Starlight:Supermassive Black Hole

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August 4, 2017 – Episode 19: Supermassive Black Hole

Game Outline

Setting up the gate – 23 September 2315
1. Training has helped to speed up the setup. Not going to bother with dice rolls to put together. Once setup is completed, however..
Phobos/The Astrid
1. As the last piece of the gate is put into place, you immediately disengage from it and leap into a defensive position. Your caution is not without merit, and a massive red spot appears on your scope directly below you.
  1. “Phobos! Phobos! It has come to destroy the gate! Do not let it!” the call goes up from a Macedonian home ship
2. Phobos is trying to destroy the gate.
3. Commander Langer: that thing is too large for us to take out without the cannon. It is still charging – take out the guns on that thing so it can’t destroy the gate before we can take a shot at it.
4. You turn your MS’s towards the massive watcher ship known as Phobos, and it fills your entire view. Larger than the largest home ships you’ve seen, massive guns begin opening fire on the gate.
5. Phobos can’t be destroyed by the MS’s. The Starlight needs to charge up the grav cannon, however the weapons on Phobos need to be taken out
  1. Gun emplacement – 3 damage each round, unless 3 are destroyed
  2. -1 damage for each destroyed. Gun emplacement
    1. 3 armor, 6 hull trauma size 4.
    2. 10 hits = failure
    3. Success means 80 xp the PC’s can spend now
6. During one attack run, you strafe one of the massive gun emplacements pull your MS across the surface of Phobos. Your flood lights flash over the metallic surface, and you see a very familiar marking. A giant letter “A” on the surface of the massive ship.
  1. Further investigation
    1. Your flood lamp shows the word painted clearly on the side of Phobos “USS ASTRID”. The the watchers call Phobos is what remains of the survivors ship meant to save the survivors of the attack on earth. Twisted, modified and added to over the years by the watchers, but the markings on the hull make it unmistakable
7. The grav cannon is fired at Phobos and the armored surface of the vessel collapses in on itself and it seems to compress a bit. Small explosions begin to blast their way out of the surface, and within moments the entire vessel is destroyed in a series of explosions within. It now drifts silently in the darkness of space bringing fear to no one.
Arrival of the Wanderers in Exile
1. Commander Langer: We’ve gotten signatures of several ships arriving shortly. Pilots, return to the Starlight and form a defensive line.
2. As you return to a defensive position, several ships begin dropping out of their gravity jump not far from you, however your Friend or Foe scope beings to light up with hundreds of green and then yellow dots.
3. Over the comm. You hear: “This is Knight Protector Kalu Venn. The Knights of Cydonia in Exile are here to aid you, earthlings.”
4. “Group Kommandant Bol’shaya and the Phaestyn Paladins give their support as well. Put us to a holy use, Noble Earthlings.”
5. “Marshall Koaki Mavros and the Thanatos Death Guards are here to aid as well.”
6. Knight Protector Kalu Venn – arrives with 100 Knights of Cydonia
7. Group Kommandant Bol’shaya with 2 Home Ships and 300 Phaestyn Paladins
8. Marshall Koraki Mavros of the Thanatos – 1 home ship, 140 Thanatos Death Guards
9. Diokitis Savra Prasinos of the Itanos – aqua and yellow skinned lizards, 1 home ship, 130 Itanos Void Guard (eastern collared lizard)
10. Archstratigos Nero Plasma – Manineans – salamanders, black with yellow spots. 1 home ship, 200 Pyrkagia
11. Generalissimo Jenbo Barcoa – Macedonian, 3 home ships, 360 Macedonian Polemistis
A discussion of tactics
1. Plan to destroy Chrons
  1. One MS will have to use the lance. The others are free to carry what weapons they see fit. Once the skin of Chronos has been pierced, the grav cannon will be used.
  2. There is a large meeting of the newly arrives watchers. Several hundred have made a pilgrimage here to aid the humans. After some discussion amongst those involved, it is agreed that the humans will command of the armada.
2. Commander Langer calls the pilots into her office. Lieutenant Commander Andersen is already there.
3. “There isn’t much time and there is much for us to do so I’ll keep this short. She places three forms in front of her on her desk. First, you are all hereby granted the rank of Lieutenant Commander. This is for the countless acts of valor and for acting above and beyond the call of duty over these last 10 months. Second; as you know, I will be in command of the coming battle. This will require an enormous effort, and the Watchers are sending over support personnel to help with this. That said, we still require a commander on the line of battle. Lieutenant Commander Lopez, you will be in charge of coordinating the larger force of fighter vessels. We’re undoubtedly going to face a lot of resistance once we go through the gate and get to… where ever it is we’re going. Now, unless you have any questions, you’re all dismissed.
Kalu Venn’s return
1. I wanted to let you know the why I returned. I am not a religious person. I take solace in the ritual of it, but how much of it I actually believe in, I don’t know. When I returned to my home ship after dropping off Arvis Mal, I started digging, with the priests. You had told me of the great planet you came from and showed me the images. A blue and green heaven, like that one promised to us some day. It took a great deal of persuasion, but they showed me an artifact that was central to that belief… he reaches into his flight suit and produces a small case. It took a lot of convincing to get this, however… he opens the case and behind a sealed pane of glass is a worn uniform patch. In the center, an image of the earth – blue water, green land. Above this image are the words UNITED EARTH ALLIANCE and below, UES GODSPEED
  1. Kalu Venn would says the patch is “an artifact that has, as far as I know, always existed”
  2. This is a patch from one of the seed ships built to escape the Watchers that were progenitor of the home ships of the Wanderers.
  3. The PCs wouldn’t know of a Godspeed, and as a matter of fact, the Starlight is the first ship ever designated as “United Earth Ship”. Mikaboshi wouldn’t recognize this ship either.
2. This is the blue and green heaven promised to us. This is your home, the earth. They never knew what these words said until we encountered you. Then they hid from us that they had this… this proof that you are something far more than just another set of wanderers. This is how I convinced these other Wanderers to join us.
