Session 1: Shakedown
Gaming tables were nothing new to Thomas Hathaway, as CEO of Stratos Gaming he’d been at his fair share of them, both as a game developer and prior to that a player but this one took the cake, he wondered how he’d let himself get talked into this one running a table top game for the Royal Family - well the answer was simple enough his wife had at one time been the girlfriend of the former emperor and he did love a good game, especially this sort of game. It had been a few weeks in the planning stages because this was a bigger than average table in terms of player numbers and not everyone was even in play yet but nonetheless here they were the players and the game master assembled, all the rulebooks out, the references sheets spread before them and a fair few tablets propped up and ready for use, then there were the drinks and the snacks, a quarter drunk cup of tea sat within Thomas’s reach, as he sorted a pile of red tokens out behind the cover of the game screen before sorting his different dice into their different categories, he glanced around the table, it was impossible to miss the smiles and the occasional giggle from those sat at the table, there was no doubt that they’d been looking forward to this. “I doubt I need to ask this but is everyone ready?” he asked looking around the table, there were nods all around “Ok then ladies and gentlemen let’s play some Star Trek.”
“I’ve been waiting for this all day.” Cerys said
“It’s stardate 62495.7 which translates to the first of July 2385.” Thomas said “That’s approximately six years after the events of Nemesis and around eighteen months to two years before the next big event in universe, which even though you all know what it is I’m not mentioning for certain reasons. It’s also ten years since the end of the Dominion War, the galaxy has changed a fair bit since the time of conflict, the dust has settled, Starfleet is back doing what it does best - exploring strange new worlds, seeking out new life and new civilisations, boldly going where no one has gone before and all of you the crew of the USS Midnight are about to join in on those voyages of discovery, like every Starfleet crew you have a variety of backgrounds, a variety of experiences and a fair few officers at the beginning of their careers. To those of you that are just coming out of the academy a posting on the Midnight was for reasons you don’t know and perhaps don’t understand seen as the prize assignment. We begin aboard a Danube class runabout as it heads from Starfleet academy to Utopia Planitia Shipyards, carrying a group of junior officers. So if your character is a newly minted officer as in you’ve just graduated the academy you are on this runabout. So let’s meet them, I assume that you’re flying?”
“Yes.” George said “Sat at the helm controls of the runabout is Ensign Timor Kyl, he’s an average height person with short brown hair and brown eyes, wearing the Starfleet uniform of the time with the red shirt and single gold pip on the collar. Timor is a joined Trill so has all the markings associated with that, he’s the fifth host of the Kyl symbiont and has been assigned to the USS Midnight as the chief helm or conn officer.”
“Sat towards the back of the cockpit area is Ensign Susanna.” Lydia said “She’s an Oran’taku, which Raijin’s species from Enterprise so she looks human except for the tattoo like marking across her collarbone, she has long brown hair and brown eyes and she’s been assigned as a junior medical officer.”
“In the space next to Timor are two small purple figures wearing the gold Starfleet uniforms, Ensign Dot and Ensign Dash they are paired Bynars and they’ve been assigned as co chiefs of operations because they come as a pair.” Val said “And they’re the first Bynars in Starfleet.”
“The crew’s full of firsts.” Renee said
“Sat at one of the side consoles in the runabout is ensign Codi, she has short brown hair, a pale skin complexion and gold eyes, she’s been assigned as a junior science officer, she was top of the class of 2385.” Cerys said
“Go on Astrid.” Serenity said nudging her daughter
“Sat at one of the consoles is a human girl wearing a cadet uniform, the uniform has a piece of Bajoran jewelry pinned to the sleeve, she has long dark brown hair and brown eyes. Her name is Molly O’Brien.” Astrid said “She’s going to be the transporter chief while she learns what she needs to learn.”
“And if you thought that was weird, then you’ve got us.” Simon said “Standing at the back of the runabout cockpit is Ensign Okan’kokos otherwise known as Okan he is a Jem’Hadar who was allowed into the academy under the terms of an exchange initiative after the Dominion War, he’s what the Dominion regards as a genetic abnormality in that he is one of those Jem’Hadar that naturally produces Ketracel White, he has the same grey reptilian like look as the rest of his species. He’s been assigned to the Midnight as the assistant security and tactical officer.”
“And finally under the same initiative there’s Ensign Liara.” Sakura said “She’s a female Vorta assigned as a Diplomat and advisor, she has long dark hair covering those Vorta ears and blue eyes, she’s currently sat in the back of the cabin.”
“So that’s who’s on the shuttle so what are you all doing while Timor pilots it towards Utopia Planitia?” Thomas asked “Chatting away?”
“This the first time you’ve graduated from the academy Timor?” Sakura asked
“I’ve done it a couple of times before, previous hosts and all that.” George said
“It’s certainly interesting having people from the Dominion in Starfleet.” Lydia said
“Cooperation and understanding are the bedrock of peace.” Sakura said
“You are correct ensign.” Cerys said “Those are certainly two things to describe that way.”
“Spoken like an android.” George said
“Does that worry you?” Cerys asked “And yes Codi’s giving the head tilt.”
“Not at all.” George said “I’ve always been curious about other lifeforms.”
