Starlight:Black Holes and Revelations

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June 7, 2017 – Episode 18: Black Holes and Revelations

Game Outline

1. Preparing to assemble the gate
   1. Start with a simulation of it. PC’s get bowled over with waves of attackers.
   2. Let them assemble loadout, then apply damage to them (try to make it short)
   3. The gate is to be set up in the shadow of a black hole. It has to be aligned toward the center of the Galaxy.
2. Andersen sharing his information
   1. You all get a message from your commanding officer to meet him in the Operations Research Room at 2200 hours
   2. When you enter the small room, there are 5 non-coms seated, three dressed in coveralls, and the other two wearing pt gear, around table map, which is shut off.
      1. One sits at the head of the table, holding a tablet
      2. The others freeze in place.
      3. The table has pieces of paper, dice, and writing implements scattered across it
      4. After a second of deer-in-the-headlights, one of them, a Petty Officer (3rd class) stands and says “officer on deck”. The others also stand at attention.
      5. The Operations Bay is ringed in computer consoles.
      6. If they inquire as to Andersen’s location:
         1. I’m sorry, I haven’t seen him since the start of my shift, sir. (about 3 hours)
      7. Hopefully they mention the “operations research room”
         1. Oh! The research room? One second, sir.
            1. They can’t raise him on the comm.
         2. If they don’t, or give up, one could chime in “well, could he be in the research room?”
         3. The research room is an electronically “clean” room.
         4. The PO3 reached down and presses a button on the console before him.
         5. “Yes?” comes Andersen’s voice

“oh, sorry to bother you sir, but the pilots are here-” “send them in.” “aye, sir.”

