Adventure and Encounters Outline

1. Fight back – what to do first?

2. 5 star clue – there are two of them

3. Explore Noctae or Aken, both are inhabited as a Romari colony.  Colony should fit on either Noctae or Aken

4. Introduce Romari overall culture

.5 Investigate?  Government or underworld or local businesses?

6. Eventually find location.  Must pay price for either government or underworld.  Price is: investigate a massive space hulk.

7. afterwards, location is told.  Adapt and run Assault on Singularity base for this.  PCs can do 3-6 missions here, adapt story so that the PCs can rest for long periods of time inside the base.  Their ship may prevent escape at first.  But later, the ship is driven off and now the PCs must stop the people from escaping.  Can these three first: blue, green, silver in any order, then: red or orange, yellow last.  Or: break them up into several different episodes/missions. – part of mission is to get plans for building weapons, ships, etc.

8. the weapon isn’t really a weapon, but blueprints to converting dark matter to regular matter, giving The People a large advantage in manufacturing.  

<end episode 3>

Recap and Mission

Grand Admiral Hiroshiko speaks.  “In our last episode, Earth took a bloody nose.  Half of our total military space forces were destroyed.  Yes, we were lucky enough to destroy the entirety of the enemy fleet, but now we aren’t even capable of responding, and we can’t sally forth from our solar castle to engage the enemy’s star cavalry.  Right now, we don’t know where to look, for material resources, sources of technology, manufacturing assets or for weapons.  We do have one clue, though.  The ‘5 stars system’ that the People talked about makes mention of the God of War.  We got our R&D to work on this for a while.”

Rin Hoshizora, the astrophysicist speaks.  “We looked through the our optical arrays and found two relatively nearby candidates.  There are two 5 star formations 50 light years away.  Their names are Aken and 6314 Noctae.   They’re 25 light years from each other.  The planet of New Madrid is the only inhabited one, and it appears there is some sort of colony there, as pointed out to us by The People.  The terrestrial world in 6314 Noctae is called Fu-Xi.  Both planets have lighter gravity than earth’s, so you won’t have too much trouble moving around there.”

Space Marine General Takashi Komuro speaks.  “We don’t know whose empire these colonies belong to, but you should tread lightly when you go.  We can’t afford to send support and they probably have some orbital and system defenses.  You might not want to come in guns blazing.  Yes, this sounds strange coming from a military officer, but it’s an honest assessment of what we can do in case fighting breaks out.”

Akina Hino speaks.  “Eventually, the issue of payment may come up.  As a backwater planet with no standing, we may not have much to offer.  Also, trying to ship resources by lifting them out of our gravity well isn’t very productive.  We can offer refinery products and resources from our asteroid belts and moons.  We have exactly one light freighter with an Alcubierre engine, so shipping very large quantities will be impossible.  We’ll need to provide coordinates out at the Kuiper belt for pickup.”

The players may have questions at this point.  Answer as befits the personalities of the council.  Some common questions may be:

“We had a difficult time repairing our starship last time.  Do we have something that can help?”

Professor David Kei Takishima speaks to this question.  “Yes.  We have attached spare materials to your external weapon racks that will enable you to repair anything short of a reactor breach.  You can jettison them during a fight if you don’t want them to get damaged.”

“Why aren’t we getting any help from The People?”

Professor David Kei Takishima answers again.  “Their astrogation computers have been wiped so that their secret bases can’t be traced by the Si-Dek.  They’re just as lost as we are.  They’re hoping that they can get a bearing on where they might be after talking with the colonists on New Madrid or Fu-Xi, so they will be coming with you as advisors of a sort.  They’re not really good in a fight, but they might be familiar with who you meet.  Fortunately, their universal translation devices still work and we can actually replicate them.  They’ll be part of your gear and part of your ship.”

“Now, if there are no other questions, get yourselves ready to leave.  We don’t want to waste any time.”

Let the players have some time to get their belongings and their affairs together.  A contingent of 5 of The People will be coming in order to advise the PCs in case of a familiar setting.