“It is Starfleet’s mission statement.” Val said
“How well I know.” George said
“What kind of ship do you think we’re getting?” Astrid asked
“I don’t know.” Lydia said “I’d love something like a Galaxy…”
“I’m hoping for a Nebula.” Cerys said “All that science capacity.”
“Same design more or less.” Val said “Now an Akira class…”
“Unless it’s really quick it better be an Intrepid.” George said
“Are all of you alpha quadrant species like this?” Simon asked
“It’s their humor Okan.” Sakura said “I’d have thought you’d have picked that up at the Academy.”
“Jem’Hadar are not bred to be social, we’re warriors.” Simon said
“I’m aware.” Sakura said
“And at that point the runabout comes around the red planet and into visual range of the Utopia Planitia facility, the substantive shipyard of Starfleet. There are a lot of ships docked here, some for repair, some for shore leave but a fair number awaiting their new crew members it is after all graduation day for the class of 2385. The runabout gets put on automatic control and you all watch as the small craft your in pulls up and around several docking berths to its final destination and you all see for the first time your new home the USS Midnight the Odyssey class starship, the long thin saucer, sleek drive section and the two nacelles out to port and starboard, if you’ve watched Picard this is the Enterprise-F class, but for your purposes in universe the Midnight is the first ship of this class, it is a prototype and it has a fair few special tricks. So the runabout gets brought into the shuttlebay and you all disembark, around you are the various other colleagues and civilians arriving. And now we’ll cutaway to main engineering where I presume our two engineers are already at work?”
“Oh you bet we are.” Cianna said
“What are you two doing?” Thomas said
“Well I’m probably in the guts of one of the computer panels making sure everything’s working as we bring the various systems online.” Cianna said
“I’m probably stood at the console nearest the warp core bringing it online.” Telsia said
“And you are?” Thomas asked
“I’m Lieutenant Carolyn Fleming, assistant chief engineer, human with shoulder length blonde hair which is tied back and brown eyes.” Telsia said
“And I’m Lieutenant Commander V’Lar, chief engineer.” Cianna said “Appears to be Vulcan, with shoulder length brown hair that’s usually messy, and the typical eyes of a Vulcan.” she took a breath and looked at Telsia “How’s the warp core looking?”
“We’re on schedule, it amuses me it takes three hours to bring these things online from a cold start.” Telsia said
“Tell me about it.” Cianna said
“Captain Gardner was sad to see us go.” Telsia said “Probably concerned the Sovereign won’t run quite the same without us.”
“Meaning he’s worried about who his next chief engineer might be.” Cianna said “Ok I’m just about done. And V’Lar climbs out of the side panel and seals it.”
“So what do you think about the team? We’ve got the first Bynars in Starfleet and the daughter of a Starfleet legend.” Telsia said
“It’s certainly going to be a fun one.” Cianna said
“And right at that moment in walks.” Thomas said pointing at Peter
“Commander Daniel Patterson, first officer of the Midnight, human, stands reasonably straight, has short, neat brown hair and brown eyes.” Peter said
“Commander…” Cianna said
“The crew’s starting to arrive I thought I’d do the rounds.” Peter said “How are you doing?”
“We’re on schedule for departure time. Warp core is presently…”
“About one third of the way through start up.” Telsia said
“Anything we need to worry about?” Peter asked
“Not yet.” Cianna said “Any idea what we’re going to be doing?”
“No those orders haven’t come through yet.” Peter said
“We’ll be ready when they do.” Cianna said
“Counting on it.” Peter said
“And now we cut to the armory where we find our chief of security who is…” Thomas said
“Lieutenant Cesc.” Jack said “He’s a Suliban, so you’d see this green skinned individual with that yellowish tint and those yellow eyes. He’s currently unpacking the crates of weapons and sorting the room out.”
“Ok so there’s probably a few other junior officers there doing the same duty, chatting away about how eager they are to be getting underway.” Thomas said “One of them opens a container and says… sir.”
“Crewman?” Jack said
“We appear to have a container of hyposprays instead of stun grenades.” Thomas said
“What does the container say?” Jack said
“It says it’s to be delivered to the USS Midnight.” Thomas said
“Chances are this is a mix up on the admin side I’ll deal with it.” Jack said “So Cesc is going to pick that container up and carry it to sickbay.”
“Ok so you go to sickbay, step inside it, seeing all those biobeds, the office off to one side.” Thomas said “Like the rest of the ship the crew are preparing it for launch including the chief medical officer…”
“Who is Lieutenant Marissa Flores.” Renee said, this got a few raised eyebrows “She’s human with long blonde hair and blue eyes. She prefers to wear more practical clothing than the uniform when on duty. Which basically means civvies or scrubs.” she paused “She’s going to look up and see the Suliban and say can I help you?”
“Yes, we think you may have one of our crates here.” Jack said “Lieutenant Cesc chief of security.”
