Act 2 - Incoming Transmission:
Read the following aloud to the players:
“The comms link you received ring, indicating an incoming message. Its automated with audio only: ‘Greetings employee. We are ready to assign you to your new career. Please go to the reception area of the Undine building and present yourself at the front desk. We look forward to integrating you into our family. Take care.’ The feed ends.”
The Undine Building
Read the following aloud to the players:
“A tall skyscraper stands in front of you. It looks like a very Spartan building from the outside. It claws at the heavens. It’s a bland and clean building that claws at the clouds. A week ago it was new to you, and represented a bright future. Now it looks more like a prison.”
The lobby of the Undine building is more like that of a hotel on the inside, which betrays its exterior. Everything is white inside and surgically clean: the walls, the sytnhwood desks, the metal doors of the elevators, the plastic of the computers, the leather couches in the waiting area, the tiled floors. It contrasted nicely to the archaic décor of the room.
The desk clerk is polite, a woman of asian, possibly Japanses origin, in a blue suit. She asks the players to present their comms link into a hand slot for a scan, and beckons them to sit in the waiting area in a room behind her until they are called. She says little else and is not rude, as she has many duties.
Ask the players for a regular Investigate roll. A pass tells nothing. A success means they notice that although it is a mostly human world and they have seen a few aliens in public, there are absolutely no aliens in this building that they have seen (with the exception of any player characters they will encounter in the waiting area). It seems odd it only occurs to them now.
Once all the players arrive, give them a turn alone together in the room, and proceed to the following scene.
Welcome to the Undine Family
Read the following aloud.
“A tall man with a bald head, pale complexion and white suit enters. He has a red tie and an athletic build. He wears black gloves and a black long-coat over this. ‘Welcome ladies and gentleman’ he says in a casual way, expressing a vague sense of friendliness and familiarity. ‘Many apologies for being late. Just doing some last minute paperwork. I am pleased to announce that all of you are being hired for a special and secret project on a fringe world.’ He smiles at this. ‘Now don’t worry, we’re not throwing you into a warzone or some dreghole world full of narcadz (slang for narcotic addicts). Due to your skills and background, I have personally chosen you to accompany me on an archaeological mission. Its very exciting. We have the rights to dig on a particular planet, but I can’t tell you more until we get there. You need to finalise your contracts and we will be on the way with some others tomorrow at daybreak. I don’t know about you, but I am very excited. Rumour has it that this world may have the find of the century. Can you imagine finding an ancient ruin, it will be like unearthing the ancient Egyptians of our time!’ he exclaims with an excited glimmer in his eye. There is a quite second. ‘Oh, I got excited and forgot to introduce myself, didn’t I? The names Moises Cameron. Any questions?
Give the players a turn to interact with the NPC.
“The company will put your things onboard the ship. Well then, look at how the time has flown. I’m only getting paid for a half day today since my new gig starts tomorrow’ says Moises. ‘Whose up for going to the pub?’
Everybody gains Moises as a contact with Undine Corp.
If the players decide not to go, they have a boring and uneventful day, but wake up rosy and fresh the following morning.
If the players do decide to go, they have a few quiet drinks in an old fashioned pub, go for a meal, accompanied by wine, go back to the hotel bar for a few, go to another pub, end up in a nightclub, and everything blurs after that. Suffice to say that long with Moises you wake up the next morning with one of the worst hangovers you have ever experienced and are slightly late getting to the dock for take off. There are pills in the medicine cabinet in the bathroom. They will sober you up in ten minutes but your character will still feel terrible for all other intents and purposes.
At the Dock:
<Get a picture of a space dock>
At the dock, Moises arrived before any other player characters, standing there wearing sun glasses, sipping a cup of coffee, and looking worse for wear. Oddly enough, he smells good despite the other night, but still looks wrecked.
When everyone arrives, he just grumbles ‘follow me’. There is a little walk and the players get onto a Launch which will bring them to a ship slightly above orbit. The small craft has the Undine symbol painted on the side, a blue chalice. See p132. It is piloted by Undine Corp. workers.
Read the following aloud to the players:
‘The launch disembarks, moving straight at first, then a 45 degree angle, and further. It’s rough taking off at first and gets smoother as it shoots directly upwards, and then into orbit. You feel your stomach fold like when you’re on a rollercoaster. Eventually the sky thins to reveal space, and Phyrion is behind you. The launch approaches a heavy freighter, the Animus. See p125. The launch enters the ship via the shuttle bay, which is empty for the time being. The launch passes through an energy barrier into an oxygenated environment.’
Moises gets up.