It won’t matter which system they go to first, it’ll turn out to be the same city and the one that they needed to go to in the first place.  Try not to reveal this to the PCs.

Journey and Arrival

“Your ship makes the 7.5 day journey out to the minimum Alcubierre distance without incident, with the Delta Picket accompanying you out to a different set of coordinates than last time.”

Is there anything that the party would like to do at this time?

“The faster than light journey takes 10 hours this time around, due to being further out, and the players can get some sleep during the journey or they can do other things to prepare.  When you appear in the minimum Alcubierre distance, it only takes 2 days of travel before you are greeted by a signal from a group of objects that are accelerating at an intercept course.  The comm arrays receive the signal and blare an alarm.  “SIGNAL INCOMING”.”

Do the players answer immediately or do they wait?  If they analyze and wait first, their analysis reveals:

• 5 objects accelerating at 2 gravities at an intercept course, twice as fast as their ship can do without turning off the governor.
• At current course and speed, the intercept will be in 1 day.
• Discrete weapon systems can’t be identified at this distance.
• The People don’t know who or what these are until they can get a closer look.

How do the players want to deal with the incoming colony picket?  If they wait until the intercept point in a day, they find out the following things:

• The 5 objects are ships that are only slightly bigger than theirs.
• There are weapon hardpoints for lasers and ion weapons, but no missiles.
• After half a day, the flotilla decelerates at 2 gravities.
• The lead ship is scanning them from half a day out.
• Fire control electronics is active from all ships.

“The incoming signal is received and the universal translator converts it to English.  ‘Attention foreign ship.  You are trespassing on an official Pax Romari territory.  State your intentions or be prepared to be fired upon.  You have 12 hours to do so.”

New Planet, New People

The 5 ships are Pax Romari frigates, standard for a system picket fleet.  While the PCs can take one, maybe two of their ships with their light carrier, it is doubtful that they can take all 5 of them.

The picket squadron isn’t overtly hostile, but they do want to know what the PCs are doing in the system.  If the PCs are truthful and they make a good parlay, the system picket will escort them to the colony.

“Yes, we can take you to our processing station.  You can meet official government representatives that way or you can talk to business leaders that way.  They’re always interested in seeing anyone off-system.  Please make sure your weapon systems are powered off when we approach the station or there may be a misunderstanding.”

The PCs’ ship can dock at the station and take a public shuttle down or they can orbit around the planet and take their own shuttle down.

If they decide to ask Yuuto Mori (of the People) what he thinks, he’ll tell them about the Pax Romari Empire.

• The Pax Romari is a far-flung empire who have conquered every enemy they’ve encountered, absorbing them into itself.
• Every polity that’s been absorbed has been given full citizenship rights and can vote and decide on their own future, so long as they swear fealty to the Empire.
• Many different races are Pax Romari citizens, each speaking their native tongues, but also speaking the official state language.  
• Their technology level is nearly the same as the Si-Dek, but with a larger territory.
• The Empire has refused to take sides with or against The People and welcomes them on their worlds so long as they follow all the laws and customs there.

Talking to the Authorities

If they take an interview with a government official, they can tell the same things as Yuuto Mori did, along with the following:

• Colony worlds aren’t allowed to know the route back to the Empire in order to stop invaders from collecting at the edges of the empire.
• Once a year, a ship from the empire comes to collect tribute as well as to disgorge news, orders, supplies and new technologies.  Garrison troops will also rotate out.
• System defense fleets were originally from the main body of the empire, but are now staffed by colonial military.
• Once colonies get past a certain population, they can become a full member of the empire and they’ll have a 5 year process where system defenses will be installed by the Empire and finally, coordinates will be given to the colony so they can start two way traffic of any sort.
• They have no idea what the God of War might refer to.

