only in subspace environments. Yet the microbe
appears to be otherwise stable. Something is allowing it to exist in normal space. The virus is complex. The best way to fight it would be to eliminate whatever is allowing it to exist in real space.

The Captain is given this information and says, "Ok, we need to find out what is enabling this microbe to reside on this side of subspace and neutralize it. Dr. K'rist, I suggest you tackle this from the medical side and Gullerg and the Amity should take care of this from the science side."

She then flips open her communicator and says, "Tharhat to Amity, we seem to have figured out what the nature of this microbe is, but now we need to concentrate on figuring out what its enabler is, try to pinpoint what it is and come up with a way to neutralize the problem."

Command + Control 2d20 ⇒ (18, 6) = 24

Commander Xin-Yalix replies to the comm.

"Captain, I suspect the enabler is a subspace -- 'sandbar' for lack of a better term. At the least it is the likely source of the tetryon radiation which appears to accompany the virus."

Xin-Yalix looks over where his initial warp probe calculations are displayed. "We have a potential solution to the sandbar in progress using the Amity's probes to abrade the sandbar away."

If that is correct

The Captain says, "We need to attack the sandbar with our phasers."

Honestly I do not know what we should do. GM please help.

Xin and Coop's plan to abrade the sandbar with the warp fields of various shuttlecraft and the ship is a good one. There are a couple more events that are supposed to happen on the surface, but maybe best to just wrap this one up. It doesn't seem to be working too well.

Extended task that can include command and/or conn?

Here is what I'm going to go with: To cover an entire planet with the Warp Field Effect, the ship’s engines must be pushed far past the red line. This is represented by a Daring + Engineering Task, assisted by the ship’s Engines at a base Difficulty of 5. It also consumes 5 power from the ship per attempt. Unlike normal, where a Player could perform a Power Management Task, it takes two intervals of time to recharge power fully.

At the same time, those who are most affected by the infection, whose bodies have become completely metalized, begin to rise up and attack those who are caring for them.

This presents several problems. Medical staff on the surface find themselves attacked by shiny metallic automatons that look like the Tellarites they were treating. Gullerg is clearly needed on the ship in engineering, but is infected.

That should give you some things to roleplay through.

I've lost track of Momentum, but it looks like you might have 3, so let's go with that.

So what can the captain do?

For me, Star Trek is about the characters facing complex situations and dilemnas. In my vision, this situation isn't about technobabble and dice rolling, but about the dynamics of solving the problem. The captain is on the surface when she would almost certainly be chafing at not being in the captain's chair. Returning to the ship would infect her crew, but sitting on the surface has to be uncomfortable. Gullerg is in a similar situation, best to be on the ship, but would bring infection. On the surface, metal Tellarites are attacking medical personnel and trying to smash down doors. Coop is in the captain's chair when he should be in the pilot's seat. Only Xin is perhaps in the right place. How does all of this play out? What if you can't crush the sandbar and have to permanently quarantine the planet or even execute General Order 24 to destroy all life on the planet because it threatens the Federation. To me, this seems like lots of role play fodder, but I can't seem to get traction there.

The Captain seeing what is going on on the surface looks at her senior staff on the planet and says, "K'rist, SObek, GUllerg, I need to talk to you privately."

Once they are alone, she says, "Unless the Amity can reverse this Tetryon issue, we may be forced to execute General Order 24. As an officer of Starfleet, I have faced the possibility of death innumerable times and have always found a way to cheat death and come out of it mostly unscathed. My son is with his birth mother and one of his fathers. Andorian mating is a little different than that of other species."

She composes herself and then says with resolve thinking about what Captain Garth said before Axanar, "It seems as though the local population have morphed into metallic automatons and we may need to defend ourselves. Have your phasers ready but we need to believe in our crewmates in orbit and that the Amity will get us through."

Does not Believe in a no-win scenario

She then flips open her communicator and says, "Tharhatt to Amity, it seems as though we are being attacked by metallic Tellarites and we may be forced to defend ourselves. Xin, Barstow, we need you to implement your warp field effect or this whole planet is dead. I know this was mission was supposed to be a milk run, trial cruise and I want to say all of your work was exemplary, escaping the Klingons, finding out who sabotaged the medicine and stopping that ship from leaving orbit. I want to express my faith that you all will succeed."

Motivational Speech Persuasion or Lead by Example 2d20 ⇒ (20, 3) = 23 Two successes and one complication, can I reroll the 20

If so 1d20 ⇒ 12

From a rules perspective, I would have Tharhat spend a point of Determination based on her Value of Doesn't Believe in a no win scenario. Creating an Advantage would reduce the Difficulty of the Task to 4.