1. 1. 1. 1. The PO3 presses another button and on the far wall, a set of computer consoles slide to the side, and the wall opens revealing a hidden room. Andersen sits in inside, lit only by a computer screen.
      2. What are they doing?
         1. Just enjoying a game of Lockups and Lizards
            1. Seaman Charles Sanstrom – GM (on duty - ops)
            2. Petty Officer 3rd Class Terry Kramer – Level 5 Magic Caster (on duty - ops)
            3. Seaman Adrienne Freeman– Level 5 Fighter (on duty - ops)
            4. Seaman Josh Johnson – Level 5 Cleric (off duty - deck)
            5. Seaman James Cheetham – level 5 rogue (off duty - admin)
         2. Kramer would explain they were currently about to slay a creature called a “Thunder Lizard” if asked
         3. Andersen knows what they do here. He’s ok as long as it’s during jumps, otherwise Ops is to be kept clear of unauthorized entry.
   2. As you enter, Andersen gestures to some chairs. “Please have a set” the door closes behind you. A screen comes to life on one wall, showing Andersen’s desktop
      1. So, I have a question. First, do you know how the ship’s smart maintenance system works?
         1. Let me explain. All throughout the ship, at locations, there are tiny sensors and microphones designed to determine if the ship is running at top shape. Mikaboshi takes all this information in, and processes it. For example, if an intake valve starts sticking on the HE3 plant, those tiny sensitive microphones can pick up the noise, Mikaboshi throws a fault, and a maintenance order is created. Then a mechanic takes that report, does what he does. Replaces it, repairs it, whatever need to be done to fix the part before it fails. That’s the case all over the ship. There’s thousands of tiny microphones listening for all sorts of strange noises.
         2. Now, what does that have to do with why you’re here? Well, when I first got on ship – about 6 months before you guys showed – I discovered two rooms were situated within dead-zones of that maintenance network. One is this room – that was by design, that’s why this is the clean room. You’ll find your communicators aren’t connecting to the ship’s network in here anymore. There’s one wire in and that’s the intercom I was speaking over before you came in. The other is … he looks at Lopez and then at Slover well, you two might be familiar with that room.
            1. He opens an image file, and you see a nondescript door in a nondescript hall. The number plate next to the door says “Storage Closet 225”. Lopez and Slover would recognize this as the room where they met with Barnabas a few times, more so Lopez.
         3. Bring back any memories? Well, there’s one person I told about this room, and this was only back when we were concerned about what the Senator was doing. That person was the now-Commander Trevor Barnabas.
      2. I’m going to be honest with you all: Something’s been bothering me since he passed. And maybe it’s because I’m not coping with the death of my friend very well, I can admit that if that’s the case, but… why Tony. Why did he have to die?
         1. Maybe someone will ask about the “tony” part. “Oh. Trevor Anthony Barnabas. His father’s name was Anthony, went by “Tony”. He idolized his father and insisted his closest friends call him “Tony”…. But anyway”
   3. It’s been nagging at me. Every time something has gone tits up here, we’ve come out squeaky clean. From that… Chronus… appearing and… destroying earth, we leave dock just in time to go through it. The first time we fired the gravity cannon, when you guys were being chased down by thousands of Watchers, a gravity cannon that has to be charged specifically, you remember Crocetti got in trouble for that because it was draining the jump batteries? And speaking of him, how about that time Crocetti accidently closed the collision doors? You know, when Zakiri went out there and busted up the Tyson? Hull breech and all? You know Zakiri can’t stand zero G suits. Always complains about how hot it is, but for that mission, he just happened to go out wearing the full suit. Why is that? What made him change his mind in just that instance.
   4. Any thoughts what?
   5. The captain. The captain is why Zakiri put on his zero G suit. The captain showed up just as he was about to head out and quoted some regulation to him. “Chapter 3 – Space Operations, Section 4 – Attire and Uniform Requirements, Paragraph 5, ‘Operating under unknown and dangerous situitaitons’”. Basically the regulation states that any crew member of a vessel lacking pressurization breech doors, while operating under unknown and possibly dangerous conditions, is required to wear an environmental suit at all times. Said the captain wouldn’t let up on it, and when he finally put it on the captain said something about “we wouldn’t want your boy growing up without his dad”. Then the breech occurred, and Zakiri was certainly grateful for the captain’s intervention. The captain is also why we broke free from the dry dock when we did. Hell, for all I know it was the captain that rerouted power to charge the gravity cannon, and not a mistake by Crocetti.
   6. So, why did Barnabas have to die.
   7. I’ve been thinking about this a lot over the last few months. And so I started doing some poking around. That’s why I do, you see. That’s kind of my job, in charge of Ops and Signal Intelligence. I can’t let mysteries go. And after you guys found that data pad and after what the good doctor had to tell us, it just wound me up more.
   8. He opens a folder on his computer, which appears to be a series of videos
   9. So, what does this have to do with that room?