It’s Just Business

Interview with business leaders can tell you the same things as Yuuto Mori did, what the government official did, and also the following:

• This colony is not in need of refined material, nor are they in need of unrefined material, as they have plenty here in the system.
• The colony is in need of entertainment media.
• The colony is also in need of workers.
• They can trade basic weapons, technology, but not starships nor can they trade gravity drives or generators, as those are forbidden technologies to trade.
• The colony is a prosperous one, but doesn’t have many trading partners.
• The People are here to trade, sometimes, but one of their ships haven’t been seen in two years.
• The Si-Dek also trade, but not often.
• The Iilari have been beaten back from infesting the colony via the diligence of the system pickets.
• “Oh my yes, there is virtually no crime here.  At all.  No crime at all.” 🡨 suspicious
• They have no idea what the God of War might refer to.
• Perhaps you’d like to visit our local markets?  There might be something you can trade?

Underworld

While the PCs are out exploring the main colony city, which is fairly sprawling and large, with many races’ food, trinkets and gadgets, one of them may notice they’re being followed.  What do they do?

If they players respond with violence, the crowd immediately scatters and the one following, a being that looks like a big walking cat, stops, raises his hands and gestures for them to follow him.

If the players try to confront the alien, he shakes his head and directs him to a quieter non-public place.

Here’s what he has to say.

• He’s a member of a cat-like alien race called the K’zinti and his name is Hideo Kusanagi.
• He has heard that the party’s looking for a weapon called The God of War.
• His organization knows where it might be, but they aren’t giving it away for free.
• The PCs can’t possibly have anything they want, but the K’zinti’s organization wants to have something done.
• There is actually crime on this colony and a thriving black market due to the restrictions they have.
• If the players get what they want, they are willing to sell them a used gravity drive.  Used by an old Thri-kreen grandmother when she want to worship at the Exa-church on SunSunDays.
• This particular organization wants the players to plunder a space hulk beyond the Alcubierre minimum engagement point.  It should take them 10 days travelling at 1g.
• They give the players the coordinates of the space hulk as well as directives to meet at the cargo module of the space station in orbit, so that everyone can see that the trade is being made without any threat of a double cross.

Space Hulk

No one knows where the space hulk came from or why it’s here.  But sometimes, there are valuables here.  But more often, the hulk is secured by dangerous technology, biologicals or things even more strange.  Tales abound amongst sailors of galactic space about unexplained disappearances of crews that have tried to plunder space hulks, but your K’zinti friend, Hideo Kusanagi says that they’re all pretty much old wive’s tales and that you should be safe.  It’s just that his compatriots in the black trades aren’t used to dealing with unknowns and you are, so why not?

Unfortunately, Hideo’s organization has rivals and 5 days while boosting to your destination, your ship detects 3 objects on an intercept course to yours.  Your ship has just begun its deceleration burn, but you can see that those following you are going at 2 gravities and will soon catch up to you.  They’ve been boosting for the same number of days and have an acceleration advantage.

The 3 ships are older model interceptors.

Romari Model 9 - Template : Goblin (Cypher System core book, pg 299)

When they see the fighters launch from your ship, they try to run, but they’re not quite fast enough.  When they see they can’t get away, they gang up on a single ship and try to damage it.  No communications from the ships are forthcoming.  They’re not large enough to have Alcubierre drives, so they must have launched from the planet.

The space hulk is adrift, without any station keeping thrusters in evidence.  It is huge, three times as large as your own ship.  It also appears to have many holes in it, with many sections that are just gone.  There’s no power at all and no emissions.  There may be places that hold air, but not from where your ship can see.  The PCs will need to wear space suits and possibly exo-armor to get around in the hulk.

There are two sections the players can explore, and they’ll be notated as Floor 1 and Floor 2.

Use the map provided or use one of the folding starship maps and label the different rooms.