She will do that.

After following the instructions of her CMO and Gullerg to help out where she was needed, they were able to not only keep others from getting even more sick but actually reverse the process on those that were ill.

She says, "Dr. K'rist, I would like to extend to you my hearty congratulations for keeping cool under pressure and I will be recommending the entire Amity up for a commendation."

She flips her communicator and says, "Mr. Xin, beam us up!"

The captain and the rest of the away team are beamed up to the Amity and she takes the turbolift to the bridge.

She says, "We have two prisoners to drop off at the nearest Starbase. Mr. Barstow, set a course for the base, execute!"

Can I get a reaction or something?

Sorry, I wasn't sure if we were setting up for a new mission or not. Thought it was still up in the air

Aye Cap'n," Coop says as he slides back into his comefortable seat at the conn. "Destination set for Starbase 23, Warp 5. Aye."

With that he engages Amity's warp drive and breathes a small sigh of relief to leave the Tellarite Plague and the difficult decisions involved behind them.

The captain sits in her chair as the stars fly by the view screen and she starts amusing herself by throwing her Ushaan into the floor and picking it up and doing it again then she strops it and puts it back in her sheath and says, "Mr. Xin, Mr. Barstow talk about a cold steel encounter." as she chuckles.

Figured to have some Kirk-esque banter with the Senior Staff

Episode 3: Plato's Cave

Captain’s Log, Stardate 8140.6. We have assumed a standard orbit around Tanghal IV, an Earth-like planet in the throes of an ice age. For the last five years, it has also been home to a team of archaeologists and paleoclimatologists.

Their last report indicated a remarkable find beneath the ice: a collection of this world’s crop diversity stored in a doomsday seed vault.
Our mission is to resupply and check in on the outpost’s personnel.

Tanghal IV – a Class-M world – fills the lower half of your viewscreen. Approximately the size of Earth, the planet is a frozen wasteland. Thick
sheets of ice cover the two large continents and swaths of the oceans. Magnifying the viewscreen reveals the barely visible ruins of a lost civilization– shards of once towering cities protrude from the ice. A whole people forever gone.

In addition to the Prime Directive, two other directives are in effect for this mission: 1. Resupply the Federation science outpost on Tanghal IV and support the seven-member team’s general well-being. 2. Uphold Starfleet Order 2, which prohibits the killing of intelligent life-forms.

Remember that Directives basically work the same as Values. You can use them in much the same way, challenging them to gain Determination.

K'Rist stays glued to the viewscreen, her eyes glittering. "Can you imagine what secrets may be locked away beneath the ice?" she says with a slight purring sound.

The Captain smiles and says, "Yes, there are probably vast amounts of secrets thereunder and this reminds me of Andoria. It is too bad that this pattern of ice is just a phase this planet is going through." as her left antenna twists slightly.

She then turns to Sobek and says, "Could you hail the scientists on Tanghal IV?"

Momentum 0/Threat 10
2 Threat for each character

Hailing the science outpost is a Control + Engineering Task, assisted by the ship’s Communications + Engineering, with a Difficulty of 0. I could succeed automatically, but I'm going to roll in hopes of generating some Momentum.

Control+Engineering 16: 2d20 ⇒ (3, 14) = 17
Ship assist Communications+Engineering 11: 1d20 ⇒ 8

3 Successes total. I will turn those into Mometum.

Sobek dials in a frequency and listens to his earpiece for a moment, awaiting a response. Nothing comes.

"Captain, hailing frequencies are open. There is no response."

Momentum 3/Threat 10

The Captain says, "Thank you Mr. Sobek."

She then says, "Senior Staff, please meet me in the ready room in half an hour to discuss our options. Before that we need to gather as much information about this planet and its history as well as the dossiers of the scientists on this planet."

"Captain, I recommend a full sensor sweep of the planet and the surrounding area. There may be enemy vessels in the vicinity."

Just coming on shift since he'd been leading beta shift for the last week or so, Coop makes his way to the Captain's ready room early while pouring over his PADD. Stylus picking through the data, Barstow shakes his head at the few details he has about the science team below.

"Hey Cap." he begins as the door opens to admit him. "I've only given the crew manifest a cursory once over, but nothing jumped out and bit me yet. With this planet so early in it's development, what's the protocol if containment has been broken somehow? I mean we won;t know for sure what's going on until we go down there, I'm sure. But just curious as to what Starfleet expects."

