Resolving the Admiral Darokyn subplot

[ochd]

Hello,

Is there an adventure or article that involves 'breaking in' to a starship?

The Travellers in my Drinax campaign have managed to get themselves smuggled aboard Darokyn's flagship (which I've decided to make a Chrysanthemum destroyer escort) with the aim of hacking evidence of his collusion with the Imperium.

I resolved things on the fly so far, with little more details than the deckplan, but they have only just made it on board, so was after some resource to mine for more details. Things like how alert the crew would be; how long before a missing crew member is noticed; what portion of the full crew will be active, whereabouts will they be, and how will they be armed; how would the Travellers be able to hack into the ship's computer; and so on.

With thanks in advance.

Dan

 

[Pyromancer]

Is there an adventure or article that involves 'breaking in' to a starship?

Treasure Ship?

The Travellers in my Drinax campaign have managed to get themselves smuggled aboard Darokyn's flagship (which I've decided to make a Chrysanthemum destroyer escort) with the aim of hacking evidence of his collusion with the Imperium.

I resolved things on the fly so far, with little more details than the deckplan, but they have only just made it on board, so was after some resource to mine for more details. Things like how alert the crew would be; how long before a missing crew member is noticed; what portion of the full crew will be active, whereabouts will they be, and how will they be armed; how would the Travellers be able to hack into the ship's computer; and so on.

Darokyn runs his ship in a highly disciplined military style. A Chysanthemum has a crew of 16. In normal space, they will be on a two-shift system, so 8 will be on active duty on any given time, 8 will be doing something else. In jump space, they will switch to a more relaxed three-shift system, with 5 on active duty and the rest of them resting, training, doing uncritical maintenance like painting bulkheads, or catching up on the paper work. None of them will be armed when the ship's in space. In harbour, there might be one or two crew members on guard duty (more if the harbour isn't exactly friendly), armed with laser carbines and/or blades, perhaps even wearing some kind of fancy armour if trouble is expected.

 

[Anonymous]

A Traveller ship will probably have internal scanners so I'lll assume you've already hacked those, or they're busted.

Assuming a well run, modern (today), civilian ship - most shifts (watches) are 4 hours and it's 1/3rd sleeping, working and free time, alternating. It'll be 4 on, and 4 off for with work/free and 8 sleep - or 4/4/4 twice though that's less common. If someone isn't on time for a work shift - it's a job and the crewmember lives a few dozen meters away, so someone might well go and look for them. Not finding them, it will depend on the ship, but a well-one run will do a sweep and headcount in case someone's fallen overboard etc.

For dual occupancy cabins, bunk sharing alternately is common, i.e. one uses it while the other isn't. This might complicate when your action is discovered but probably won't since the guy could have just got up for a smoke.

Ships are actually quite small and it won't like long to do a search for something the size of a person.

I can't comment on military procedures but I'd expect them to be quicker and stricter. Or ridiculously bad, depending on who's navy it is. Some of them can be worse than good civvies.

 

[NOLATrav]

If you’re interested in how an Imperial Navy vessel runs, you may want to check out this fan-written item. It deals with Gazelle Close Escorts but at $4 it’s a cheap but deep and thorough look at the crew structure and operations on a military vessel:
https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/242277/T5-GazelleClass-Close-Escorts

If you could provide some details about how your group got this far, their general plan of “attack” and so forth, it may help others chime in. I would expect a lot of Stealth, Deception and Persuade checks if they’re trying to blend in. Recon and Admin checks to understand and take advantage of the crew shifts, especially shift changes. Maybe even a few Engineering or Admin or Gunnery checks to fool the on-duty staff.