Floor 1 Space Hulk

Floor 1 Contents

1. This floor is the remains of what used to be the power&engineering room.  There is a structure here of what looks like a reactor and has a large hole of what could have been a reactor breach.  It’s difficult to know what kind of power it might have used due to lack of context.  This is not salvage.  There are two exits out of here, one to the left, one right.
2. This is a cargo module.  There is some obvious damage here as well as the frozen remains of organic matter.  This may have well been the food and supplies of whoever manned this ship.  There is an exit right and left of here, with the exit to the right partially blocked by wreckage.  This is not salvage.  It will be a Level 3 Might task to remove the wreckage.
3. This is the secondary bridge.  There are no windows here, and there are consoles whose heights and shapes are suitable for insectoid aliens, but not for humans.  The consoles look like they may project solid holograms, but due to the power being gone, there is nothing here that can be done without another source of power. This could be salvaged, but it would be difficulty as the electronics are part of the ship.
4. The roof of this room has been torn off, and there are stacks of tubes, with missiles still in them.  There could be still be live munitions in here, so it would pay to be careful.  The munitions here can be salvaged.  Unfortunately, there are also 2 scrap drones here, scavenging amongst the remains.  Their sensors detect you and they immediately attack.

1. Central CPU control – There are stacks and stacks of rectangular columns with numerous indentations and slats in them.  Some of the slats are empty, others still have flat blocks in them.  There are also bumps on them.  It looks like an alien equivalent of the central computing control, but there’s no power here now, and there are no equivalent interfaces, so it will be difficult to get working here and now.  This could be salvaged.  There are also 1d6 random cyphers here that the players can claim.
2. This room used to be the central barracks or bunk room for the ship.  There are stacks of sleeping structures here, most of them now wrecked.  But, there’s something here that hasn’t moved on, an insectoid looking creature that is transparent and has a baleful red glow emanating from it.

1. Fabrication Laboratory – All sorts of instruments are here, used to fabricate electronics and other technology.  Any of this equipment can be salvaged.  There are dead and frozen insectoid aliens here and there are 3 things here that are apparently feeding on them, with their mouths wrapped around where their heads should be.  They don’t appear to need to breathe air.  They turn at your intrusion and spring for the attack!

There are 1d6 cyphers in this room.

1. Lounge / Lunch Room / Leisure – This is a central lunch room and food dispensary that can also be turned into a viewing room.  There are niches along the wall, as well as seats that can be comfortable for insectoid aliens, but not for humans/humanoids.  The dispensers are not functional.  None of this can be salvaged.

Floor 2 Space Hulk

Floor 2 Space Hulk – Contents

1. Plant Supply Room - This sturdy, locked door has a sign with a warning symbol.  [The symbol is a safety warning for dangerous chemicals.]  Inside, floor-to-ceiling shelves fill three walls. The other wall holds a narrow workbench and basin below more shelves. In the center of the floor lies a jumbled mess of white boxes, broken jars, pots, coils of wire, piping, and more. Lids are off some of the boxes, and powders in various shades of white, ivory and tan lay in drifts among the debris.  🡪  [The boxes hold chemicals, a whole array of essential nutrients for plants, such as: special growth factors; compounds to inhibit the growth of unwanted bacteria or fungi; antiviral agents; and water-filtering compounds. All are carefully labeled, so character can determine what potentially dangerous chemicals are mixed here. If the area now has no gravity, this room could be deadly; the air would be filled with toxic powders and broken glass.] This can be salvaged.
2. Secure Seed Storage - This non-descript narrow door is locked.  [The boarding party will no doubt be able to find some creative way to bypass this.]  As you open it, you notice the door is particularly thick [insulated] and then the cold hits you. The tiny room is dark and chilly. [The light activation switch is outside the room beside the door. The room is refrigerated, about 40 o F/ 15 o C.] There is very little floor space in the center of a room otherwise filled with shelves. Some shelves still contain boxes and sacks, labeled as containing different types of seeds. However, most of the shelves’ contents are piled in a heap on the floor. The only things in this room that are not seeds are an open box of dormant tubers [such as tiny onions] and a white barrel [an expensive plant nutrient -- cooling extends the shelf-life], both sitting on a lower shelf and mostly hidden by the mass of seed packages on the floor. The seeds here can be salvaged, so long as they are kept frozen.
3. Primary Bridge - This is apparently the primary bridge of the ship. The central window shows the environment outside. Several chairs sit in front of small consoles, with controls and displays on each. The panel on the right has a large joystick control yoke and several banks of interesting switches, three of which are illuminated.  [These switches can do what ever you want them to – as long as they are used for something important, time-critical, or interesting]  The bridge has seen better days and there are some broken pieces of equipment, while others look to have been repaired with adhesive and luck.
4. Conference Room - This small room seems to be set up as a conference area. A large table dominates the space, with seats placed around it. The area smells of smoke and you can see scorch marks around the room’s ventilation shaft, turning the circular grille into the iris of a black-petaled flower. Whatever caused the blast, it turned paper to ash and left much of the room sooty with the remains of whatever notes were on the table. The only undamaged item is a small handheld computer, still blinking feebly where it fell to the floor, its self-contained power supply still active.  Unfortunately, there is something waiting here for you other than a boring meeting with your superiors. None of this is salvageable.

