Operation Backdoor

By Charles E Gannon.

After two successive Kafer offensives into human space, it may finally be time to take the fight back to them. But first there may be a little trail-blazing and to do and a new alien race to meet --all inside of Kafer space.

OPERATION BACK DOOR is a three-episode 2300 AD adventure that is designed for a group of 3-6 players with considerable skill diversity, although some level of skill in ship operations is advisable for all. These characters should no longer be `in' a career per se, but working as `freelancers' of one sort or another.

Operation Back Door is written in a format consistent with the scene structure suggested in the Director's Guide of the 2300 AD rules set. In this case, each scene is named and is described in terms of location and the basic action that occurs. Because of the scope of the adventure, specific statements and definitions of tasks have been limited to a bare minimum. The referee must assign all other tasks, their difficulty rating, and modifiers. The adventure can be expanded into a mini-campaign with ease, and referees will be advised how to accomplish this at various points during the course of the adventure.

Operation Back Door is set shortly after the last phase of the Kafer offensive into human space that was mounted by the Kafer Suzerain Triumphant Destiny. Although Triumphant Destiny was defeated and killed, humanity is sure (correctly so) that the Kafers will be back before too long. Consequently, Earth and its colonies are entering a critical phase of political reconsolidation as they attempt to hammer out a workable joint response to the Kafer Threat.

While not strictly necessary, it is recommended that the referee own the 2300 AD modules KAFER SUPPLEMENT, and INVASION, as well as the STAR CRUISER rules. These resources will add depth and enjoyment to the situations presented in Operation Back Door.

Lastly, during the course of this first episode, the characters will visit a number of stellar systems that have not been outlined in any 2300 AD materials. Information for each system is included which provides all the data needed for subsequent adventures in these regions. All planets in each system are defined in terms of orbital order, AU distance from their parent star, world type and core, diameter in kilometers, and density. From this data, all other necessary information can be extrapolated.

PROLOGUE

This adventure begins on November 30, 2302. The Kafers have been resoundingly defeated at the Battle of Beowulf (Queen Alice's Star) about four months ago (see the INVASION supplement for more complete details). Since then, as a tired and unnerved humanity has regrouped and studied the events of the Kafer Conflict, increasing dissatisfaction with the de facto French leadership has been growing in most nations. Only a few months ago, the overall military command structure was shaken up from top to bottom, with British Admiral Charles Graham now in overall command.

The most decorated and daring units of the Kafer war were Germans, Americans, and Australians, whose contributions to humanity's narrow victory were much weightier than the forces these nations had been able to commit to the fray. In many cases, --such as at Alderhorst and Tithonus-- the units of these nations had provided shining --and rare-- examples of international cooperation in repulsing the Kafers