Death Station, Part I

079-1120

Loki/Sol (SR 2228)

            The jump from Peraspera to Loki was uneventful and accurate, taking 170 hours, arriving 103 diameters out from Loki. Nothing appeared to the crew at entry, and they relaxed from stations to the N-space watch. Contact and messages from the world indicating nothing out of the ordinary. The local Military Governor, a Lieutenant Colonel of the Unified Army of Sol, and his garrison of 400 ensured the world listed to the dictates of Lagash, Muan Gwi, and Capitol. In truth, the world was little more a small town huddled around a small starport, extracting chemicals from the atmosphere and fluid seas under a couple of domes. A few smaller domes, with tiny populations, were on the continent. The Boxing Kangaroo was just another reminder of that rule, but also of the responsibilities that came with it.

A rotating ring labship

            Two uneventful days after entering the system, only seeing the scheduled courier run to Ember/Sol jump in, a signal came up from the surface. It began, “LYSANI LABS REPORTS R/V BURWELL COMMS FAILURE. RESEARCH PINNACE WAS CONDUCTING SUPPLY RUN, AND NO CONTACT LAST. REQUEST INVESTIGATION OF POSSIBLE ACCIDENT.
WAS IN SYSTEM TO USE LOCAL CHEMICAL PRODCTS. LAST REPORTED POSISTION, GEOSTATIONAIRY ORBIT 180 FROM STARPORT.” Sublieutenant Hassan examined the orbit change required, and began to plot the intercept, as the whole transmission was read by Lieutenant Brickley, who then began to prepare the orders. Once satisfied, the ship changed orbits. Examining his resources, Brickley wrote this watchbill:

Lead	SLT Hassan
Ship’s Salvage	MM1 Brand
Salvage Techs	AS Hall, SR Castillio
Boat Crew	Cpl Afari, MNE Franke
Medic	MNE Yap
Security Lead	Sgt. Valdez
Marines	MNE1 Appledorn, MNE1 Fini, MNE Hoedmaeker, MNE Binici

            Per standard procedures, the spacers, boat crew and Yap would be in vacc suits, with the rest of the Marines in Battle Dress. Spacers would carry auto-snub pistols, and the Marines have gauss rifles and cutlasses. The remaining crew, while short, would be able to operate the ship if losses mounted. The info on the Burwell noted her central docking adapter would be empty, so Afari could easily dock with it. They also had the codes to come aboard. The plan was simple. Hassan and Hall would operate with Appledorn and Hoedmaker as one search team, Brand, Castillio, Fini, and Binici the other. Sergeant Valdez would stay at the lift shaft as a relay point to the boat and one-man reaction force if needed, and Yap would stay on the Ship’s Boat, with the crew as his guards/stretcher bearers.

            Launching from 200 km away, the Joey flew to the unresponsive ship. Brickley kept trying to hail the lab ship, but no response. As the boat closed, the crew in the cockpit watched as it resolved into a standard lab ship ring, then, it came clear the lab ship was in a slow rotation. The docking port was a stable, and gravatics made the transfer easy, as the party in the boat barely noticed the alignment with the ship’s systems. Appledorn and Hassan entered the lift, and exited into the reception area. Appledorn ran to the far end of the darkened space, covering the passage, while Hassan button hooked to the right, covering the near side approach to the reception area. Next came Fini and Brand. In his hulking battle dress, Fini replaced Hassan at the entrance, and Brand and Hassan started to examine the space. The biggest thing was the plaque on the bulkhead. It stated the ship’s name, statistics, and owners, the bulletin board beneath noted the chartering party, Lysani Laboratories. The overhead lights were smashed, but the helmet flashlights did allow them to find a panel concealing a locked maintenance hatch. The salvage party assembled, and they moved into the groups. Hassan’s team heading to the engineering control, and Brand’s to the main bridge, and, hopefully, meet in the main lab. Valdez told them he had a good link with the boat. Atmosphere testing showed it was good, so the vacc suits were relaxed, gloves coming off and helmets stowed. The battle dress was not relaxed.