“Doctor Marissa Flores chief medical officer.” Renee said
“I come bearing a crate of hyposprays and I’m hoping you have a crate of our stun grenades in here or Starfleet hasn’t sent them.” Jack said
“Feel free to look around Lieutenant.” Renee said
“And now we cutaway to just a few thousand metres out from Utopia Planitia as a ship approaches at impulse, sovereign class, every bit worthy of the name it’s the USS Enterprise-E.” Thomas said “Flagship of the fleet and currently stepping onto her bridge is…” he looked at Serenity
“Commander Freya Locklyn, currently serving the last few minutes of her six year stint as first officer of the USS Enterprise, she’s a human but has certain implants and an exo-glove on her left hand, she’s got face length red hair and green eyes and will upon transfer to the Midnight assume the rank of Captain.” Serenity said
“Commander on the bridge. comes that familiar Klingon voice from the command chair as commander Worf looks at you.” Thomas said
“Report commander?” Serenity said
“Just arrived at Utopia Planitia.” Thomas said “Captain Picard is in the ready room.”
“Best not keep him waiting then.” Serenity said “I go to the ready room.”
“Ok so you buzz the door, walk in and standing looking out of the window sipping a cup of earl grey is the man himself Jean-Luc Picard.” Thomas said
“Captain.” Serenity said
“No place quite like home is there number one?” Thomas said
“Nowhere quite so beautiful.” Serenity said
“And the Midnight is beautiful for certain.” Thomas said “When you came aboard six years ago you had an almost impossible task.”
“Putting it mildly captain.” Serenity said “And we won’t go into the personal side of the equation.”
“You’re probably the only other person who understands that.” Thomas said “At least presently aboard.”
“And I can say the same.” Serenity said “But that doesn’t define us.”
“No it doesn’t.” Thomas said
“It’s been an honor serving with you.” Serenity said
“Likewise.” Thomas said
“Permission to disembark sir.” Serenity said
“Granted.” Thomas said
“I nod, turn and leave and go to the transporter room.” Serenity said
“Ok and waiting in the transporter room is the final member of our intrepid crew…” Thomas said
“Lieutenant Tarah Shraviq.” Euphy said “An Aenar so an Andorian but with paler blue skin, she’s got the usual platinum hair and black eyes, she’s to be the chief science officer of the Midnight,”
“Ready Lieutenant?” Serenity said
“Aye aye captain.” Euphy said
“I look at the transporter officer” Serenity said “Ready?”
“Yes ma’am.” Thomas said “You’re stepping up onto the pad?”
“I think we are.” Euphy said
“Energise.” Serenity said
“And there ladies and gentlemen we have the crew gathered aboard the USS Midnight.” Thomas said “So let’s have you all assemble on the bridge to get underway, so a little unconventionally let’s have all of you proceed to the turbolifts to the bridge.” He glanced at his notes “If you imagine the bridge like a clock face you’re stepping out of turbolifts that are at five and seven o’clock, at six there’s a little alcove like area similar to the space at the back of the NX class bridge and the Defiant class bridge, it’s got computer screens and a computer console table there it’s like a mini command centre but is more of a utility area and home to the bridge’s replicator. At three and nine o’clock are two doors one to observation lounge or conference room and the other to the captain’s ready room. Like the Galaxy and Intrepid classes the rear portion of the bridge is elevated between three and nine, it sweeps down in that elegant manner to the lower level, there’s a rail that runs around the raised section of the bridge. Viewscreen is at twelve o’clock right at the front of the bridge as you would expect, just before that is the sweeping crescent shaped helm console. Just back from the helm but out slightly towards the sides of the bridge but not out as far as the ramps are the operations console which has two seats for Dot and Dash and then on the other side is the science station. If we come back further to just in front of the apex of the curved platform there are five seats laid out as you see on the Enterprise-D with the Captain’s chair in the middle and two either side, for the moment this is where Captain Locklyn, Commander Patterson and Ensign Liara will be sitting. If we go further back still to the raised platform at four o’clock there’s the security and tactical station and at eight o’clock is a rarity on most ships a station specifically for medical. Finally on the railing directly behind the captain’s chair is an engineering console. It kind of looks like the one on the Intrepid class but it’s basically for those moments where La Forge or B’Elanna end up on the bridge. Also for everyone’s information these stations apart from the helm and the engineering one are intended along the same theory as the bridge stations on Voyager, they’re not just one console they’re work areas which allow a number of you to be in that space, so if for example Tarah is on duty at science there’s no reason that Codi can’t also be sat in the science area.”
“One question.” Serenity said “Is it carpeted?”
“Yes it is.” Thomas said
“Take stations.” Serenity said
“And as you all take your posts there’s an incoming hail.” Thomas said
“Ensign Dot.” Serenity said
“Channel open.” Val said
“And on the viewscreen appears Admiral Janeway, she’s the admiral who has charge over the portion of the fleet the Midnight has been assigned to.” Thomas said
“Admiral.” Serenity said
“Captain Locklyn” Thomas said “Good to see you settling into the big chair, I’m sure you’re keen for your first orders.”
“I am.” Serenity said “And a little curious.”
“You’re to travel to Deep Space Nine, the station commander has more specific details that will be helpful in your mission, but it is a trip to the Gamma Quadrant.” Thomas said “Treat the voyage to DS9 as a shakedown cruise, get the feel of the Midnight. Janeway out.” he smiled “And the hailing frequency closes.”
