Prerequisites: Particularly useful skills include those relating to space and spacecraft operations as well as emergency medicine.
Background: The player characters are part of the crew of a search and rescue (SAR) vessel in the Muerti system, which is well known for its large number of constituent worlds and broad asteroid belt. Their mission is to patrol the system, coming to the aid of those in distress. The crew is divided into two broad categories, those who operate and maintain the ship and the medical/rescue staff. (Some individuals may have skill sets which straddle both categories). Additional details on the Muerti system and SAR ship are contained in the notes below.
There are several possible plots for this scenario. Roll 1D12 to determine which the case here is.
1 – 2: (Option One) Lajla Van Dijk, a bulk freighter, (see Page 171 of the core rules for stats), has suffered a gravity drive control failure. It is uncontrollably accelerating out of the plane of the system and its crew has been unable to remedy the situation. (Fragmentary reports indicate a number of injuries on board). The characters are the only ones able to match vectors with Lajla Van Dijk before it builds up too much velocity. The team will need to affect an intercept, dock and put a repair team with medical support aboard. Whatever caused the drive to fail has also caused Lajla Van Dijk to accelerate unpredictably and sometimes shift laterally, complicating matters. A variant of this option is one where the ship has been sabotaged making any repair attempts far more difficult.
3 – 4: (Option Two) A scout ship, Fajrofalko, (see Page 172 of the core rules for stats), was departing from a station in the upper atmosphere of one of the gas giants in the system when it was struck by lightning. (Such strikes are rare at that altitude yet still sometimes occur). The crew managed to arrest the ship’s subsequent descent but now require rescue. The SAR team will need to work its way through a turbulence layer and into the, relative, “clear air” zone where the scout is holed up. Unfortunately the zone is also home to a variety of non-sentient life forms, none of which have ever seen a ship before.
5 – 6: (Option Three) A mobile smelting/processing facility in the belt has suffered a catastrophic failure in one of its primary conversion furnaces. The factory crew has done all it can to crash the smelters and vent atmosphere but a significant number of people have had to shelter in place, preventing these measures from being fully effective. System authorities have issued a general call to all ships within range to render whatever aid they can. Given their status as an official SAR team, the characters are expected to not only do their jobs but also organize and direct the ad hoc rescuers who show up to assist. The team will need to send members in to retrieve the trapped factory crew despite heat, smoke, fire, hazardous chemicals and possibly even radiation. The head of the station, likely the acting head, will prevail upon the characters to retrieve the station’s “black boxes” so that the cause of the accident can be determined. If the referee wants to add another layer of difficulty, it soon becomes apparent that there just aren’t enough ships and escape craft to get everyone away safely.
7 – 8: (Option Four) An in-system hauler collided with a shuttle and lost the load it was towing, a ~900 displacement ton asteroid. While all aboard the two craft are fine, the rock is headed toward a nearby moon where it is project to strike a mining outpost. (Or near enough that it doesn’t matter). The crew must intercept the asteroid and nudge it sufficiently so that it’s trajectory is altered, thereby missing the outpost. Potential complications include the fact that the team’s ship was not designed for that kind of work, there being a limited amount of time to complete the mission and instabilities in the asteroid itself.
9 – 10: (Option Five) Events occur as in Options 1, 2 or 4 but in this case the SAR ship is damaged. The characters may have to try and repair or otherwise jury rig their own ship. (Consider using the critical damage table from Chapter 10 of the rulebook for ideas). They might even need to call for help themselves.
11 – 12: (Option Six) While on shore leave, be it on a planet, moon or station, the crew runs afoul of a clearly troubled individual threatening a sizeable number of civilians. The crew will need to talk this person down and defuse the situation. (Maybe literally). A twist on this Option is to have it not occur while the characters are off duty but rather in the midst of a mission, requiring the crew to split its efforts, throwing success into question. Depending on the situation, the individual could be armed with a melee weapon, firearm, (energy or slug thrower), explosive, or chemical or biological hazard. Perhaps the person isn’t armed but rather has sabotaged a structure or station life support system, complete with false clues and lethal traps. The GM would do well to play this Option with a heavy emphasis on the ticking clock and the need for quick, sure action to avert disaster.
