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game_systems:mindjammer

Mind Jammer

Resonant Dust

Background

It is 193 NCE. The players work for ExSol, a problem solving organization in the Darradine Rim. This is but one octant of 26 sectors, each of 125 subsectors of 8 octants apiece of the Commonality.

ExSol solves any problem, using various employees, workers, machines and resources. Any skills are useful to ExSol as it literally will solve any problem in return for credits, resources and influence. Players therefore can have any skill, stunt and aspect set, being any form of human, xenopmorph or construct.

Character Creation Rules

Home Rule Tweaks:

The characters will all receive the Mindscape Implant (in the appropriate flavor) for free so that will not come out of the Extras budget. Further, each character will receive an additional two (2) Stunts in the Extras budget for four (4) total, instead of 2. This is the number listed below. Finally, characters my purchase additional aspects at the cost of 2 Stunts per Aspect as noted below.

Character Creation Checklist (pages are all in Mindjammer Main book) When you create a character, go through the following steps:

  1. Choose your character concept (page 21).
  2. Choose your culture (page 19), and one cultural aspect
  3. Choose your genotype (page 20), and possibly one or more mandatory aspects and extras.
  4. Choose your occupation (page 20).
  5. Create your high concept aspect (page 21).
  6. Create your trouble aspect (page 21).
  7. Choose a name (page 22).
  8. Go through the three phases and create your phase trio aspects (page 22).
  9. Choose one Great (+4), two Good (+3), three Fair (+2), and four Average (+1) skills (page 25).
  10. Choose at least three (3) and no more than five (5) stunts (page 26).
  11. Write down your refresh (page 26) on your character sheet.
    1. This is:
      1. Refresh 5 if you have 3 stunts
      2. Refresh 4 if you have 4 stunts
      3. Refresh 3 if you have 5 stunts.
  12. Choose extras (equipment, enhancements, organisations, etc — see page 27) using your extras budget.
    1. You get to spend:
      1. 1 aspect
      2. 4 stunts
      3. 6 skill levels
    2. If you have any mandatory genotype aspects (above), these come out of your extras budget.
    3. You may convert 2 stunts to 1 aspect
  13. Write down which extras are in your halo (page 28); the rest go in the “Other Extras” section of the character sheet.
  14. Calculate your stress and consequences (page 28).
  15. Write down your tech index (based on your culture) on your character sheet (page 28).
  16. Write down your habituated gravity (usually standard gravity, but you may choose another) on your character sheet (page 28).
  17. Jot down any other starting equipment (page 28).

Campaign Resources

Lore

Characters

Adventure Journal

Episode 06: Voices Into the Dark

Upon return to Olkennedy B-I, the tracer programs left have an update. It seems that there are many of the suspicious encrypted packets travelling around the mindscape. Whatever was used on Cimon and Douglas is active with people in this system.

Tracing the Packets through the Mindscape, they bounce around, and they lose track of most of them. However, since they know exactly what to look for, the AI is able to find their final destination, which appears to be a spot about 3 light seconds behind the planet, at the edge of the Mindscape.

As the team pondered what to do, Dr. Tilton was down on the planet following a lead. After return to the Olkenndy system, Dr. Tilton received a message from Emotha, thanking him for his help, and restoring most of his Core Worlder privileges. Dr. Tilton begin researching EZ Space for the leak the team suspected was there. Dr. Tilton’s research showed that there is an employee, Merrick Beyett, in EZ Space who is an immigrant from Talikia, the settlement 7S7 just left. He has a public mindscape presence, with numerous thoughtcasts about how little he respects the faith of his homeworld. His job in EZ Space scheduling.

Beyett works in the scheduling department for EZ Space. He easily could have leaked transportation information and appears to have a real grudge against Talikia. However, Dr. Tilton cannot find any Mindscape traces of his communication to the raiders. He does not appear to be sending out anymore encrypted information than a normal person. Also, his public thoughtcasts stopped shortly before the raiders started up. In short, there is no footprint and the only reason to suspect him is knowing about the raiders in the first place.

He is relatively easy to tail, and Tilton’s suspicions about him are greatly increased, when he uses the Commonality Cultural Center. Normally, someone from Olkenndy could not get in, much less a former religious colonist. Taking advantage of his newly restored status, Tilton follows him in, something even the local authorities would have some trouble doing on the sly.