“Well that’s certainly interesting.” Peter said
“Ok then ensign Dot please notify docking control that we’re heading out.” Serenity said
“Aye captain.” Val said
“Ensign Kyl clear all moorings and undock ahead one quarter impulse.” Serenity said
“One quarter impulse aye.” George said
“As Timor inputs the command the ship begins to ease forward.” Thomas said “Clearing space dock a few moments later.”
“We’re clear captain.” George said
“Lay in a course for Bajor warp five.” Serenity said
“Course plotted and laid in.” George said
“Mr Kyl.” Serenity said “Set sail.”
“And the ship jumps to warp.” Thomas said “Anyone want a scene or am I ok to skip forward a bit?” there were shakes of the head.
“Set sail was a good one.” Simon said
“Like I didn’t spend a few hours thinking up what my version of engage was going to be.” Serenity said
“Ok so we’ll skip ahead a little.” Thomas said “The journey to Bajor is a few days at warp but as the ship makes it way along its journey you continue checking the systems, running diagnostics and getting to know the ship. Then when you’re about a day and a half out from Bajor… who has the bridge when the captain and first officer aren’t there?”
“If it’s shift rotation we run a four shift so V’Lar possibly as second officer.” Serenity said
“Ok so V’Lar’s sat centre chair when ops picks up a transmission.” Thomas said “It’s faint.”
“Can I try and clean it up?” Val asked
“That’s going to be the first roll of the game.” Thomas said, this was greeted by a few giggles from the others “Ok so this is a two d20 system if you look at your character sheet you’ve got six attributes and six disciplines, I’m going to pick a discipline and an attribute you’re going to add those numbers together and then roll the dice if you roll equal or under that number it’s a success if you get enough successes you will succeed at the task. Roll a one and it’s a critical success so counts as two, roll a twenty and it’s a complication which basically means something bad may happen. This is going to be a control engineering task.”
“Ok so control of eleven and engineering of four is fifteen.” Val said “Do I get my computers focus?”
“You’re getting ahead of me, yes you would.” Thomas said, explaining for the table “A focus as you may remember from reading the rulebook is an area of expertise or interest that your character has, each of you has six focuses. What a focus means is that the threshold for a critical success is changed to rolling under the discipline number in this case four because that’s Dot’s engineering score. Clear?”
“Yep.” Val said
“Ok then.” Thomas said “This is a difficulty one task. So you only need one success.” Val nodded and rolled her two dice coming up with a nineteen and a five
“One success.” Val said
“Ok now here’s the next question, who’s rolling for the ship? Because she gets to assist.” Thomas said
“Astrid is unless it’s a Molly O’Brien roll in which case it’ll be Val or Lisa.” Serenity said
“Ok so for the USS Midnight this is the same deal but it’s only one d20.” Thomas said “You’re going to roll the ships communications and engineering.” Astrid rolled the dice.
“Two.” Astrid said
“And because the ship automatically has a focus that is a critical success so you have three successes on a difficulty one task so you get two momentum, which are the blue tokens that you get, you can have up to six of them and you get to use it to do a few different things depending on the situation.” Thomas said, he waited while Serenity put two momentum tokens in front of her. “The transmission is a distress call.”
“Commander I’m picking up a distress call I’ve cleaned it up best I can.” Val said
“On audio.” Cianna said
“This is the freighter Caldera, declaring emergency, unknown…” Thomas said “And then it cuts out.”
“Senior staff to the bridge.” Cianna said “Lay in a course.”
“A few moments later the off duty senior staff appear on the bridge.” Thomas said
“Report.” Serenity said
“We picked up a distress call from a freighter we’ve adjusted course to intercept.” Cianna said
“Well done.” Serenity said
“At that point you drop out of warp.” Thomas said “And on the viewscreen is a heavily damaged freighter. What do want to do?”
“Tarah get me a scan of that ship please.” Serenity said
“Ok that’s going to be a reason science roll with a difficulty of two.” Thomas said “Assisted by the ships sensors science.”
“And the difficulty goes down by one because of the ships advanced sensor suite.” Val said
“It does.” Thomas said
“I’d like to burn a momentum to get a third dice.” Euphy said
“Go ahead.” Serenity said, there were agreement noises from the others.
“Ok so target number is seventeen.” Euphy said reading Tarah’s reason of twelve and science of five, she rolled her dice getting a two a nine and a sixteen “Three successes.”
“Nothing here.” Astrid said the ship had rolled a fifteen
“So that’s two more momentum.” Serenity said doing the calculation
“Nice rolling.” Peter said
“Ok so what you get Tarah is this is an old model federation transport, it’s heavily damaged and appears adrift.” Thomas said “That’s the basic read, anything else will require momentum spends for information.”
“But I have the studious talent which means I can ask a free question before momentum spends.” Euphy said
“You do so what’s your question?” Thomas said
“Are there any lifesigns aboard?” Euphy asked
“Yes you’re detecting five biosigns aboard.” Thomas said “Weak but they are there however they’re in an area of the ship that’s interfering with the transporters.”
“Ok so I burn the momentum to ask the second question.” Euphy said “What does the atmosphere of the ship look like?”
“From what you can tell the area of the ship where the biosigns are is the only place with life support functioning, everything else is a vacuum.”