Search One, Hassan, Hall, Appledorn, Hoedmaker

            Hassan’s team crept to through the ship, going room to room. The first stateroom they checked had a puddle of water on the floor, and broken lights again. Nothing in the locker, they closed the door, placed 160 km/h tape on it, with “DS” in a large hand on it, stating no survivors. The next featured a single blinking light, and a pole laying on the deck. Able Spacehand Hall, examining the lockers, saw the largest one was slightly ajar. Opening it, she screamed as a body fell out, landing face up. Hassan jumped to look in reaction.

            “Is that a crewmember? Sir?” she asked, noting his missing arm.

            “Looks like it.” Hassan responded, then called to Marine Appledorn, “Call the boat, tag a crewmember as dead.” They stepped out, and resealed the door, placing tape on the door with “CR”, nearly gagging from the stench. Hall put her helmet back on, to keep from having to smell the

The next stateroom was unremarkable, and marked “DS”. Continuing, the next one was dark. A quick examination showed stripping of the rack and small blood smears, almost like whoever removed the contents bruised their knuckles on something, and stained the area carrying it out. The room was marked “DS”, and the group reviewed the next empty stateroom, but it turned up empty, again marking it “DS”. The following compartment should have been a stateroom, but it turned to be a small library, with reader stations, and an array of scientific documents. Looking at them, Hassan noted the ones spilled on the deck were all about biochemistry, a topic he had no particular background in. The escape pods across the passage were all untouched. Then his radio crackled to life.

Search Two: Brand, Castillo, Fini, Binici

            The other party started looking through the stateroom in the other direction from the first. Fini and Binici provided cover around as the first door was opened, into an unlit stateroom, as Castillo switched on the lights, revealing a few boxes in the corner. He looked into them, and said, “MM1, it’s just someone’s crap. But this looks nice,” holding up a sprig of green leaf encased in a clear solid.

            “Put it back. We aren’t here to loot,” Brand admonished him, as she checked the rest of the empty room, before clearing him out of the room to tape over it with “DS” written on the tape. They moved to the next compartment, a conference room. Looking at the documents on the table, it was notable they were all about combat drug experiments. “Do you know much about combat drugs?” Brand asked the Marines outside.

            Fini answered, “Not much, your ladyship, but I got to use it once in unpowered combat training. Speeds up, reduces pain, but leaves you winded afterwards. We don’t use it much.”

            “Thanks, and how many times to I have to remind you, I’m not her Ladyship on duty!” came her reply, as they marked the space as “DS,” grimacing about the minor dressing-down. The following space, the formal dining room, was set up for a meal, but undisturbed. The quick search found nothing, and again, the space marked “DS”.

            Moving beyond, the group sees the main mess deck, and the galley off it, the area is dark, but
stepping to bulkhead, Castillo turns on the remaining fixtures. In the poorly lit area, they saw the far end tables pushed aside. Across the serving line, they notice the lights are all smashed. Marine Fini stood back to cover them, as Brand led Castillo and Binici into the kitchen. It’s a fairly standard starship galley, with a large freeze box attached. As Binici opens it, Brand, remarks, “Oh god, oh god, oh god.” Binici hurredly slams the door open.

            Inside, they see the horror show of twelve human bodies, hanging on hooks. Some missing limbs, the nearest one Castillo examines, “That looks gnawed on. Is it just me, or are those human bite marks?”

            “I think so,” Binici responds. “MM1, what do you want us to do here?”

            Narrowly keeping her lunch, Brand thinks for a second. Coming up with the right answer, “Close it up, put tape over the door, and market. CR on there.”

            “Aye-aye!” the two respond to the command, happy to do something normal here.

            She thinks for another second, and brings up her radio. “All parties, this is Search Two. We found twelve, that is one-two, bodies in the galley freezer, and they look eaten. We have a crime scene. Over.”

            The Captain back on the Boxing Kangaroo, the boat, and Sgt. Valdez all copied. Sublieutenant Hassan copied, eventually, but noted he already had one dead body found. Waiting, she then heard Fini call out, “HANDS UP!” and the trio at the locker ran over to him, pulling their weapons. They find a typically sized man, looking at the Marine in Battle Dress, who then spins around and tries to attack Fini. His eyes go wide, and his lips curl into a feral grin.