They’ll probably need a macguffin to access high level computer files - the Security Chief’s ID badge, Darokyn’s signet ring, whatever. Something that has passwords they can hack, or a terminal with top level clearance and access. As far as straight up hacking a system, I usually do a tiered result where a greater Effect gives them better info:

Effect +1 or less: Level 1/Green Access (library data, infotainment)
Effect +2 to +3: Level 2/Amber Access (staff logs, Captain’s logs, personnel records)
Effect +4 to +5: Level 3/Red Access (engineering and sensor logs, medical records, action reports)
Effect +6 or more: Level 4/Gold Access (Darokyn’s personal files, Imperial Warrants, ship’s orders)

Just spitballing, hope it sparks some ideas for you.

 

[Anonymous]

In harbour, there might be one or two crew members on guard duty (more if the harbour isn't exactly friendly), armed with laser carbines and/or blades, perhaps even wearing some kind of fancy armour if trouble is expected.

When I was in South East Asia the western warships put up security barriers and checkpoints before the ship and I've even seen local police assigned. What they can do is limited by the host nation - remove that restriction and they'd park a tank in front of the pasarelle if they had one.

Note this was after the USS Cole incident. Some years after, but things changed after that.

 

[Condottiere]

Some times they gave tours, it's a form of soft power projection.

 

[ochd]

Treasure Ship?

Thanks for the pointer. While sneaking on to the ship is covered as an option in that adventure, there isn't a lot of detail in that of the sort I'm looking for, unless I have overlooked something.

If you’re interested in how an Imperial Navy vessel runs, you may want to check out this fan-written item.

That's great, thanks. Sounds like the sort of thing that would be helpful.

If you could provide some details about how your group got this far, their general plan of “attack” and so forth, it may help others chime in.

Well (and keeping in mind that I have not put a lot of thought into this), here is a bullet-point form:
- The Travellers have returned to Theev after two years, ignoring (or forgetting) the fact that they had crossed Darokyn last time (during Honour Among Thieves)
- Darokyn does not want to disturb the peace of the upper city trying to nab the Travellers, so has had three of his ships, including the Maiden, in orbit above Theev, waiting for their departure. But it has been almost three weeks now, so the crew are not at the highest level of alertness.
- Meanwhile, the Travellers have been contacted by an anonymous patron who enabled them to be smuggled aboard via some fake missile tubes (or some such). This patron is one of Darokyn's inner circle (I've not decided who yet), who believes that if the Travellers can get evidence of Darokyn's collusion, the other pirate lords of Theev will have him executed, and he can then take over Darokyn's fleet. He is currently on board the Maiden (possibly the commanding officer; Darokyn is in Blacksand), but is limited in how much he can help, as he does not want the plot to backfire on him should it all go wrong.
- The Travellers are currently in the port side ammunition store. They have subdued two of the crew (unloading cargo from the modular cutter). In prep for the heist, they purchased Intrusion/4 software, and have used it to hack into the ship's computer -- I decided this would be possible from one of the wall terminals that I assumed would be in most compartments of the ship. Doing so has given them access to the deckplan of the main deck of the ship and access to cameras for the main corridors, common area and engineering.
- To get the evidence they need, they are going to have to get to the office on the bridge deck.

And that's where we left it. So far, they haven't been spotted but I guess it's almost certain they will be (as Moppy says). It being a TL15 ship, I guess there are more sophisticated internal sensors then CCTV Then again, the Travellers did uncover rumour 24 from the Rumours of the Reach table -- and maybe this applies to the *internal* sensors, hence their luck so far. I've already crossed several implausibility lines (such as the fact they spent a few hours to hack into the computer without being discovered).

 

[paltrysum]

Sounds like a nice opportunity to either wreck the Harrier or initiate a TPK. Probably not what you're after, but at the very least it sounds like your Travellers are headed for some dramatic action. :twisted:

 

[Old School]

Sounds like a nice opportunity to either wreck the Harrier or initiate a TPK. Probably not what you're after, but at the very least it sounds like your Travellers are headed for some dramatic action. :twisted:

Or both.

 

[ochd]

It feels like I'm not a proper GM till I've initiated a TPK