“Sounds like a mystery.” Sakura said
“And Starfleet does love a mystery.” Peter said
“The only way we solve it is by beaming over there.” Euphy said
“If we want to determine cause of the situation we’ll need to access their computer.” Jack said
“Number one prepare an away team.” Serenity said “EV suits.”
“Cesc, Okan, V’Lar, Dot and Dash, Doctor Flores, Codi.” Peter said “Let’s go.”
“All right so wearing those EV suits, the ones you see in First Contact, the away team beams over. Normally you might need to roll for that but this is easy enough so I’m not going to make you roll for it. However it being a new scene means you lose a momentum.” Thomas said “When you materialise you find yourselves in a corridor on the freighter, it’s that classic corridor probably best described as the corridor you’d see on a smaller ship something like the Defiant. It’s dimly lit, there are sparking wall displays and very clear signs of damage. You’ve been beamed in right next to the door beyond which are the lifesigns you detected.
“Ok keep an open channel.” Peter said “We need to find out cause of the damage, but priority is helping anyone still here.”
“Then I guess first things first we need to get through this door.” Val said
“Agreed but we do this step by step and by the book.” Peter said “Ensign Codi what is the tricorder picking up?”
“Reason science difficulty is going to be one Cerys.” Thomas said
“All right.” Cerys said looking at her sheet “so target of fifteen” she rolled her dice and got a seven and an eighteen “One success.”
“There is no breathable atmosphere on the ship outside of the small compartment you’re standing outside which is sealed.” Thomas said
“Commander it looks like we’re standing in a vacuum the only breathable atmosphere is that compartment which is presumably a lifeboat created by the crew.” Cerys said
“That would suggest systems failure of some sort rather than an attack.” Val said
“How do we get the crew out without killing them?” Jack said
“Transporter?” Cianna said
“I wouldn’t want to beam anyone anywhere without knowing their health status.” Renee said
“Or their identity.” Jack said
“Then we have to restart the systems.” Peter said “At least get life support back online.”
“Agreed.” Cianna said
“Cesc take Codi and see if you can access the cargo hold, find out what the ship’s carrying.” Peter said “The rest of us will go to the bridge and bring main power back online.”
“Ok then we’ll start with the pair going to the cargo bay.” Thomas said “I assume Cesc is taking point?”
“Yes.” Jack said
“Right.” Thomas said “As you enter the cargo bay you find the room full of sealed containers, stacked deep throughout the cargo bay, there’s a large hatch at the far end that presumably leads to space, it’s probably the hatch that docks with a starbase so they can offload and take on cargo. What are you doing?”
“I’d like to scan the containers to determine what the cargo is.” Cerys said
“Reason science roll, difficulty of two.” Thomas said “And none of your focuses apply so it’s a straight roll.”
“I’m going to have to take that last momentum to get the third dice.” Cerys said “And let’s hope we get that back and then some. Fifteen or lower.” she rolled the dice coming up with a sixteen, a seven and a ten “Ok so that’s two successes but I’m going to use my cautious talent which allows me to reroll a dice when I’m using the science discipline and I’ve bought one or more dice.” she picked up the sixteen and rerolled it this time getting a two “Ok that’s three successes.”
“So we get three momentum.” Serenity said putting the tokens up
“And then I’m going to use my untapped potential talent, which all us ensigns have, when I succeed at a task, which I did, for which I bought one or more dice, which I did I roll a challenge dice and gain momentum equal to the number rolled.” a challenge dice was a d6 which had two faces with a one on it, two faces with a two on it and two faces with the Starfleet symbol on it which were called effects, she rolled the dice and smiled “That’s another two momentum.”
“Five momentum off one roll?” Simon said
“Heck yeah.” Cianna said high fiving Cerys
“What do I get?” Cerys said
“The containers contain Deuridium.” Thomas said
“Looks like we’ve got a Deuridium shipment here sir.” Cerys said
“Given our present position this is most likely a shipment to the Kobliad homeworld.” Jack said
“And right then Cesc as you continue to search you move past a stack of containers and what does he find Lisa?” Thomas said
“On the floor in the cargo bay surrounded by a few damaged containers there’s what looks like female human, she looks about the same age as Molly, she’s got blonde hair, blue eyes and is wearing dark trousers and a white wooly top, she’s unconscious.” Lisa said
“Cesc to Patterson.” Jack said
“Go ahead Lieutenant.” Peter said
“We’ve got what appears to be a human, unconscious, in the cargo hold.” Jack said
“Why didn’t we pick that up when we scanned the ship?” Peter asked
“I don’t know.” Cerys said “It’s possible that it doesn’t register as a life form, at least not a lifeform our tricorders can pick up.”
“Ok I’m sending Doctor Flores and Okan over to you, let’s see if we can get some answers.” Peter said
“Understood.” Jack said
“So Okan escorts Doctor Flores to the cargo bay where they go to the unconscious body, what are you doing?” Thomas said
“First I’m seeing if my medical tricorder does any better than Codi’s general one.” Renee said
“Ok that’s going to be a reason medicine roll with a difficulty of two.” Thomas said
“I’ll take one momentum for the third die.” Renee said “Reason of eleven, medicine is five target sixteen.” she rolled her dice and laughed as she rolled an eighteen, a fourteen and a one which meant she had the first natural crit of the game “Three successes.”