            Fini knocks the man with the butt of her gauss rifle, seeing him as non-compliant, knocking him heavily. Ignoring the hit, the man tries to attack her, but it does not affect her in the heavy armor. Castillo stands back, as Binici charges in with his cutlass. He hits the man, wounding him. Brand, her fear welling up in her, calls for Valdez and Yap to get there, as she looks to the lounge.

            Continuing, Fini drops her rifle, preferring to engage hand-to hand at this point. Making contact, the armored fists knock the crazed man, who responds with another ineffective assault. Binici drops the man with another cutlass blow as Yap and Valdez show up. They quickly respond by cuffing the man, and applying first aid, as they take him back. Looking at each other, they understand they have to continue on, despite the violent situation. Uncertain, was this one of the cannibals who stored the bodies in the freezer?

TO BE CONTINUED!

Turrets, Gunners, and Fire Control

The players are crewing a Far Trader at the coreward end of the Spinward Marches. As they head for the 100D limit, a Corsair jumps in. The grizzled veteran gunner goes to the turret, and straps himself into one of the turrets, trying to buy you time to get to the limit. His control is local, and primary weapons systems are in his hands.

The players are crewing a Patrol Cruiser at the coreward end of the Spinward Marches. As they are on patrol around a world, a Corsair jumps in. As they man battle stations, the gunners reach their stations. While they have back-up control, primary direction is coming from the bridge.

The players are the officers of a Frontier Cruiser at the coreward end of the Spinward Marches. As they are on patrol, a Corsair jumps in. As the watch section maneuvers the ship as battle stations are manned, the gunnery officer on the bridge engages the corsair with the secondary battery. The gun crews exist 

These three examples show how weapons control can work on starships. First, there is local control, as shown the vast majority civilian ships of any type. Then, there are turret mounts with central fire control, as would occur on Adventure class military and paramilitary ships. Finally, there is the central fire control of Battle class ships, capable of turning smaller ones inside out with a single barrage.

On smaller ships, with individual mounts, I think the default image many of us have for starship weapons mounts are the turrets from the Millenium Falcon  in Star Wars. A gunner, sitting behind a console, moves the weapons across his field of fire, assisted by the computer, to fire at other craft. While this is contemporary to the original versions of Traveller, it is hardly realistic. Even in the cinematic visions you may have, ships will seldom be close enough for optical manual to fire control to hit, and they will have velocities where the Force is the only way to have a prayer of hitting the target! The velocity problem has been known since the 1940's when manually operated 20 mm auto cannon were found to be ineffective for anti-aircraft firepower. However, the the local fire control may exist, especially if the ship does not have  quality sensors. Generally, Scout ships, Free Traders, Far Traders, and Fat Traders will not have centralized fire control.

Next, we can move on to centralized fire control for Adventure class ships. Generally, the Type T and Type C ships are among the smallest to have this kind of fire control arrangement. Basically, the local gunner has been reduced to a secondary purpose here, ensuring sand canisters and missiles load properly, and the lasers are functioning correctly. Their operations on the mount are more ensuring the system works properly, and follows the right cues from the main director. The best parallel I can find is the operation of older 5" mounts, where there is the ability to fire from the mount controls, but the primary location is from fire control.

On the largest ships, weapons fire is essentially automatic from the central fire control post on the bridge or combat information center. Examining Supplement 5, it comes across the bridges on a Lightning-class cruiser have a control location for weapons control, alongside local stations on the various gunnery decks, allowing for the main locations to be incapacitated. while continuing to fight the ship. Some of the limitations may be from the era when the deck plans were written, because I see individual (or area) targets getting manually designated, and then automatically engaged when the computers work out the math. Those heavy duty computers on starships running Fire Control/5 should be blowing up targets with out much help from the gunners. An individual with a good skill will help make the shot, but compared to the systems inputs, won't be of much help. If there are manually triggered weapons, I would expect for there to be a physical interconnection, perhaps in the shape of a pistol grip, physically connected to the overall fire control system.

Well, there's some more crunch for gunnery and fire control on starships. Players can discuss if they want local or central control of weapons, and which fits best with your particular campaign style. Space opera Travellers will opt for local control, so heroes can have their moment of triumph over the forces of evil. Harder Traveller campaigns will have a combat information center, or central fire control direction for their turrets. Of course, the key is to ensure the players are the center of the action. 