   10. You guys know about the cameras all over the ship, right? Well, I’ve been looking over them, the night before… he trails off and opens a video and you see an image of Barnabas walking down a hallway. The time stamp reads 1745 14 Jul 2315 – the night before the accident. As He is getting to the door to his quarters he reaches into his breast pocket, pulls out his communicator and stops short. A perplexed look comes across his face and he turns, heading the other direction down the hall. The video follows him as he heads through the ship, out of the crew berths, down two decks to the stowage decks. He turns down a hall, and the video doesn’t follow.
   11. This is the hall that room is down, Storage Closet 225. There’s no camera coverage down that hall, but I’ve been digging into the maintenance logs and… extracting audio and doing my best to enhance it.
   12. He unpauses the video and through a distorted and fuzzy audio track, you hear the sound of footsteps against the deck. The sound of a door opening and Barnabas’ voice “Tell me, Andersen, what’s so… what the hell are you doing here?” You hear no response. “Wait, what are yo…” the voice cuts off followed by the sound of a door closing.
   13. Someone invited Tony to the that storage closet. He thought it was me. And the only person I’d told about it was him. And the only people he ever had come there were you two
   14. But I know it wasn’t you two. So who was it?
   15. The video speeds up and you see the timestamp ticking by 1800… 1830… 1900… 2000… 2100… 2200… 2300… and it slows back down at 2356, four minutes to midnight. You hear the sound of a door opening again and Barnabas’ voice fades in again “…you son of a bitch. Do you realize what you’re asking of me? What this… if any of its true what you’re doing to me?” more silence “How did it come to this?” the door closing sound again, and after a few seconds, Barnabas shuffles, looking somewhat dazed back into view. In his hands, he holds a notebook he didn’t have before. He flips through a few pages, bewildered. The time on the camera speeds up more as he shuffles off and an hour passes before it slows again. Then you hear the broken audio of a door opening, and a pair of steps shuffling along the deck. A few moments pass and Captain Stobulous shuffles into the hallway, wearing his full dress uniform. The video ends there
   16. Some time talking about it
       1. Andersen wonders what was in the book
       2. Andersen will confirm that the captain had the book (maybe)
   17. He wants to take a look at Barnabas’ quarters, which have been locked since his death, first. He says the captain has a security warning set up on the door to inform him – and only him – if the door is messed with or opened, but says “you all know there are ways to get into places”
   18. Plan is for someone (slover) to sneak into the room, and see if he can find any information.
   19. They’ll contact them over the comm. To let them know if they’ve found something. The plan is to have someone set off the alert on the door, which should get the captain to investigate.
2. Seeking proof
   1. Someone has to sneak through the ductwork to get to Barnabas’ room.
   2. The room is exactly as it was left. He was the only junior officer who didn’t have to share a room, so the only indication which bed was his is his dirty laundry bundled up in a basket at the foot of the bed. On one of the small desks you spot empty picture frame, and a familiar notebook. It matches the composition books that can be purchased at the ship’s store. In fact, the bookshelf is filled with these books, however there is an open spot among them, as though one is missing. However, the one on desk looks old and worn, the cover is dog-eared and the edges are frayed.
   3. What’s in the book
      1. HAND OUT
   4. The rest of the book takes a different track. The next page has a roughly-drawn map. Several locations are numbered. “Crash site”, “cave”, “good hunting area”, “edible plants”, “fresh water”, etc. Along with some rough drawings of strange animals and plants. It’s then followed by a detailed list of activities to do “after touch down”. “You have to ignore the pain. If you spend too much time feeling sorry for yourself, you’ll run the risk of spending a very cold night outside.” Several pages later are more maps, these show a something marked as “Rebel Camp” and several spots indicating sentry location. Similar maps and diagrams similar to this continue for several pages. Further on there are dossiers of political figures throughout UK Stellar, including the current Prime Minster, Archibald Balfour.
   5. At some point, in the middle section of the book, you find dates starting to appear, the earliest of which is 2290. There’s historical information about conflicts on different planets throughout UK Stellar in the early 2300s.
   6. Near the end of the book are some items you’re far more familiar with. Project Starlight. List of crew, a page titled “The need for trained MS pilots” which details tampering with deployment records to get pilots on board the Starlight before “Zero Hour”.
   7. Past that you see situations you’re personally familiar with, a detailed listing of everything you’ve experienced in the last few months on the Starlight.
3. Confronting the captain
   1. If someone sets off the alarm on the door, he captain shows up a few moments later and opens the door.
   2. When confronted
      1. Well, I suppose the jig is up. I’m just am old man no use anymore. Well, then, what do you want to know?
4. Setting up the gate
   1. Skill challenge. To set up. Obvious are piloting checks, but let them decide what other skills they might want to use
   2. The three pieces have to be taken out and assembled. It is being set up in the shadow of a black hole.
   3. There are Macedonians with them too
   4. The Astrid/Phobos arrives after they set up the final piece.

Game Files

• File:Book.docx
• File:Revelations.docx

Musical Inspiration
Song:	Starlight
Artist:	Muse
Album:	Black Holes and Revelations
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