“Ok get that momentum back.” Thomas said “Your tricorder isn’t registering a human lifeform but it is registering something.”
“I have studious so…” Renee said “What is it registering?”
“You’re not certain, what you can tell is that if it is a lifeform reading it’s most likely a lifeform capable of assuming the form of others.” Thomas said
“Flores to Midnight.” Renee said
“Midnight here.” Serenity said
“Captain we’ve discovered an unknown lifeform, appears to be a human female but not registering as such, I’d like to beam them to sickbay.” Renee said
“Do it.” Serenity said
“This is going to be a roll and I guess it’s a Molly O’Brien roll?” Thomas asked
“Yep.” Serenity said “It’s an unknown, I don’t know how difficult this is going to be, I want my transporter chief doing it.”
“I’m actually spending my first load of threat.” Thomas said, these tokens were his version of momentum but he had a lot more than the six that the players were limited to “And I’m increasing the complication range for this roll by three so now a seventeen or higher is a complication.”
“What am I rolling?” Astrid asked
“You’re rolling control and engineering, this is a difficulty five task.” Thomas said
“You’re throwing the highest difficulty you can at us on a transporter roll?” Telsia said
“Yes I am.” Thomas said
“What’s the ship rolling?” Telsia asked
“Sensors engineering.” Thomas said
“So because of the Midnight’s sensors the difficulty is reduced?” Euphy said
“No, part of my threat spend was to counteract that.” Thomas said
“I want to spend my determination.” Astrid said
“All right, so quick refresher you all start each session with one point of determination, you can use that determination to use one of the values to gain one of the benefits listed in the rules.” Thomas said “What value are you calling on?”
“I’m a transporter nerd.” Astrid said
“Beautiful.” Simon said
“All right.” Thomas said “I’ll let you have it.”
“And that gives me an extra dice that counts as having rolled a one.” Astrid said “Then I’m going to spend three momentum for two additional dice.”
“We’re down to two momentum.” Serenity said “What’s your target number Astrid?”
“Control of eleven, engineering of four so fifteen.” Astrid said
“And the Midnight needs thirteen or lower.” Telsia said
“Here we go.” Astrid said rolling the four dice and getting two elevens and two nines “Six successes including the auto crit.”
“Nothing from the ship.” Telsia said “Though almost a complication.” she’d rolled a sixteen.
“So that fills up your momentum pool and gives you two spillover.” Thomas said
“I’d love to use that spillover to create an advantage and get the freighter crew out of there as well.” Serenity said
“So Molly O’Brien puts on a show of that famous O’Brien transporter prowess as she manages to not only beam the unknown to sickbay but then takes the initiative and manages to break through the transporter interference to land the freighter crew in sickbay as well.” Thomas said
“And in sickbay we get right to work.” Lydia said
“Yep you’ve now got two Bolian’s, a Bajoran, a Tellarite and a Human from the freighter plus apparently a human female on biobeds.” Thomas said
“Captain to away team we have the freighter crew and lifeform.” Serenity said “What have you got?”
“This appears to be a Deuridium shipment most likely headed for the Kobliad homeworld.” Cerys said
“We haven’t confirmed that yet.” Peter said
“I did imply probable didn’t I commander?” Cerys said
“And at that point I’m going to need everyone on the freighter to make an insight security check.” Thomas said “I’m setting it at difficulty three.”
“This is the equivalent of a perception check.” Simon said “Probably to detect a threat, I have a focus in survival.”
“So do I.” Peter said
“That will apply.” Thomas said
“Do I get anything for Dot’s hazard awareness focus?” Val asked
“No.” Thomas said “That’s more to do with engineering not security. Cesc has the cabal modifications right, compound retina?”
“Yes.” Jack said
“In which case you’re going to be rolling against difficulty two.” Thomas said “Everyone else rolls difficulty three.”
“I’m so happy we just maxed out our momentum.” Peter said
“I think everyone except Cesc takes a momentum for an extra die.” Simon said “Wipes our pool out but does prime our rerolls.”
“Yeah that’s what we’re going to do.” Jack said
“So Commander Patterson, V’Lar, Doctor Flores, Dot and Dash, Codi and Okan are all going to take an extra dice.” Peter said before looking at his sheet, insight of nine and a security of five equalled fourteen, he rolled two thirteens and a ten “Three successes.”
“Target of ten.” Cianna said she rolled two fours and an eighteen “Two successes so I fail.”
“I need twelve.” Renee said she rolled the dice and shook her head “Two successes.”
“Thirteen target.” Val said she rolled her dice “One success.”
“This is going so well.” Peter said
“I need thirteen or less.” Cerys said rolling her dice “Also one success.”
“Insight ten, security four so target fourteen.” Simon said, he rolled his dice, a nine, a two and a one “Five successes… all hail the survival focus.”
“Ok target thirteen.” Jack said he rolled a one and an eight “Three successes.”