Across the Bright Face, or Gustav’s No-good Very Bad Day

I actually got to play in a Traveller game tonight. Put on by the local Saturday Night Space Opera crew, we played the classic adventure "Across the Bright Face", ably refereed by Matt. Our cast of characters included a senior scout, a medic, a faceman/engineer, and a demolition expert/astrogator with a checkered past. I played the senior scout. Here's my diary format of the whole scenario.

090-1105

I’ve been working for the past few months as a mercenary. It’s taken me to Dinom/Lanth this time, where I’m bodyguarding a rich guy inspecting holdings. His name’s Arlent Streen. An unpleasant world, with only mines, but I’ve seen worse. So far, we’ve seen the ‘capital’ of Rhylan, and the city of Medianne, where at least he put us up in really nice quarters. I picked up a nice little multifunction radio, while our other guys, Franto and Corben, got a camera and a tarp. Odd choices.

While he’s inspecting a model ore processor, and the boss gets shot, as does his aide and the Major. They demand we surrender and turn over his briefcase, but we don’t want that. Stealing a tracked ATV, we head out of town. Blowing by some cops who don't notice us, we get to an open area outside of the city without a problem.

We get out of town, and find some tracks. We follow the tracks into the mountains. I get beaten up by a landslide, and Delfi, our medic who was a scientist, patches me up. A few hours later, we get ambushed by a group of ATVs. I fumble getting my helmet on, but the other gunner managed to get a shot off. Our ace driver managed to get us away from them really quick. Then there’s a small earthquake. I get injured again. This is not the ticket I thought it would be! Then we head to the hot zone.

091-1105

After the debacle in the mountain pass, moving into the hot zone. We pass some shacks, an iridescent area. Franto and Corben get the brilliant idea to rig the tarp as temporary shade as we roll across the hot zone. Then find a mineshaft. Out there? I figured it was nuts to head in there. The mineshaft, despite my misgivings, gets us closer to the starport. We keep moving through the hotzone. I get woken up to help fix the stolen ATV, then it’s back, and mountains again. They find another mineshaft, and then find a nice valley that gets us closer to the starport. Once we got to some clear terrain again, we get intercepted by a rebel ATV. One guy pops off a rocket, the wrong way, and they hit our turret. With me in it! Then we got a near miss with a rocket. After that, I went up with the machine gun, and opened fire. Took me a couple of shots, but I managed to get a good hit and depressurized them, allowing us to get to the starport. It turns out the briefcase the boss had was full of bearer shares. Now we can get our own ship, once we get off this rock and somewhere nice.

More Solo Play? When I Get the Time

I've been pretty quiet on the gaming front, and not had the time to write up adventure results at this point. I was running the crew of the Boxing Kangaroo through "Death Station" when I last had a chance, with one team about to meet one of the survivors...

However, I did see a couple of very interesting gaming blog posts this week. Omer Golan-Joel published library data for his Dark Nebula variant today. I did get to play Dark Nebula once, and it has it's charms. If I ever get a finish the Rim, I may go for his stuff. It's got a lot of space to play with the system, and Traveller is nothing but flexible. The Kangaroo is very much a techno-thriller in space, while there could be a lot more gonzo stuff in the Nebula.

The other is Real-life Hexcrawl Manual over at Alesmiter. There's long been an element to fantasy games to use real statistics as a beginning for things, like long distance travel, but even for science fiction, it's useful. Considering the Schizo Tech nature of the setting, having some player characters take a journey to an area on horseback, or the equivalent,  isn't out of expectation. That could even be a complication for a mercenary ticket. A religious dictatorship has a holy pilgrimage that requires nothing powered by wind or muscle be carried or used by the faithful, but offworld mercs toting high tech weapons are unlikely to care about damnation...

Mediocre Movies as Adventure Fodder

A few weeks ago, after getting hit by the ad blitz for it on other social media, I watched the rather forgettable "thriller" The Last Thing He Wanted while out of town on business. The plot, once you make sense of it, is a major power runs illicit arms shipments into a politically controversial brushfire war, with a sympathetic bystander drawn in. Except she's not really a bystander, in having previously covered, ostensibly from the side of the rebels, a neighboring civil war.