Beyett gets a table in the dining area. The area is typical for core worlds, with automated orders and delivery. There are several tables open and the good Doctor easily picked one within observation. Beyett is met by someone who has a Mindscape label of Saul Locke. Based on the way he carries himself, is it clear Mr. Locke is able to manage himself in combat. As they eat, Dr. Tilton enjoyed a genuine Core World meal for the first time in a while. It is clear, as Tilton observes, that Locke is a controller, and most likely, SciForce.

At 13:00 local time, there is a disturbance in the mindscape, also noticed by Locke, but no one else does. As a skilled in technical, Tilton can tell the local mindscape has just become its own instance and is limited to the outside. Within 2 min, 5 armed men in battled dress storm into the restaurant.

By 13:15, the whole planet was covered in ‘casts that 70 different sites were attacked, with hostages taken at most. While some locations were fighting back, the terrorists wasted no time in making demands that the Commonality leave Olkennedy in 72 hours, or they would start executions. Titus contacted the team immediately to get them to group, but Dr. Tilton, captured and cut off was not able to respond.

Titus has SABARR and Malstrox onboard, docked to the Highport. Douglas was down enjoying adult pursuits, giving the ladies the opportunity for the oldest customer they ever had. O’Wari was engaging in local cuisine, much to the consternation of the servers. Cimon was orbit diving down to the city.

As Titus coordinated with the team, the local ExSol contact called. Before he could speak, Titus was “Give us the contract”, because it was obvious the local government was going to be overwhelmed.

7S7 is assigned to go after the terrorists who took the Commonality Cultural Center because “they have a man on the inside”. Titus undocked, and slipped down under stealth. Cimon broadcast a landing zone to the others on the ground, and they linked up.

Cimon and Douglas worked to hack into the building. Cimon obtained visual with cameras, and Douglas snuck in his stealth drone. The whole site was being jammed by a local mindscape. Cimon made a brief contact with Dr. Tilton.

Inside, Tilton moved to be close to Locke. Locke slipped Tilton an actual written note, with a 26 alphanumeric code on it, allowing for a secure link between the two. Tilton and Locke determine both are armed with stunners and agree to look for a low point. The Terrorists move in and out, with one woman always staying, and always at least three people covering the hostages who have been moved into the ballroom.

Douglas is unable to find the mindscape jammer within the building. Titus, however, can find it with his shipboard sensors on the side. Douglas and Cimon are able to work together to give Cimon access to the unit and take it over. Titus stands by to use his own instance if needed.

Once in control, Titus gets the whole team and Cimon and Locke are back online. Cimon updates the team on the movements of the terrorists. Cimon and Locke plan to take out the mindscape expert first to protect the hostages. Cimon notes he has been observing the terrorists. There is no one in command, but they all know what they are doing. It is clear to the team based on these observations that some sort of corrupting influence is in action. Douglas uses the archaic term “ghost hacked”. The terrorists are victims too.

At O’wari’s suggestion, they blow their way into the building via the apartments when Tilton tells them there are only three “terrorists” in the room. Malstock sends the drone to monitor the room. Locke and Tilton blast the young woman with stunners taking her down as the group charges down the hallways on either side. SABARR and O’Wari lead the way, with Cimon and Maltox with the synthetic soldier, and Douglas with organic one. Cimon used his mindburn to attack one of the terrorists in the room, while Locke and Tilton get other shots. Quickly, the hallways are cleared and the terrorists in the room down, with no deaths. However, the remaining four “terrorists” are moving to wipe out the room. Titus and SABARR were busy getting the hostages to run to Titus.

Cimon stuns one, while O’Wari charges around the corner to take out two more. The final enemy goes to autofire his laser, Malstock drove his drone in the pathway, causing the gun to explode back.

It was at this point Dr. Tilton noticed the life signs for all the “terrorists” going into failure as their mindscape implants went to kill him. The technically skilled members sprung into action, with Dr. Tilton’s guidance. Four of the “terrorists” would end up in comas, but the rest were stabilized.

Locke wanted to take everyone to the Temple, but Cimon recommended against it. These were all people with mindscape implants altered just as Cimon and Douglas had been. Cimon noted that they had no idea what would happen if they were inside the Temple. They were treated on planet.

