Cheractin Astronaughtics is an extra-Imperial corporation that manufactures high quality J Drives for, among others, the IISS. They are currently being challenged in the market place by emerging Imperial corporations. They are eager to hold on to this lucrative contract, to further this aim they have set up a number of secret research bases. One of these bases is Obsidian, a barren planet orbiting a star 6.5 parsecs from Imperial space. Part of the crew on Obsidian is a covert "research" team: a roving team who’s job it is to infiltrate other companies in the name of research or other acts of industrial espionage. When the adventure begins they are coming to the end of a self imposed suspension period of 3 months after serious problems on their last project.

As the team are on routine duties (probably paperwork) they all suddenly receive calls from the command centre. They are to proceed Immediately to the command centre for briefing.

When they arrive Cmdr Rion Odpek, the intelligence commander will greet them. After the usual pleasantries he ushers them into a briefing room.
[go for all the usual darkening lights, holo shots etc.]
"This morning our long range scanners on the outer edge of the system. [flashes up picture of bright blip against space background] Further scanning revealed it to be a small ship, no more than 200t displacement. Observation revealed that is not moving in any particular direction, it seems to be drifting without power. We have received no communication from the vessel, but the transponder says that it is the Idono out of Wanchope. It is a mail ship operating for an unknown party. There is no further information to be gained.
Your mission is a simple reconnaissance mission, find out where the ship is from, who is operating it and what it’s doing here.
You will assemble in shuttle bay gamma 4 in 1 hour.
Any Questions?"
[Odpek will suffer few questions and then only of a sensible nature before the team is dismissed]

They assemble in an hour and head out for the outer system. This takes several hours, during which time they can monitor the ship. [It does nothing, though Simple Int+Comms. Will reveal that there is life board. Exceptional success will confirm their engines have not operated in some time] When they get within closer range they can try to hail the vessel [There is no reply]. And soon enough they will be able to make out that it is an S-class ship [Scout/Courier 100t vessel]. Even closer and they can scan more closely[Simple Int+Comms there are three life forms aboard. They still do not reply to hailing].
It’s up to them whether they try to dock with the vessel [Routine Dex+Pilot small fail and they receive minor damage to docking ports. A major fail and they fuck the docking equipment] or they can spacewalk across[Simple Dex+ Env. Combat to get across successfully. Narrow fails can be saved by friends on Simple Dex+Env. Combat. Bigger fails will be in trouble]
[For the next section refer to the plan of the ship and the numbers for locations]

Once they arrive at the ship they will need to get on board. The locks are all closed on the doors. [Routine Int+Electronics to override the locks]
[Make a mental note of how fast they’re going bout this]
In the following locations there are:

13:Commo Bay- Nothing of note here. [there is a man just round the corner (11) with a snub pistol (HE) who will ambush them. He is aiming to injure rather than kill. Use stats for security personnel from Hextris]

12:Engine Room- There is a strong smell of burning in here. It contains the J drive, the M drive & the power plant the J drive has suffered substantial damage and is beyond repair. The other 2 look ill as well. [Difficult Int+Engineering to see that the J drive has suffered recent meltdown. Many of the remaining components are unfamiliar. The J drive has been deliberately partially melted down to make it inoperable, but to leave enough to wet the techie’s appetite]

14:Air/Raft Bay- There is an air/raft with no markings in this bay and little else. [As it seems]

15:Ship’s Locker- Contains mail cartridges for a research base. Little can be read on portable readers.[They contain techie information which will come out in the de-brief. This is all part of the lure. They do not state a destination, but are Dundar Corp. branded]

8:Common Room- Contains assorted furniture and entertainment. There is also a man getting into a vacc. suit. [Use stats for security from Hextris. Is armed with snub pistol (HE) and is preparing to depressurise the ship.]

7:Mission Specialist Cabin- Empty.[Empty]

4-6:Cabins- has bed, basin and little else. [If they root round let them find personal trinkets]

2:Bridge- There is a man, partially in a vacc., suit working furiously at a terminal. [He is trying to wipe as much of the computer as possible. He is a security from Hextris and has a snub pistol (HE). How much is left will depend on how quickly they get there:
Very quickly: Most is still there.
Quickly: Much still there.
Not very quickly: Some still there.
Slowly: Bare minimum still there.]

Assuming they secure the ship without getting shot to pieces they will get what they want from the ship, radio for support. And then wait for it, they will attempt to partially debrief them and then set to work retrieving information. They will then go home for a debrief.