“Thank heavens for your security officers is all I can say. So you go back up to three momentum.” Thomas said “Ok Okan and Cesc you see it right out of the corner of your eye, there’s this shimmer in thin air like a ripple almost as if something has just gone in or come out of a body of water.”
“I’m training my phaser on it.” Simon said
“So am I.” Cesc said “Ensign Codi.”
“Sir?” Cerys said
“There’s some sort of energy field or something right here.” Jack said “Directly in our phaser sights so to speak.”
“I’m moving the team on the bridge to the cargo bay at this point.” Peter said
“Ok.” Thomas said
“I’d like to scan this whatever it is.” Cerys said
“You know the roll, reason science.” Thomas said “Difficulty is going to be three and I’m increasing the complication range by one so a nineteen or higher is a complication.”
“Taking one momentum for the extra dice.” Cerys said
“Down to two.” Peter said
“And target of fifteen.” Cerys said she rolled the three dice and rolled an eight, a six and a twelve “Three successes, so I succeed at the task, which means I can use my untapped potential talent to generate extra momentum.” she rolled the d6 “an effect so we gain a momentum but you gain a threat.”
“I’ll bank that for later.” Thomas said “Ok so the scan you run on the tricorder picks up some sort of fluctuation in front of you, it doesn’t fully compile to the tricorder because it’s a very unusual reading.”
“I can’t make sense of what I’m seeing here.” Cerys said “I’m going to send it to the Midnight for analysis.”
“Good call.” Jack said
“Ok so let’s cut back to the bridge of the Midnight, are you all there?” Thomas asked
“Freya’s gone to sickbay I think.” Serenity said
“So who’s in command?” Thomas asked
“I’m going to be a little unconventional.” Serenity said “Liara has the bridge even though Tarah would be higher rank, got to give the junior officers experience.”
“Ok so Tarah’s at science.” Thomas said “And you receive the transmitted data, what do you want to do?”
“I want to take a closer look at it, see what all the computer power of the Midnight can find.” Euphy said
“Ok what specifically are you doing?” Thomas asked
“I want to run the data that Codi transmitted through the database looking for anything that matches it.” Euphy said
“Ok that’s going to be a reason science roll.” Thomas said “Difficulty three assisted by the ships computers science.”
“Computers focus?” Euphy asked
“Yep you’ll get that.” Thomas said
“Ok spend one momentum for the third dice, putting us back down to two but that’ll prep my reroll if I need it.” Euphy said “And target is seventeen.” she rolled her three dice and got two eighteen’s and a natural one “Ok that’s two successes.”
“And one more from the Midnight.” Astrid said
“And for giggles I’ll use my cautious to reroll one of these eighteens and then technical expertise to reroll the other one” she rerolled the two dice and laughed as they came up with a sixteen and a three “That’s another three successes.”
“We’re up to five momentum.” Serenity said laying out the tokens
“Tarah you run the readings through the computer and it shows two matches.” Thomas said slowly “One is in a debriefing from Captain Benjamin Sisko of the USS Defiant, the other is from an intercepted Tal’Shiar message from Captain Taris. And now we’re going to cut to sickbay.”
“Yay.” Lydia said
“So in sickbay you’ve got the five crew of the freighter all laid out on biobeds and being treated, but you’ve also got the apparent unconscious human who doesn’t register as human on a biobed.” Thomas said
“And she’s the puzzle.” Lydia said taking a moment to think “Ok I’m going to try my thing.”
“Biometric touch?” Thomas asked
“That’s the one.” Lydia said
“Ok then that’s an insight medicine task which would normally be difficulty two but is reduced to difficulty one because the target is unconscious.” Thomas said
“Going to take the third dice by spending a momentum.” Lydia said “Insight is eleven, medicine is four so fifteen or lower.” she rolled her dice and breathed a sigh of relief as she rolled a nineteen, a thirteen and a ten “Two successes.”
“So you run your hands over the young womans body and there’s a look of puzzlement as the skeleton that you’re accustomed to seeing when you do this doesn’t appear, instead after a few moments there’s a momentary flash of white light, it knocks you back a bit.”
“What the…” Lydia said
“I know what she is.” Serenity said
“Captain?” Lydia said
“And right at that moment over the combadge comes.” Thomas said pointing at Euphy.
“Bridge to Captain.” Euphy said
“Go ahead Lieutenant.” Serenity said
“We’ve got results of a comparison run against a reading from ensign’s Codi’s tricorder, it’s the only abnormality on the freighter as far as we can tell.” Euphy said
“Hit me with it Tarah.” Serenity said
“It matches a reading in a report signed off by Captain Sisko and an intercepted Romulan communication from a Captain Taris.” Euphy said
“I’m on my way.” Serenity said “I want to know the minute our friend here is awake.”
“Aye Captain.” Lydia said
“I make my way to the bridge.” Serenity said
“All right so on the bridge everyone’s working, com open to the away team and one to sickbay.” Thomas said “Captain Locklyn steps out of the turbolift and?”
“Report.” Serenity said
“I’m bringing the reading comparison up on the viewscreen.” Euphy said
“Good.” Serenity said “What’s the stardate on the Romulan transmission?”
“Stardate 42609.1” Thomas said “Which puts it twenty years ago, 2365.”