Meanwhile, seeing the danger, the team crept up on the point in space, finding a normal relay satellite. Watching the transmissions back and forth, they are able to locate the spot at the edge of the jump line, north of the ecliptic. Titus took his time to get to that spot, staying stealth. There they found a probe of non-Commonality design. Passive sensors only, they could detect odd gravity waves, concentrations, and strange matter. Cimon surmised it was an FTL communication device. After some discussion, Douglas snuck a stealth drone into it, and opened a panel, but at appeared to be detected. The device spent dozens of seconds sending another signal, and then started a new gravity wave pulse. Douglas and Cimon were able to use this time to interface and download data. Titus backed away at high speed as the probe blew itself up with an evaporating micro black hole.

The group had a lot of code to review, which they share with Locke and ExSol locally. As Olkennedy B-Icalmed down, the 7S7 is ordered back to Ajeux III. Locke asked for them to transmit information straight to SciForce instead of it going through the Mindjammers for security.

1 Refresh

Terrorists

Name Sex Origin Notes
Mateo Wright M Police
Elsa Wiseman F Singer
Braxton Bain A Artist
Matthew Withers M Transportation manager
Eva Nelson F Interior Decorator
Zachary Shields M Writer
Malcolm David M Spacer Trader
Sean Mitchell M Tailor
Zayden Stables A Zookeeper
Brayden Shirley F SciForce, Black ops
Bryson Brockhouse M Soccer Player

Episode 5: Space Cowboys

05 Space Cowboys

Travelling in 2-space, Dr. Tilton and Cimon understand what the message packet markers look like so they will be able to scan for them and see if they can find them. They create routines to do that to set loose in the Mindscape.

7S7 arrives at Olkennedy, and meet up with the local ExSol Representative, who is also a sentient spaceship. It orders are to help a group on a moderate planet, Horvas, where the settlement of Talikia is having problems with raiders stealing their minded uranium. The Settlers are are religious and they eschew cities and work to have everyone spread out and growing their own food with genetic crops. They do not use the mindscape and have no sentient machines. They make use of automation for farming and supporting their isolated households, and for their mining.

Titus, sporting his reactivated cloaking and disguise device, arrives looking like a typical Smith class freighter.

Horvas I is a tidally locked world with the red dwarf star it orbits. Its sun side is filled with a perpetual storm as the ocean boils. The dark side is locked in ice. Around the divide, there is a ring of space that is habitable.

The settlement Talikia sits at the north pole. It is arid, (like western US) but the climate is steady and weather regular. The area of this zone is about the size and shape of California, oriented horizontally. Areas with shade by terrain are always in shade, areas in light are always in light unless there are clouds. It takes some getting used too.

The Settlers are of a religious sect of monotheists who worship Tallah, the one God. They want to be left alone, and not be forced to lose their beliefs by the Commonality, which is why they came here in the first place. They eschew any mindscape implants as robbing them of their agency, so the world has no mindscape at all, but it does have someting similar to the internet. They live in small scattered independent farmsteads, with any key industry around the capital of Talikia, Ahmal. Ahmal is where the spaceport is located, as well as basic factories that are old fashioned make points, and the largest hospital. The Talikians are not into any level of consumerism, and maintain simple lives. Power comes from long conductors that connect the hot and cold sides of the planet, and are tapped for all the power needed. Transportation is with high speed rail system that criss-cross Talikia. There are some aircraft, but these are used more for urgent means.

There is an Arbitration Council that elects its own Chair. It only has the power to solve disputes. Local government is very democratic, with few laws. The population lives within their religious rules. Judges are empowered to appoint locals to enforce laws. Those born who want a different life are free to leave, and regular shipping back to Olkennedy provides this safety valve.

The Primary export of Talikia is uranium mined on the ice side the settlement and brought the the Ahmal spaceport via cargo trains.

Chief Justice Lars Ahammad is the closest thing to a unified leader on the planet. He is the elected head of the Arbitration Council which settled internal disputes. He is not normally an Arbiter but became one in a special election. He would much rather go back to tending his olive orchards. He is a natural leader, and has rallied the diverse people around him. He appointed Heppen as head of the Militia.

Ahammad is also the one who hired ExSol. He is friendly, but what he wants is this problem solved and to retire back to farming, Commander Frank Heppen is a recent immigrant to the planet. He choose to leave behind the Commonality after the Venu wars for a more simple life that allows freedom of conscience. He fears the Commonality will overwhelm his new home soon, and hopes that fending of these raiders with ExSol Mercs will buy them more time.