2. Debriefing.

When they’ve been back for a while and are all cleaned/bandaged up they will receive a call to proceed to briefing room 4B. Rion Odpeck will be there again with the results of the information.
[All this is cumulative]
"There were mail messages on board that state improved performance, and that set targets for development, but it is uncertain what. They require ‘J5/2’ from them. There are also a number of personal messages that are still in decoding."
[Bare minimum:] "There is a research base belonging to Dundar Corp. (an Imperial astronaughtics firm) in the Hextrix system, which is Jump-4 from this system. This may be a Jump-4 vessel that misjumped, however we are uncertain about this."
[Some:] "It is the fourth planet out and we have precise co-ordinates for the research base."
[Much:] "The system is heavily defended. We have obtained the code broadcast and the flight path for safe entry. This may well be a big secret we have uncovered."
[Most:] "We have also learned that this flight path does appear to be obsolete or there is a different path which is correct, and that there is a military frigate protecting the base and several planetary defence lasers."
"We have decided, in the light of this information to send a covert research team to infiltrate this base and to discover what they are attempting. You are that team.
You have 24 hours to assemble with all requirements in ship bay delta 7.
Any questions?"
[Odpeck will take a full briefing question session before dismissing the team]

1. Approach

[There are 3 possibilities:]
[They have the true path through the system] They approach the base with no difficulties.
[They have the information that the base wanted them to] They approach the inner system and a naval frigate pulls out from behind a planetary shadow. It lurks behind them on the way in (there is never any evidence that they are targeted, more of a close escort) but turns away when they get close to the base.
[They have no flight path and are approaching blind] They head for the inner system and a large ship pulls out from behind a shadow. This tails them until it locks vectors, it’s a military frigate (about ten times larger than their vessel). After scanning them it opens fire [roll 10 D6 and any sixes hit (at least one regardless)] and they will sustain major damage to the drives, causing them to limp into the base.

[If they do not have a run in with the frigate then contrive some other method of rendering the ship requiring repair such as a piece of floating junk giving them a nudge or just blowing something in the drive on the in-run]

When they arrive [Describe cinematically the approach to Hextris base] they will be greeted in the hangar by the Commander and the Chief Engineer. The commander will be concerned as to their late arrival (about a week late) and what happened to the normal crew of the mail boat. The Chief engineer will be more keen on the messages and supplies they are carrying.
As they are leaving the hangar they will be met by Tam Stewart, an engineer, Who will be funny and Scottish at them (he’s from Caledon Subsector), and see if there’s a problem with the ship. [So that he can get a good look at the ship and because he’s been asked to befriend them in an attempt to find out what they want]

The Commander tells them that they will have all the return post ready in 3 standard days. They will leave promptly when the repairs to the ship are completed. This is also expected to be 3 days. He will show them to their quarters and then wish them a good stay before heading off
[This section of the game is character driven. There are a number of things they can do over the next three days. The following are what happens if the most likely ones occur. This is not a linear plot.]

a. The Refectory

Eating in the refectory they will hear a couple of tech’s alongside them talking. They will be saying such things as:
"…New config. Can us J-3.5 out of a J-2, I think we can get the big 4.0 by the end of the year…"
"Those new conduits? Ha! I’m glad I don’t have to fly one." Looks at watch "Must get those couplings down to Glauco…" and runs off.
They then look at the team and go suddenly silent. Then talk about something flagrantly different.

b. Admin.

Any PC attempting to gain access to the command level will be unable to pass the lock. "Insufficient Clearance"

c. Look at the ship

Tam will be happy to let them look at the ship at any stage as he’s working on it. Then at some point he will ask one of the PCs to go ad get a G713-4 high pressure coupling from the workshop.
When there access will be denied "Access denied. Insufficient clearance. Seek System Administrator."

On the second day when they go to the hangar to find it full of all sorts of people. They will be hanging round this ship and cheering. If asked all they’ll get out of them is "They’re back, The test worked!" They’ll say no more. If pestered they’ll say "It’s still at the need to know stage. Full details will not be released until the analysis is complete." And then scuttle off.

d. Computer Access

If they try to look at the computer, they have no access to anything even vaguely restricted. They can get general access stuff: The layout of the station. The crew roster (with contact no.s).[Give them the relevant hand outs]
If they go to see the system admin. They get nothing "You’re posties, you don’t get access to restricted information." Is the simple [and sensible] answer.
If they try to hack they’ll find it very hard [Impossible Int+Computer] to get anything restricted [If by some remote chance they do, then give them snippets of the story of what the base is here for. If they get an exceptional success then give them the whole story of the base’s purpose]

e. An Evening with Tam

The team’s second night in the base is Tam’s night off. He invites the team out to the refectory for a drink (or ten). He’ll get drunk and talkative.
[This is your chance to give them some more information into them, or let their theories run wild.
If they’ve not been getting any of the clues then give them the info they should already have, maybe let slip the purpose of the base but nothing more. If they’re crap it’s not your fault, don’t spoon feed them.
If they’re getting the info but not making the connection then let him hint that all was rosy and easy before they arrived.
If they’ve got theories then let Tam run with them (he is pissed) "Aye thee goat aal secretive whan ye arreved".
Above all make it fun.]
At the end of the evening Tam says "Shit, ahve sed tae much alreedy. Ah aughta go tae ma bed" and gets them to take him to his bed.
[make this fun]
When they get him there he says[mumbled and indecipherably]"Watch yer backs men mumble mumble fffuck" winks, nods and falls through his door.

On to Part 2

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