“The creature looks like an opaque shadow of a starved, demonic human moving on all fours, almost a cruel parody of a natural creature, with eyes like white fire.  They appear to be drawing out a white light from several dead insectoids.”

1. The remains of the engine room can hardly be considered a room any longer. With collapsed bulkheads and debris  [floating about]  everywhere it is hard to tell where the engines originally were. The few control panels that can be recognized are burnt out and unusable; what gauges are left are red-lined and frozen. From the damage it is a wonder this section of the ship is even still attached, much less able to hold an atmosphere.  This is only salvageable as scrap metal.
2. Shuttle Bay – This area may have been a shuttle bay of some sort, but the landing supports and refueling hoses are long gone, with much of the walls open to space.  Nothing here is salvageable.  Unfortunately, it looks like there are some recent scavengers here from somewhere else.  “Mechanical humanoids with what look like chitinous armor, integrated jet packs and blades in their arms are here, rummaging about.  It looks as if they’ve just recently arrived, and sure enough, your ship warns you “INCOMING POWERED ARMOR” in your helmet.  As soon as you enter, the two of them stop what they’re doing and push off towards you, their jet packs thrusting.”

1. Primary Missile Tubes – This chamber is also open to space, with numerous tubes pointing away from the ship in a decidedly menacing manner.  Stacks and stacks of missiles of unknown type are here, either unsecured or trapped under a lot of wreckage.  Some of the munitions may still be active.  These munitions can be salvaged.
2. Repair Facility – This door is half open; through it you can see that it used to be a repair facility. Large metalworking tools stand unused, though little dust has gathered. Toolboxes lie everywhere, some with their contents scattered around them and others completely empty. In one corner, protected by large metal panels welded to the floor, stands a cluster of tall metal tanks with inscrutable alien letters printed on them. Most of their dials are far over into the red or otherwise appear empty, however. Abandoned repair projects decorate some of the benches and tables – everything from unintelligible heaps of gears and cases to small communications devices in bright, seemingly child-friendly colors.  While none of the powered repair tools are functioning, there is one thing that is, a laser turret.  It is self-powered and starts firing at anyone who steps through the door.  It is a Level 2 speed defense task to avoid and a Level 3 task to destroy with a ranged weapon due to its recessed location.  These repair tools can be salvaged.
3. Medical Bay -- The beam of your light reveals a dozen slabs, half of which still contain occupants. Their eyes are closed in endless sleep, their bodies in various states of decay and frozen in place by the vacuum. Discarded supplies [spray hypos, medkits, synthflesh applicators] litter the floor. A medical bot with nearly-dead batteries jerks and whirs spastically in a corner.  The bodies and medical equipment is salvageable for scientific scrutiny.
4. Hibernation Pods – This room has air in it!  The doors that you came through have a functional airlock, and it appears that it is very close to the oxygen-nitrogen mixture that humans are used to.  There are five pods in the room, arranged like the rays of a star around the terminal monitoring them. Each is about 2.5 meters in length, appearing more like a coffin than anything else. The head of each is covered in wires and hoses leading from the pod back into the terminal. About half a meter from the head of each is a small view port; within them you can see five frozen insectoid faces, sleeping and rimed with ice. The terminal hums constantly, and every once in a while exhales chilly little gusts.  There is something here, though, a guardian.  Once the airlock cycles, it moves to engage you.  The pods in here are all salvageable to the right buyer.