7S7 meets with Heppen and Ahmmand and assess the situation. The two heavy hitters decide to coordinate with the armed militia, while Titus and Dr. Tilton head to hide in space, waiting for the raider ship. The rest sign up to pilot the aero-fighters along with Heppen and his four other pilots. Dr. Tilton takes time looking at the Shipping company EZ Space, deducing that there is someone there who is leaking the pick up schedule to the raiders.

After four days, the settlers passive detectors sense the approach of space fighters and drop ships. Titus also detects a huge armed ship sneaking into orbit. The teams spring into action. On the ground, SABARR and O’wari organize their units. The reset take off to intercept. In space, a very stealthy Titus maneuvers to get behind the intruder.

In the air, a furball erupts. The aerofighters engage, with Heppen in the lead, and the other 7S7 members attacking. The local pilots fly wing providing cover and preventing the space fighters from gaining an advantage. At first attack, two of the drop ships manage to slip out of formation and away, as Heppen’s wingman falls out of position. Douglas’ missile fails to hit its target, but the others all do damage. While Douglas’ takes a light hit on his craft, there is no real lasting damage and the air team is able to take out or disable most of the fighters. Cimon takes command of the situation and orders all the craft to land on the dark side of the planet or be destroyed. Two of the drop ships bug out.

In space, Titus decloaks to fire on the larger ship with his newly installed plasma cannon, crippling its gravity drives. The enemy ship, the Cataphract responds with a EW attack that is harmless against Titus’ military grade defenses. Cataphract makes an amazing maneuver and manages to create an orbital trajectory out of the gravity well. However, it is targeted by Titus and told to surrender.

On the ground, SABARR and O’wari meet the troop drop ships. As the closest opens it doors, SABARR bombards it with grenades, crippling the ship and taking out the raiders. O’wari charges the raiders leaving the other shuttle, smashing two into bloody pulp. Her roar of rage and demand for them to surrender, causes the ground units to give up. At the first drop ship, SABARR covers the raiders and obtains a similar result.

In space, the two escaping drop ships have no choice but to surrender. As Titus takes Cataphract in tow, the drop ships remove the raider crew. Successful, the human attackers are turned over to the settlers. Towed to the limit, Douglas and SABARR make sure Cataphract follows Titus back to Olkennedy.

1 Refresh

Episode 4: Living History

While all of 7S7 is not on an assignment, SABAR is recruited through ExSol to help hunt down SulliedMen on the world below. Douglas receives a message from Nari Llashrm, Minister of Security, telling him where his old ship is located. Douglas has been growing increasingly concerned, as he does not remember blanking out the memory backups on board the Unity, nor does he remember giving them the actual override codes. Knowing where his old ships is, there is a chance he can access one of the back up nodes, which would reveal any tampering of the ship’s memory. This would help him reconcile his memory of being woken up by someone in an encounter suit.

Douglas sends the message to the team, and they discuss going to the coordinates. The ship is surrounded by 8 cloaking satellites, in a solar orbit trailing one of the systems gas giants. Accessing telescopic records does not show any activity in the area, and there are no radio transmissions. Titus is the most reluctant to go, being worried about the possible danger to the team, but the decision is made to investigate, stealthily.

Titus is able to spot the satellites and sneak through the field. Inside the cloaked is the Unity, powered down, but with clear zero-point APU in operation. A small interplanetary ship is docked to the side. There is a local mindscape instance within part of the ship, around the computer core, bridge, and crew quarters.

Douglas directs the team to the drive section, where the most hidden archive is in place. Cimon accesses the computer, and is confronted by the suddenly reactivated AI personality, Evangeline, a steampunk avatar/interface left by “Dougie”. Evangeline tells them that one of the 4 cores is already been removed and thus self-destructed. The one in the drive is still safe and secure behind its bulkhead. The team sets to work getting to the drive. Cimon leaves drones to watch for any approach, and while Douglas is working, a sentinel bot comes upon the team. The advanced warning gives Douglas and Malstox a chance to block any communications it might make while the rest of the team goes into action. Cimon tries to activate something, but the old technology just cannot hear him. Owari begins hand to hand with the bot, while the others take shots which bounce off of hits armor. Owari takes a couple of hits which slow her as she wrestles with it. Douglas and Malstox race to engage it and help slow its movement. Owari is then able to crush and rip off an arm, forcing a shut down.