GM Notes
It’s up to the GM to determine who the characters work for. It could be the Meurti Space Service or they might work for a private contractor hired by the system government.
Esperas-class Search and Rescue Ship
Class: Light
OM: 2 DM: 1 Hull: 150 Move: 8 Turn: 135° Crew: 11
Cost: 49.010/39.208 million$
D-Drive: No
Weapons: 4 rail cannon in 2 linked double turrets
Damage Control: 2
Cargo: 30.25
The Esperas-class vessel is an in-system only ship designed for SAR work. It is optimized for speed and outfitted with critical medical and repair capabilities which include:
· A six person sickbay.
· A two place surgery bay.
· Two automated medical units or automeds.
· Twenty tons of workshop space dedicated to technical repair and fabrication.
· Quarters for eight SAR specialists.
There is also an external clamp which can carry up to ten tons of small craft and the cargo area is reconfigurable so as to accommodate additional personnel. (Crews often take advantage of this feature on longer duration missions).
The Meurti System
The Meurti system is located in The Marches toward the edge of the Terran State, sitting astride a number of important Jumplines in the region. It has a single G0V primary, eight major worlds, two gas giants, five dwarf planets, forty-six notable moons and a sizeable asteroid belt.
Notable Meurti System Worlds
Meurti
Terrestrial
Diameter: 8000
Gravity: 0.63
Atmosphere: Near-Standard
Climate: Warm
Hydrographics: 100%
Population: Billions
Government: Representative Democracy
Law Level: Permissive
Tech Level: Stellar
Hooks: Manufacturing/Processing, Commercial
Notes: As can be expected, Meurti is the primary world in the system, a regional industrial and commercial center in the Marches. It is the de facto capital of the system although some of the more outlying planets and moons chart a fairly independent course while clearly acknowledging the central authority.
Danvers
Hostile
Diameter: 1500
Gravity: 0.12
Atmosphere: Hazardous
Climate: Warm
Hydrographics: 50%
Population: Hundreds
Government: Direct Democracy
Law Level: Open
Tech Level: Interstellar
Hooks: Entertainment, Psi Quirk
Notes: Danvers is a moon of the gas giant Crius and serves as a rest and recreation depot for the many moons and stations located around that world. Reportedly psi powers do not work within 10,000 km of the planet’s surface but no one has ever developed a credible theory as to why this is.
Meurti 10675-402
Asteroid
Diameter: N/A
Gravity: N/A
Atmosphere: N/A
Climate: Warm
Hydrographics: 0%
Population: Hundreds of Thousands
Government: Junta
Law Level: Authoritarian
Tech Level: Interstellar
Hooks: Interdicted, Factionalized
Notes: The asteroid was until recently owned by a wholly local corporation specializing in zero-g processing and fabrication. Workers there banded together, some say with help from outsystem, and attempted to seize the facilities for themselves but were thwarted by corporate security forces. Those same forces then turned around, declared martial law and effectively assumed control of the world. In an attempt to try and contain the situation, and eliminate the possibility of offworld influences, Meurti chose to cordon off the asteroid using a few armed ships from its Space Service. The situation “on the ground” remains tense but has been peaceful to date.
Alvrius
Satellite
Diameter: 4000
Gravity: 0.31
Atmosphere: N/A
Climate: Freezing
Hydrographics: 10%
Population: Hundreds of Thousands
Government: Dictatorship
Law Level: Open
Tech Level: Stellar
Hooks: Administration, Resource Extraction
Notes: Alvrius is the “regional” admin center for the Coeus gas giant system, administering governmental activities on behalf of the system government on Muerti. It is also a source of sludgy hydrocarbon compounds located in lakes dotting the planet’s surface which are exported for use elsewhere in the system as well as shipped to other worlds.
Libereco
Hostile
Diameter: 6500
Gravity: 0.51
Atmosphere: Hazardous
Climate: Freezing
Hydrographics: 90%
Population: Millions
Government: Representative Democracy
Law Level: Permissive
Tech Level: Interstellar
Hooks: Commercial, Ruins
Notes: Libereco is Muerti’s nearest neighbor in the system and has been the subject of a colonization program for the last century and a half. As a result it is very close to its “homeworld” both socially, politically and economically. There are extensive ruins on the planet dating back to the time of the Terran Federation which are of some archaeological interest.