The Data Sentinel is a creature of silicon, steel alloys and electromagnetic energy.  When you encounter it, it is plugged into the electronics controlling the life pods.  It is shaped much like its creators, as an insectoid form, but with an entirely artificial body.

1. Sanitary Cubicle -- A medium sized room that is obviously designed for sanitation, it is immaculate and lit with a bright white light. There are three strange pyramids on a shelf that seem to fulfill no apparent function.  The pyramids might be salvageable after some research.
2. Vacuum suit storage – Many insectoid suits are stored here, all of them now discarded, some damaged, others whole and possibly still holding a charge.  The suits can be salvaged.

By far the most valuable salvage here are the insectoid aliens themselves, alive in the hibernation pods.  Once the PCs can verify that nothing else is infesting the ship, they can collect their reward from the K’zinti “traders”: a gravity drive and the location of the God of War.

Unfortunately, when they find and defeat the Data Sentinel, they receive a warning from their ship.  “Iillari ships on intercept approach and decelerating at 2 gravities.  No communications or signals from ships and their weapons are powered up.”

Drone Frigate – Template: Elemental, Fire (Cypher System core book, pg 289)

Assault on Singularity Base

“Yes yes, this is everything we wanted.  And of course, your used gravity drive.  We have the schematics to attach any kind of power system to it, of course.  I assume you have fusion reactors, yes?  Of at least 1 gigawatt output?  Perfect, yes yes.  And of course, your reward.  The place you are looking for is called ‘Singularity Base’.  It’s a small planetoid here in this system, whose location is secret to all but a limited few.  You can’t just break in there to steal it, though.  No no, not at all, it is more complicated than that.”

“First, there are two scientists who are working on the weapon who can tell you how to use it, so you will need to free them from their prison.  They are Dr Polis Niston and Dr Jos Tribb.  They’re located in the cell block of the base, code named Blue.  Then there is the commander of the base, General Colyer, he is in a section codenamed Silver.  You may want to eliminate him in order to throw the base forces into confusion for a while, so that you can conduct your activities.  Finally, you’ll need to either eliminate or hold off the troops in the barracks before they can warn the rest of the base or call for help in an area code named Green.  Those three tasks can be done in any order.”

“The weapon itself is in the R&D section of the base, you can find its physical location there as well as any information they have on it.  Nearby is the reactor that powers the entire base, code named Orange.  You’re going to probably want to disable the reactor so that its shields will be weakened, delay the Empire’s communications inside the base and off-planet.  It will also knock their security team to pieces.”

“Finally, if you can’t find a way out or if you’re cut off from your ship, the Hangar, code-named Yellow can be accessed from the Barracks.  Eliminating the forces in the barracks will let you escape in a much easier manner.”

“Remember, Singularity Base is a black ops fortification that no one knows about.  In fact, no one at a level you can reach in government will know about it, but if you mention it to them and they ask their supervisors about it, they’ll get suspicious and try to eliminate you.  So shut it.”

Let the PCs formulate their plan and then go with the rest of the module for the various Blue, Green and Silver team missions.  Then do the Red, Orange and Yellow team missions.

NPC Statistics for Assault on Singularity Base

Conclusion

Once the players escape from Singularity Base, the scientists can tell them the true purpose of the God of War.

“This is not really a weapon.  It’s a manufacturing system for turning dark matter into regular matter.  You’re going to need a fusion reactor and a singularity generator to get it to work.  That’s a black hole.  If you somehow manage to capture an Iilari capital ship without destroying its singularity engine, that will be enough.”

When the PCs get back to earth, they can talk to the council and report in what they’ve found.  Or they can do something else – make sure to roll with the punches.  Currently, earth scientists have no way of generating a black hole that sticks around of sufficient mass that can be put in a manufacturing facility.

The Council suggests that perhaps they need to make an incursion into Iilari territory and steal a ship.

Secret: Iilari capital ships aren’t crewed by organics.  They’re operated by artificial intelligences working together in a capital ship.

PCs earn 4 XP.

Current Systems Explored

Appendix A – Bestiary

Romari Model 9 - Template : Goblin (Cypher System core book, pg 299)