Douglas and Malstox go back to retrieving the unit, while Cimon downloads the bot’s memory. Cimon works with Evangeline to report in over the intercom as if the bot is still on patrol.

Back on the ship, Douglas is able to share the records which show another ship approaching from the side, and docking with Unity. Encounter suited figures awake Douglas from his stasis, and then knock him out, and do something to his mindscape implant. The team immediately asks Dr. Tilton to look at Douglas, except for Cimon, who suddenly goes into standby. Alarmed, Tilton leads Douglas and Malstox in investigation into Cimon. Apparently, he shut down seeing the encounter suit figures because of a small unit implanted in him. Tilton is able to remove it, and Cimon now is able to remember being intercepted during his journey between the stars, within 2000 AU of where the Unity was boarded.

Immediately, the whole team checks each other for similar devices, finding one as part of Douglas old Mindscape implant. Everyone else is clean. It is clear to the team that the implants have been recording and transmitting information without their knowledge, in an encoded way. Cimon promises to try to track how it transmits.

Feeling they are on a clock before the hole in the bulkhead is discovered, Douglas pushes for answers of the three people on the ship or blowing the ship up. Cimon suggests destruction of the other two modules of information. The team is easily able to get to both, and destroys the first, but contemplates leaving the second to be found, as they feel this information may need to get out.

Cimon and Dr. Tilton move to the edge of the Mindscape instance and Cimon attempts to handshake into secretly. While it looks like he was successful, the thoughts he is able to glean are all superficial. Suddenly, he is trapped in an imposality he is unable to overturn. Seeing he is cut off, Tilton goes to yank him back, as the Mindscape instance flows into the area.

In the accelerated space of the Mindscape, two hyperintelligent minds talk at racing speeds. Lisa Emotha is with SciForce and confronts Cimon. It is fast clear she knows who he is, and who his companions are and their histories. As 4 security bots move in, she opens a link from Cimon to the rest of the team, commanding them to stand down and talk. Cimon relays the information (excluding the transmitters) and offers that they have with the SciForce team is looking for. Dr. Tilton recognizes the woman who told him he was banished. Everyone is escorted to the Hanger, and Titus flies around to be close to the team.

Ms. Emotha explains that the information in Dr. Tilton’s report is why they obtained the ship and are investigating. It becomes clear they see this as a threat to the Commonality and this information is why Tilton was banished. Cimon gives them the data and after the exchange the team is free to go.

SABER rejoins the team at ExSol 7, where the team immediately make sure he is free of the transmitter. They meet with Keepu and tell him the full story. He is concerned and promises that ExSol will start its own investigations. He also suggests that maybe work away from the Sector Capital would be a good idea, and they are told to head to Olkennedy, at the edge of the sector. Orders would be waiting for them in the Mindscape. Once safely in 2-space, the technical team begins working on understanding the transmitters.

1 Refresh + 1 Aspect to be spent on Equipment Only (From Kipu)

Episode 3: Love Makes for Strange Bedfellows

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Part 1: 2020-01-12

7S7 leaves Delebor and heads for Ajeux

On the way, Omni Mox brings passenger’s oddness to Doctor and Cimon’s attention to meet Alaz Yaubem (man you picked up) in sick bay. Omni Max asks Dr. Tilton for a scan of Alaz.

Omni says that he does a contract with all employees that involves a Memoplex (p.188 core rulebook) that includes confidentiality enforcers. These are all voluntary but protect him.

Omni Mox: “We had agreed, and I went to work to give him the Memoplex. The problem was, as I scanned him to deploy, I noticed his mindscape implant responded strangely, with a defense. That is odd for a voluntary memoplex. I looked closer and thought I would get with the two of you. I wanted to do a brain scan and look at this.”

A study of Alaz’s brain function with the MRI, shows it is oddly quiescent in some places and super active in others. The implant appears to be linked to these sections separately. Both the implant and the brain function are different than what anyone has seen before. It is all quite subtle, and Cimon thinks that only because Omni Max is using a very old memoplex, that he ran into it at all. (Omni is one of the first elidons created). What is clear, is that much of Alaz’s brain function seems to be sectioned off from Alaz.

Omni Mox: “I cannot insert this contract. I am not sure what we need to do with him, but I don’t want him near my ventures ongoing.”

Cimon and Dr. Tilton take this to the team, and they decide to confine Alaz to quarters. Alaz appears to have no knowledge of what is going on. They look at security, and it does not appear Titus has been tampered with in any way. They decide to tell Keepu and see what ExSol will do.