After I finished the movie, my opinion is that it was something to watch while waiting on the Friday Night pizza delivery to get to me and then eat the pizza. Also, it could have used another draft or better editing.

However, many of the set pieces would be good for Traveller adventures. Having a dying friend or family member offer a big payday they'll split with you is an reward pull. Dirty secrets of the government works a well, even if you're running a Traveller Universe where Norris is as great as the propaganda makes him out to be, and Strephon is the Good King. Powerful governments often make cruel decisions and work with unscrupulous people, and good men will accept doing them as the alternatives are far worse. Or maybe the crew gets hired to take some cargo to an unmarked starport on a backwater, along with a representative or two, and the crew is their ride back, but they don't make it. Do the characters make their scheduled departure, or go after them? People those with sources, like organized crime bosses, spymasters, and successful smugglers, who can easily track down an obvious outsider doing shady things. Just keep the travel times in mind here. Perhaps the new friend is really the agent of a government official you are on the wrong side of. Don't be afraid to steal ideas from forgettable movies and books.

T5 Character Generation

Nigel the Cat "Helps"

Having gotten my copy of the T5.10 books last week, I decided to take try out the process of character generation for myself. At one point, I had quite a few Classic Traveller characters generated, and it's always been a minigame I've enjoyed in many systems. Here's my first attempt at generating a Traveller: 5 character.

Meet Coronel Sir Elden Cox, IM (ret), SEH, XSx4, WBx2, BA (Hons). Born on 195-1063, he is a native of Preslin/Gulf (Dene 0633). One of the few non-Jonkeereen natives of the world, he ended up dropping out of high school, and finding some work around the Navy Base. Seeing how unpleasant life was during that period, he completed his basic education at the Downport Education Company, to apply for college at the Imperial College of Preselin, where he obtained a honors degree in electronics, and joined NOTC, where his massive physique got the attention of the Marine Sergeant-Instructor. With his humble background, and previous lack of academic success, he opted to join the Marines instead. After completing the Deneb Marine Officer's School, he was assigned to Protected Forces, meaning Meteoric Entry and Ship's Troops his entire career. On his first tour, on mission against the Kforzeung corsairs, he was decorated with the Starburst for Extreme Heroism, with the following citation: "While in action against hostile Kforzeung Corsiars, he entered with a few enlisted men the mouth of a cave occupied by a desperate enemy, this act having been ordered after he had volunteered several times. In this action 1st Lieutenant Cox was wounded. An inspiring and courageous leader, 1st Lieutenant Cox's extraordinary heroism and supreme dedication to his comrades were commensurate with the his rank and reflects the highest credit upon himself and upon the Imperial Marines." Other than schools, his career showed a typical alternation of units, moving between command of Marine Detachments aboard ships to that of Meteoric Entry companies.

UPP: D69AAB, Skills: Driver-1, Electronics-5, Fighter-4 (Battle Dress-2, Blade-3, Slug Weapons-2), Flyer-2(Grav-1), Forward Observer-2, Hostile Environment-1, Leader-4, Liasion-1, Medic-1, Philosophy-2, Robotics-2, Survey-1, Stealth-1, Steward-1, Survival-2, Tactics-2, Vacc Suit-1.
Languages: Anglic-9, Battle-8, Gvegh-7
Equipment: BVIGR-13, SEH, WBx2, XSx4, TAS Membership,1 Ship Share, Cr 50,000 cash, Life Insurance, Cr 36,000 pension

My general conclusion is that it's kind of clunky to use for generation, and a little opaque, especially with respect to the Knowledge/Skill for Fighter and the like. I do like the Risk and Reward mechanic, and the flux for damage. The E5 course listed is a godsend, and makes sense in the setting, and may find it's way into future Mongoose or Classic Traveller games I have.

Traveller 5.10 Kickstarter Arrival and Unboxing

This spring, against possibly my better judgement, I backed the Traveller 5.10 Kickstarter. Despite the delay, the packages were shipped on October 16th, and arrived on the 19th, a delivery day in advance of what was stated. The Courier route to me was a bit more direct than most, it seems. The box arrived with out an issue, and largely damaged from when it was on the pile at Mr. Miller's residence in his last update.