The Captain says, "Great Idea Mr. Sobek. We never know when the Klingons or the Romulans might just show up out of the blue. We should also do a sensor sweep of the planet and see where the concentrations of life are, if there are any left, it is an ice age. Maybe the species of this planet are as hardy in the cold as we Andorians are."

The captain's antennae twist in an awkward way as she hears herself being referred to as "cap," and says, "I'd prefer Skipper or just Captain. To answer your question, we should follow the Prime Directive and hopefully our people have as well. After completing some scans of the planet, assuming there is no enemy presence in the area and they do not respond, we shall beam down and try to find them. By the way, I would like to introduce you all to our new Chief Engineer. We have all been switching shifts, and I hadn't had the opportunity to introduce him to the Senior Staff."

The last couple of days were filled to the brim with activity for Lt. Commander Nettlox - but he was very satisfied with the state of affairs.
The position aboard the USS Amity was a dream come true.
Chief Engineer aboard a major, brand-new ship type with a crew as diverse as one could only find once in the entire fleet.
Practically everything he liked was here, except for his sprawling family back on Denobula of course, but he had every intention of forging a new "family" branch aboard the Amity.
Just like his grand-grandfather third-degree Phlox did aboard the previous-previous Enterprise before him.

As he makes his way towards the Captains prep-room, he mentally reviews the data he pulled from the database the night prior.
Not having have to sleep - at least for several months to come - has its benefits.
Iceworld. M class.
Former, advanced population all but extinct.
Remnants of their civilization underneath the massive snow and ice fields.
Federation outpost of scientist, mostly archeology and paleoclimatology.
Seven permanent resident researchers.
Those were the primary database entries.
But he was not satisfied and decided to dig deeper - the night had been pretty young at that point anyway.
Just trying to try my grasps at a task and play up the "Better be Prepared" value (not using it)
Research the database to ask GM questions. Reason+Science? 14, ship systems can assist I think: 3d20 ⇒ (7, 4, 5) = 16
Those are nice rolls. Um, so 3 questions since I get all three successes?
1) Are there known conflicts in the vicinity of the system?
2) Are there database entries of unknown/strange/dangerous interstellar phenomena in the vicinity?
3) Are there known claims of other species for this region of space?

A fast turbo-lift ride later and he has reached his destination: the prep-room.
He made sure to arrive on time, with enough time to spare for one short unexpected detour should it occur - like a crewman asking a question or a turbo-lift re-route.
He takes a seat at the opposite end of the entrance and waits for the Captain to begin the briefing - making sure to greet each participant personally with a friendly nod and a (very) wide grin.
As he is introduced, he stands and makes a traditional Andorian thanking gesture towards the Captain.
"Thank you Captain."
He turns to the assembled officers and spreads his arms in a pretty universal gesture of welcoming.
"Welcome, fellow officers, my name is Nettlox.
Lt. Commander or Chief for those keen on protocol minutiae.
I am very keen to get to know everyone of you in due time and look forward to us working together.
Beside my obvious skillset in the engine room, I am also an officially accepted counselor and have served as diplomat on more than one occasion.
So if you have any personal problem or difficulties, don't hesitate to call for me - day and night.
You will not wake me, as we Denobulans as you may know, do not sleep unless for a hibernation period once a year.
Ask away if you will."

K'Rist greets Nettlox with a hearty handshake. "Pleased to meet you," she says in a purring voice. "Captain, do you think that there will be an opportunity to explore the ruins? I'm fascinated to learn more about these people."

If Xin doesn't check in soon I'll bot those scans later tonight.

The captain says, "Hopefully, it won't come to that. Our main concern here is the safety of the scientists but if we have some time I do not see why not. What was the log on file from the scientists?"

She then turns to Nettlox and says, "Mr. Nettlox, I am sure you will be an invaluable addition the ship."

The slightly round-bellied Denobulan with the surprisingly white hair returns the offered handshake of the Caitan with only a slight hesitation but then returns it with a wide grin.
He sits back down as the Captain is done with her reply, nodding.
"Thank you, Captain, I will be giving my best to fulfill your expectations."

The Captain says, "Mr. Nettlox, tell me a little about your Starfleet career."

He grins a wide grin that nearly reaches his ears.
"I'd be honored, dear Captain, but considering that I have been in service for a longer time than some of the present have been alive-",
at this he winks at Barstow sitting opposite him,
"- I guess I should limit myself.
Shall I start with the best or the worst moment of the past 63 years?"

Let's do this a bit more interactively, eh?