“Computer cross reference stardate 42609.1 with voyage of the USS Enterprise-D under command of Captain Jean Luc Picard.” Serenity said
“On stardate 42609.1 the USS Enterprise-D crossed into the Romulan Neutral Zone and approached the planet Iconia.” Thomas said “And before either of you ask yes Picard has told Freya all about the voyages of the Enterprise and yes Liara would know what this is because the Sisko reference is when the crew of the Defiant teamed up with the Jem’Hadar on this issue.” he paused for a moment “But first…”
“Everyone’s favourite alien shows up?” Telsia asked
“There’s a flash of white light on the bridge and standing there in a Starfleet uniform that’s twenty years out of date is a man with short brown hair that’s quaffed a little.”
“Before he has a chance to speak Freya turns to him.” Serenity said “Grown a moral centre yet?” This was met with a fair amount of giggling laughter
“He rolls his eyes before speaking.” Thomas said “Oh I’d forgotten you know him.”
“You forgot? I didn’t think that was possible.” Serenity said “Now then Q is this about the member of the continuum in sickbay or the fact that there’s an Iconian gateway on the freighter over there? Because if it’s neither get off my bridge.”
“One is not necessarily separated from the other.” Thomas said
“Are you going to tell me why a member of the continuum was on that freighter?” Serenity asked
“I will.” Lisa said
“Wait is she conscious?” Jack asked
“Spend two momentum and I’ll let you have that as a create advantage.” Thomas said
“Done.” Serenity said
“Go ahead sickbay.” Sakura said
“The presence of the gateway necessitated someone taking a look, your history records that the Iconians were destroyed in a rebellion of sorts that isn’t true, the Iconians escaped their end and much like most fallen giants with power they can’t resist the meddling.” Lisa said
“Well I know what we’re required to do.” Serenity said “Commander Patterson.”
“Captain?” Peter said
“I want all the Deuridium on that freighter beamed over to us.” Serenity said “Then we’re destroying that gateway.”
“Understood Captain.” Peter said
“Is this a Molly O’Brien roll?” Thomas asked
“It will be once she gets to the cargo bay.” Serenity said
“How are we destroying the gateway?” Jack asked
“With the phaser arrays on the Midnight.” Serenity said
“So we’re beaming them out as well as the Deuridium?” Telsia asked
“Yep.” Serenity said
“Ok so Molly gets down to the cargo bay and it’s that roll.” Thomas said “Control Engineering assisted by the ships sensors engineering. And because there’s a transporter pad in the cargo bay and the Midnight’s sensors lower the difficulty this is going to be a difficulty one roll.”
“Ok so I need less than fifteen.” Astrid said
“And the ship needs less than thirteen.” Telsia said, they rolled their dice
“One success.” Astrid said she’d rolled a five and an eighteen
“One success.” Telsia said “So we get one momentum.”
“It takes a few cycles but container by container the Deuridium is beamed aboard and then moved aside by engineering crews, commissioned Starfleet officers are getting a very good look at just what the O’Brien transporter talents are.” Thomas said “Eventually this all ends with the beaming aboard of the away team, and I’m guessing you all head back to the bridge?”
“Going to sickbay.” Renee said “People to check on.”
“Ok so everyone else goes up to the bridge and take their stations.” Thomas said
“We’re about to owe a freighter captain a ship.” Serenity said “Red alert.”
“So the siren blares and the red lights come on as the shields raise and weapons come online.” Thomas said
“Lieutenant Cesc lock phasers on the freighter.” Serenity said
“Phasers locked.” Jack said
“Fire.” Serenity said
“Ok then, this is going to be a little different to normal because this isn’t ship combat.” Thomas said “Make a daring security roll and I’m spending threat to raise the difficulty to four and complication range by two so eighteen or higher is a complication.”
“What’s the ship rolling?” Telsia asked
“Weapons security.” Thomas said
“I’m spending most of that momentum.” Jack said “Spend three momentum for an additional two dice, that gives me four to roll and preps my cautious.” he glanced at his character sheet “Daring of eleven and security of five so sixteen or lower and I have a focus in phaser weapons.”
“Ok.” Thomas said, Jack rolled his four dice getting a four, a ten, a two and a nine
“So that’s six successes.” Jack said
“Nothing from the ship.” Astrid said “Rolled a thirteen and needed eleven.”
“I think we’ll be ok.” Cianna said “If we’re not ok with six…”
“I’ll be wanting an inquiry.” Serenity said
“Ok so here’s what happens.” Thomas said “The phaser beams bombard the freighters hull breaking it up, as far as you can tell there’s no evidence of the gateway surviving.”
“Stand down red alert.” Serenity said “Mr Kyl set a course for the Kobliad homeworld, we’ll drop the Deuridium off before we continue to Deep Space Nine.”
“Aye Captain.” George said “Plotted and laid in.”
“Set sail.” Serenity said
“And that’s where we end tonights session.” Thomas said “Not bad for a maiden voyage.”
“I was worried for a second there.” Peter said
“If it wasn’t for Cesc and Okan being observant with those insight security checks that could have gone a whole lot worse.” Thomas said “Anyway we continue with the adventures of the USS Midnight next time.”