Upon arrival in the Ajeux system, Titus is told to go under stealth and take a circuitous root to ExSol 7 and doc in an inside bay. There he will get upgraded. 7S7 makes their report. Keepu says they will keep the data confidential and will get Alaz off the station. They are free until their next mission.

Douglas wants to explore what happened to him, after discovering a suppressed memory of waking up while in flight. He researches his ship and its location. The team quickly discovers the Unity is not in the parking orbit it was last in, and no where can they find a record of its orbit. Further, the celebrity of the event has clearly been suppressed with a gestalt. There are a couple of people still talking about it, the most notable is Gary Random. Douglas sets up a live interview with him for two weeks out. A trip to Charybdis office on the planet shows they sold the Unity to a private buyer.

About 9 days after return, 7S7 is directed to the office of Takanna Trianis, a local leader who runs a shipping corpocracy, Trianis Traders, and sits on the ruling council for this system. Her head of IT Security, and illicit xenomorph canine lover, Sempef Windlight has clearly been kidnapped. She cannot involve the Security forces as this will bring to light the illicit love affair. He was taken 10 hours ago leaving the Odessa building after a meeting with Stardust Traders.

7S7 springs into action, and immediately splits up to investigate. Cimon leads the investigation at the site, while Douglas goes to the victim’s home with Dr. Tilton, and Owari and (Doug’s) investigate the office. They find nothing in the office of note other than a schedule of his day, written on paper. At his apartment, they find a pen from a restaurant The Savoir Où Est. This is a listening bug transmitting to the mindscape. They secure the pen but do not investigate the restaurant.

Meanwhile, Cimon is able to determine the cameras were hacked, but the local cameras are a high security type with on board memory. He finds they are doubled hacked, and clearly, Windlight left a personal view of what happened. He was jumped by four members of a gang, one of whom is clearly a cream colored canine xenomorph. All were wearing masks. The Car, registered to Palace Rides merges into air traffic and is lost against the cameras. It is clear holographic rigs were used to fool the local cameras. This seems pretty high tech for a gang. Cimon goes to look up the symbol on the jackets, and finds that information is secured.

Talking with their employer, she tells them she is shocked, because the symbol goes to the SulliedMen, a group who does dirty work for powerful people. She cannot believe that anyone would use them against her directly, as this is a taboo among the council. She does admit that she and the Security Chief are at odds with her over a security bill (she wants to decrease it). Nari Llashrm wants to increase the monitoring on incoming trade and people from the Core Worlds.

Cimon is able to trace the car back to a pick up spot outside a public mall, where the crew boarded after leaving a bathroom. They are also able to find hairs, both of Windlight, and who they think might be the other Xenomorph.

This ended the Session

Part 2 2020/02/23

The next session started with a trip to follow up on the kidnapper’s car rental and the bugged pen. Alec Tremba, a xenomorph canine, who was the Administrative assistant to provide additional information. He suggested the team investigate a warehouse near the space port. The team used drones to probe the warehouse but saw no evidence of Windlight’s presence.

The team tracked the air car owner, Seth Growth (clearly a fake name) to a storage facility. Owari inquired about renting a space. Cimon noted there were specific sentinels guarding the mindscape around the building.

Finally, Cimon worked on the bugged pen, while Malstox followed another lead within the Trianis Traders company. The rest of the group went to dinner at Savoir Où Est. Owari was well engaged on eating as much as she could, while the avatar and synthetic drew some puzzled looks. Getting little information from the waitstaff, Douglas pulled out an actual picture of Windlight and started asking people aggressively if they had seen the man. This results in guards asking them to leave, panic by diners, and physical fight as the group subdues the guards, seriously injuring several and making their way to the elevator at the back of the office.

When the fighting began, the whole site was severed from the general mindscape. Cimon was able to use his skills to piggy-back on the bugged pen signal and gain access. He brought an imposailty into place to deal with the guards and the sentinels. The team descended on the elevator, as Malstox and Cimon were headed to the location by aircar. The doors opened, and Douglas yelled “Look out!” as he saw three auto turrets descend from the ceiling.

Part 3 2020/03/15

The turrets fired, but those in front were able to take near misses. Except for the large ursinoid of the group, who just shrugged off the shots and charged into the room to rip the turrets from the ceiling. SABER and Titus fired to destroy two of the turrets, but the real story was the angry bear. Searching the basement, Douglas found an air-gapped data storage. Titus acted as a bridge for Cimon and they downloaded the encrypted contents.