Through the gate
1. The gravity cannon has to be fired at the gate to start it up. When it passes through the gate, the structure shudders , flexes and explodes forth with a swirling vortex of black energy.
2. The trip through the portal opened by the gate is not like a grav jump. Normally, only the closest stars would track across the horizon, and even then imperceptibly. Now, however, the stars stretch impossibly around you, like something from science fiction. Occasionally you barrel through massive clouds of interstellar gasses, and they wrap around you like a celestial tunnel.
3. Moving 750x the speed of light, it takes 5 and a half days to get there. (normal speed is approximately 24x speed of light)
Final Fight
1. Starlight Force strength- Staggering
2. A star system with single, ancient yellow star near the end of it’s life at the center. The first view of a planet in the system is Saturn, with its familiar rings.
3. Astrogation plots a course to the third planet that will require a fighting mass battle that will progress in phases at those points.
  1. Launch of the MS’s
    1. In the sortie room, you enter your code and quickly set your MS load out as your command couch drops from the ceiling into place. A quick hop onto the couch and you are dropped through the familiar glowing corridor to the launch bay. The assembly arms snatch you out of the air, building your MS around you. You go through your launch checklist quickly and efficiency, and give the command the launch, letting off a salute. Your MS holds in place, and you look up to the checklist – all green, except for the flight deck crew. Leaning the MS forward to get a better look and you see the entire flight crew, not just the catapult officer, standing at attention, saluting. You return the gesture, put your head back against the head rest of your command couch, and streak down the launch tube into space.
    2. Watcher force strength - significant
  2. Titan, Saturn former earth colony – watcher force strength - significant
    1. Human settlements used to orbit high above the methane clouds of Titan, but now, instead of orbital habitats, watchers of all kinds meet you.
  3. Calisto, Jupiter former earth colony - imposing
    1. Jupiter’s crater ridden moon, Calisto, shows no sign of the human inhabitants that once lived upon the surface. Instead several type 2’s begin releasing their cargo towards, and your armada moves to meet the coming threat
  4. Mars - Staggering
    1. The earth’s closest neighbor, is hardly recognizable. The polar ice caps are completely gone, and the thin, whispy atmosphere has been blown completely away by solar winds, and the surface of the planet is no longer it’s rusty red color – instead the iron of the surface shows deep scoring lines – most probably from watcher nano machines eating into the surface
  5. Earth
Chronos
1. The Fleet makes the transit from Mars to Earth, you get your first glimpse of humanity’s birth place. The moon is still most recognizable, and for a moment you think the old cities that occupied its craters remain, but as the lights wink and flutter, you realize a host of watchers is taking flight to meet you. The ruined surface of the earth, however is baked, unrecognizable, and glowing hot from the increased heat of the sun. Directly above the north pole, a familiar pair of glowing red eyes pierces your soul. The being you know as Chronus, the destroyer of your home, now menaces over its ruin. It is a being wrapped in shadow and flame. As the fleet approaches, it turns in your direction and a shadowy arm reaches in your direction.
2. A host of watchers – Kalu Venn: “Starlight, we will clear the path you need. Take out that thing.”
3. The Wanderers fleet moves forward and engages attacking watchers head on, opening a lane for the Starlight and PCs to directly engage Chronus
4. The fight against Chronus.
  1. Silhouette 7, Armor 5 (3 vs spear) HT 50 SS 50 (no shield)
  2. Attack: 2 Tendrils – YYYG – Damage 8 crit 4, range medium
  3. Chronus is a mass of shadows and flame. As the holder of the spear approaches, the shadows peel back to reveal what appears a matte colored black sphere. Most of the shadows have no mass mass behind them, save for the black sphere located in the head/torso area
  4. Chronus glows with nano machine activity
  5. Chronus is disoriented (2) for 1 round by hits of the spear.
  6. Chronus needs to be held in place long enough for the starlight to get a clear shot
  7. Chronus attacks with the tendrils of shadow.
  8. When the threshold is met, the sphere cracks open, and a yellowish light begins to pour out.
Upon defeat
1. The black sphere that seems to be all of Chronus’ being begins to delaminate and bits start to flake off. Another blow of (mike’s weapon) causes bits and pieces of it to begin to shred away Jerias brings his weapon to bear, and tiny cracks form in the surface. One final blow of the spear causes the sphere to crack open and a familiar yellow light begins to pour out of it. A command is passed to you from the ship, and you scramble away, leaving the lance in place, sticking out of the crackling wound as the barrel of the gravity cannon begins to crackle with dark energy “FIRE!” the captain shouts over the comm. And a spear of dark energy smashes into the Chronus Sphere. The blast seems to absorb into the skin of the sphere, and the lance twists and collapses into the hole you opened. The Chronos Sphere collapses on itself, and for a second the entire battle field is silent. Wanderers star, unbelieving as their tormenter begins to unravel before their very eyes. Watchers dumbly continue in a straight line on their last trajectory as whatever control Chronus had over them is lost. The second quicky passes, as the sphere compresses to a single point, then explodes outwards in a familiar swirling yellow vortex. The thing that brought you here now its before you, expanding rapidly, first obscuring your view of the earth, then blotting out the sun, and the stars. You make your way back to the starlight, and enter the launch tube as the swirling energy engulfs the ship – if there was any thought of not approaching the vortex, you wouldn’t have had the time to argue it, as its expansion forces you through.

Game Files

File:Epilogue.docx

Musical Inspiration
Song:	Supermassive Black Hole
Artist:	Muse
Album:	Black Holes and Revelations
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