Read the following aloud:
“‘I’m off to my cabin to sleep. The captain is outside, she will greet you. We will be taking this hired freighter for a jump, and then another on a different one until we get to our own ship and go to the dig site. After this jump we will be docking at a space station.’ Moises then leaves before you even have the chance to unbuckle.”
The female captain is tall, slender, and of Hispanic origin. She wears a long black leather trenchcoat and dark attire to go along with it. He hair is bound back.
‘Welcome aboard. I am Captain Rodriguez. The Animus is my ship. I run a tight house and want no trouble. The only places off limits are the jump drive and my quarters. You are free to come aboard the bridge. I have no secrets to hide, and if it puts you at ease seeing the ship or you can be of some use, I have no objections. I am quite busy. If you have any questions please come aboard the bridge later. There is much to do. Excuse me.’ With that she leaves.
For all intents and purposes, it is a free for all to pick quarters. While the players settle in the ship moves away from the planet and spends awhile in transit via jump.
Act 3 – Inflitration
For the Games Master:
The shuttle bay is empty for a reason. When the next jump is finished but before arriving at the station, the Animus will pick up its one and only shuttle. Though Captain Rodriguez is doing this job for Undine, she has her hand in a lot of different pies, ranging from honest work, passengers transport, cargo and the like to illegal activity and dealing with dangerous people.
This time, she dealt with the wrong people. She had sent a contingent of her men to make a package drop off to a criminal gang. The gang killed her men, took the package, and are infiltrating her ship with the shuttle, intent on taking it and whatever she has to sell.
Triton Criminal Syndicate
10 Criminal Syndicate Thugs & 1 Crime Boss
Triton Syndicate Thugs
STR 8 0 Melee (blade) 0 Flak Jacket (3)
DEX 8 0 Gun combat (rifle) 1 Blade p98
END 8 0 Pilot (small craft) 0 Rifle p99
INT 6 0 Persuade 0 Revolover p99
EDU 7 0 Streetwise 0 Shotgun
SOC 7 0 Pistol + shotgun 0
Triton Syndicate Boss - Antoine Gurro
STR 10 +1 Melee (blade) 2 Combat armour (12)
DEX 9 +1 Computers 1 Broadsword p98
END 10 +1 Gun combat (rifle) 1 Gauss pistol
INT 8 0 Gun combat (SMG) 1 Assault rifle
EDU 8 0 Gun combat (pis.) 1 Laser rifle
SOC 7 0 Leadership 1
Combat Enemies Tracker
Type # Name AP End Str Dex C End Str Dex
Thug 1 Armstrong 4 8 10 10 U
Thug 2 Sherlock 4 8 10 10 R
Thug 3 Heinz 4 8 10 10 R
Thug 4 Helmans 4 8 10 10 E
Thug 5 Norman 4 8 10 10 N
Thug 6 Holmes 4 8 10 10 T
Thug 7 Harvey 4 8 10 10
Thug 8 Joe 4 8 10 10 S
Thug 9 Watson 4 8 10 10 T
Thug 10 Billy 4 8 10 10 A
Boss 11 Antoine G 12 10 12 12 T
The syndicate thugs are there to provide a challenge for the players, but should not be very difficult to beat. If the players snuck dangerous weapons onboard or are wearing combat armour for some reason, then the numbers difference should not really matter as much. There weapons are not very powerful and there armour is not battlefield standard, but I don’t expect a player to fire off a plasma gun inside the ship and tear a hole in the hull blowing everyone out into space either. There should be a firefight lasting a few rounds but I see it as an engagement the players will win.
The cargo bay between the shuttle bay and the passenger cabin will be where the bulk of the firefight takes place. If the thugs can get as far as the cargo bay they will let a few shots off. If the players engage them in a firefight here and do not realise what is happening before the thugs enter the passenger cabins two thugs and the boss will go to the bridge. If the firefight takes place in the passenger area and goes on for three rounds the thugs will fall back to the cargo bay and take cover behind some of the boxes.
During the firefight in the passenger area, two thugs and the boss will go to the bridge and execute the crew. They will remain here and change the course of the ship. When the firefight in the cargo bay is finished, they will enter as the players check out the bodies of the defeated enemies.
Moises will hunker down and hide during the combat, while all the crewmen will be killed by stray fire unless the player characters can save them during the fire fight.
When the fight is over and done with, the players can send out a distress call or pilot the ship to the space station they were bound for: Titan Prime. Failing that a Serpent Police cutter will encounter them within two hours if they can’t manage either of these for some reason. They will take everyone aboard, go to their command centre on Titan Prime and interrogate the party for an hour before leaving them go.
WONT FIGHT TO DEATH< HALF STRENGTH AND FLEE
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