The team was now aware of city police and planetary security descending on the building. Cimon and Malstox are instructed to head to the Ministry of Security and their aircar conveniently heads in that direction. Cimon is also told to have the team come out and enter the Ministry air van which is arriving. The team takes the data drive, and leaves the building, but not before Cimon makes sure the encrypted data is stored on a Mindjammer in system.

7S7 meets with Nari Llashrm, Minister of Security, Taylor Flag, Head of IT Security, Lea Cothran Deputy Minister of Security, Takanna Trianas, and Hans Gordan, her head of Physical Security. It appears Trianas came to Llashrm when she found out about the SulliedMen. Taylor Flag heads off to decode the data, while the group talks. Dr. Tilton notes Cothran slipping out of the meeting, but otherwise things seem normal. During the conversation, Trianas is surprised to discover Tremba talked to the party. Gordan denies telling Tremba anything. It is clear Tremba knew things he should not have known. Tilton quickly cross-checks the other hair sample and sure enough, it was Tremba.

Flag returns with the decoded data, and it is quite clear there is a plot afoot. Lea Cothran is a SciForce plant, and this scheme is set up to discredit both Trianas and Llashrm. By the time this in known, both Tremba and Cothran have disappeared. Llashrm orders 7S7 weapons to be collected and soon the group is headed to the safehouse location where the decrypted data says Windlight is being held. He promises the mindscape in the area will show nothing out of the ordinary.

In the climax of the adventure, the team bursts into the dockside warehouse. Cimon provides the cameras outside with a boring fantasy life, and the team goes in on the side opposite the street. It is clear the local SulliedMen know they are coming, but the team plows through them. Owari literally slams a group of four thugs into the barrier others are behind. Now in his BRADD suit, SABER adroitly burns through the group behind the barrier. Owari takes the barrier and uses it as a ram to crush the other thugs in the hallway. Douglas enters behind SABER and is attacked by a human from a room. They fire back, and the new assailant dodges back in and secures the door. A search of the room later will show a secret passage out from what was his bedroom/office.

Owari and SABER search the complex, with Owari bursting into the room where Windlight is being held by “Slate Grof” who surrenders with no fight. His real name is Alci Badi. Windlight is being kept in a suspended state, but Dr. Tilton is able to wake him. Security moves in, while the team leaves.

Thanks to their efforts, all history of their actions has been memoplexed away, and will at best, be rumors. New security against the Commonality will be put into place, despite the damage it might do to trade. For obvious reasons, Trainas is well on board with this now. The Minster tells Douglas he will not be doing that podcast but promises him some further information on his old ship in the next few days.

7S7 returns to ExSol 7 and debriefs with Keepu who says that they are seeing more Commonality activity as well. Keepu dryly notes that 7S7 is clearly not an investigative team, and he will point them into more robust situations in the future.

Episode 2: Monsters of the Mind

The group is gathered and given their mission

Mission to Yi Xiu II OmniMoxCorp Mission Members • Leader: Omni Mox, Construct with makepoint and sub-drones. Will be mostly in parts for Trip. No Humanoid Avatar, Survival Specialist and base • Rankev Wardiaz Commonality Male, Xenobiologist • Lase Clarker Synthetic, Xenoarchologist • Eran Watson Commonality Female, Xenotechnologist • Kathria Hally, Commonality Female, Xenoarchologist • Lise Pete, Commonality Androgonous, Xenobiologist • Lyna Adards, Synthetic, Security Expect The Mission is to explore alien ruins on the planet. It looks to have been involved in large scale nuclear war in its past. Yi Xiu is at the hot edge of the habitable zone and is drying out. CO2 levels will require breathers for humans. Omni Mox is a Large ATV with many drones and other plug in parts, including a makepoint. He will assemble himself as a base at a chosen location on the planet. The Rest have various cargo, equipment to install, and there are 16 satellites to be orbited around the planet to let Omni have a planet wide mindscape.

Things do not go as planned.

At Delebor, they pick up Alaz Yaubem wanting to get off the planet. He agrees to park in a cabin on the ship and stay out of the way. The rest of the trip to Yi Xiu is uneventful. The group rendezvous with an automated supply ship to clear their drives and moves on. At the planet, they deployed the communications and scanning satellites and settled in near one of the standing alien cities. The world itself has a high CO2 content, and high He content. It clearly has the remains of nuclear explosions.

Omni Mox overseas the construction of the base, while 7S7 escorts Lase, Eran, Katheira, and Lise to explore the city. They are attacked by local fauna along they way. At the city, they find ancient buildings. These appear to be perfectly constructed, right down to the atomic level, and impervious to wear, and blocking of radio signals. The buildings appear powered by geothermal energy, channeled by mental energy. Several members are “attacked” by the building. Evacuating the buildings, 7S7 gets the scientists away.

It becomes clear that the animal and plant life on this planet are engineered, and designed to not mutate. It is also clear that something horrible happened to the population, based on the last recording in the home the characters entered. Out in orbit, Titus tracks an ancient satellite, of much older technology, and also finds a base inside a moon. The base in the moon has the same effects as buildings, and Malstox starts to age as he and Douglas explore the inside. Titus blasts them out and returns to the planet to evacuate the group in the city.

On the ground, Cimon is sure they are being stalked by Venu, and others can start to see this. It is quite clear to the group that the city can make hallucinations real. Titus gets the group out, and Omni Max orders an evacuation. Titus collects everyone and they leave the system, engines still unpurged.

Returning to the system with the automatic support ship, Titus cannot detect its beacon, and instead picks up another ship. Creeping into the system under stealth, it is clear a SciForce Corvette is where the patrol ship used to be. Desperately needing to clear their drives, Titus goes to the other side of the sun for the purge. They plot a course and trajectory for a 2-space jump ahead of time, to be able to run on a moment’s notice. There, they get 3 days into the process when the Corvette comes around to see them. Titus takes off, ignoring calls to heave to, and the ships jumps to a nearby star. They quickly make calculations for a risky jump to another star, and succeed. There they finish purging the drives and start the trip back to Delebor.

Episode 1: Getting to Know You

The characters area all told to report to the ExSol HQ for the Darradine Rim, ExSol 7. ExSol 7 orbits 3 light minutes preceding Ajeux, the capital of the Darradine sector. The massive station is composed of 7 ExSol ship modules.

The team met with their controller, Keepu, a xenomorph whale inside the secure corporate sphere of ExSol 7. They are given their team designation of 7S7 and told they will do a virtual training exercise of an assassination mission.

The Mission takes the team to a fictional city on a fictional world. Titus lands the ship up the coast from the city, and then the team used a hijacked truck to travel to the tower the target lived in. Cimon used his skills to override the elevator, but it became clear to him, this building had a construct. 7S7 encountered guards in the hallway and had a firefight. Getting into the suite, they easily bested the internal guards and took out the target.

Alarms now blaring, Titus took no changes and under stealth, flew to the city, hovering next to the windows the team was at. Jumping through blasted glass, the team got into Titus and fled the planet. The simulation ended there and the team was told they were ready for their first real mission.

Pre-Game

From the void between the stars, two ships converge on the Darradine Rim Capital system of Ajeux. One is a old STL gardener ship, with a loan crewmember. The other is a crippled scout, with a tired and damaged vet of the Venu war. The gardener ship, Unity, is intercepted by a Commonality corvette, including one Dr. James Tilton, from the Core Worlds. It is he who wakes up Douglas Arthur, the Unity’s engineer after his long sleep. After this find, the good Doctor finds he is banished and cannot return to the Core Worlds. Arthur, amazed at the future, signs up with Titus as ship’s engineer. Titus, is a retired vet of the Venu wars, an infiltration ship, trying to adapt to civilian life. The scout held the synthetic Cimon, a hacker from the Venu wars, forced to limp home, burning with resentment for a Commonality which abandoned him. Far off the normal starlanes, the planet Selu sits under quarantine. It is s world entirely of xenomorphs, in an early industrial stage of technology. There, the native solider, O'wari Nex, helped ExSol team out. Discovering there is so much more world, she left with them, to join the company. Malstox Benson is from the rim, and wants to live forever. An asteroid miner, he is always down on his luck, but crossed paths with Nex and now has joined ExSol. S.A.B.E.R.R is a machine of war, without a war to fight. He is a mercenary synthetic, working to ExSol and assigned to this team, after working so well with Nex before.

game_systems/mindjammer.txt · Last modified: 2021/09/23 15:04 by Bryan Stephens