Post by putraack on Jul 31, 2023 21:29:47 GMT -5
First session was tonight. Spoilers ahead for an old module!
Captain Vellacora continued the process of shaking down the crew, newly assembled, of the USS Philadelphia. Communications Lt. Paca impressed him with intercepting some nearby Klingon signals, though they defied any attempts at decryption.
A few days later, as drills and tests continued, the ship moved within the Organian Neutral Zone, near the 4 systems of the Asparax Confederation. Fleet's orders were not to interfere with those worlds, and the ruling council there announced that they would not put up with any Federation warships in their space.
A ship was detected, and then a second. Lt. Beaufort directed the captain's attention towards that unknown. The bogey was hard to get any information on, beyond that it was about the same size as the Philadelphia, and heading away at high speed. As Philadelphia closed in, 5 small objects detached from the unknown, which appeared to have life signs aboard. The bogey, possibly an Orion smuggler, got away with a burst of high warp speed, leaving the Philadelphia with what turned out to be cold-sleep capsules, with Orion females inside. Perhaps slaves, abandoned to keep the Federation ship occupied? These were left in stasis, and Third Fleet HQ was informed. Sweeps of the ship for any traces of Orion-female pheromones were negative.
The captain began to reveal-- in long lectures from the bridge over the next two mornings--- his view that the Orions and the Klingons were conspiring to turn the Asparax worlds into a staging ground for a renewed war against the Federation, just as they had done at Axanar years before. Captain Vellacora related his role in the Axanar fighting, on the ship commanded by the legendary Captain Garth. Both Garth and Vellacora were from the same world, Izar, and the captain ordered the playing of Izarian martial music to inspire the crew and honor his former commander.
Soon, another contact was made with a small gunboat of the Asparaxians. Vellacora ordered the Philadelphia to pass extremely close by that craft, which escaped when the Philadelphia's impulse drive inexplicably "hiccuped", an aberration Lt. T'ssani in Engineering was unable (or unwilling) to explain. The ACS Defiant warned Philadelphia that further incursions into Asparaxian space would be dealt with severely!
The next contact was with two vessels, which turned out to the same Orion shadowy ship as before and the Klingon sector-admiral's command cruiser. Vellacora ordered the Philadelphia into pursuit of the much-larger cruiser as it warped away towards Klingon space! Suddenly, the sensors detected small objects approaching, this time with active warheads-- it was a trap! Some fancy programming and flying by Lts. Beaufort and Grenadine got the ship away from the drone swarm in a hurry!
That night, the chief doctor asked Dr. Williams to convene a "poker game" among the department heads; he wanted to discuss their opinions of the Captain's behavior.
Meanwhile, there had been an internal-security matter. Monitoring of internal communications pointed out a brief message from the Captain's cabin to a pocket communicator-- not usually out of its rack while aboard ship?-- somewhere on Deck 3. Lt. T'Poe started a search of records and logs, and narrowed down that Yeoman Chambers probably had tried to cover up this discrepancy, which she explained, slightly red-faced, that she and the captain had been carrying on a romantic affair since they'd met on the ship during refit.
Dr. Paine revealed that he was considering invoking his medical power to relieve the captain and get the ship away before a war started. That's when the First Officer revealed that she had overheard some of this conversation, and demanded that all such disloyal talk end NOW. {Cliffhanger! end of session}
I was happy that the players (none of them playing Helm or Weapons or Navigation, so not directly involved in any of the potential shooting) sought ways to gather information on the captain and some of the crew, though they didn't ask too many questions of the other crew or officers around. They did seek ways to subtly interfere with the captain's more warlike acts, which were unanticipated by the module writer, so the usual improvisation followed. The Security Chief's player was absent, or we might have heard more about things down in his shop, too-- the captain had them running ragged on spy-detection drills, and bodyguarding himself.
Captain Vellacora continued the process of shaking down the crew, newly assembled, of the USS Philadelphia. Communications Lt. Paca impressed him with intercepting some nearby Klingon signals, though they defied any attempts at decryption.
A few days later, as drills and tests continued, the ship moved within the Organian Neutral Zone, near the 4 systems of the Asparax Confederation. Fleet's orders were not to interfere with those worlds, and the ruling council there announced that they would not put up with any Federation warships in their space.
A ship was detected, and then a second. Lt. Beaufort directed the captain's attention towards that unknown. The bogey was hard to get any information on, beyond that it was about the same size as the Philadelphia, and heading away at high speed. As Philadelphia closed in, 5 small objects detached from the unknown, which appeared to have life signs aboard. The bogey, possibly an Orion smuggler, got away with a burst of high warp speed, leaving the Philadelphia with what turned out to be cold-sleep capsules, with Orion females inside. Perhaps slaves, abandoned to keep the Federation ship occupied? These were left in stasis, and Third Fleet HQ was informed. Sweeps of the ship for any traces of Orion-female pheromones were negative.
The captain began to reveal-- in long lectures from the bridge over the next two mornings--- his view that the Orions and the Klingons were conspiring to turn the Asparax worlds into a staging ground for a renewed war against the Federation, just as they had done at Axanar years before. Captain Vellacora related his role in the Axanar fighting, on the ship commanded by the legendary Captain Garth. Both Garth and Vellacora were from the same world, Izar, and the captain ordered the playing of Izarian martial music to inspire the crew and honor his former commander.
Soon, another contact was made with a small gunboat of the Asparaxians. Vellacora ordered the Philadelphia to pass extremely close by that craft, which escaped when the Philadelphia's impulse drive inexplicably "hiccuped", an aberration Lt. T'ssani in Engineering was unable (or unwilling) to explain. The ACS Defiant warned Philadelphia that further incursions into Asparaxian space would be dealt with severely!
The next contact was with two vessels, which turned out to the same Orion shadowy ship as before and the Klingon sector-admiral's command cruiser. Vellacora ordered the Philadelphia into pursuit of the much-larger cruiser as it warped away towards Klingon space! Suddenly, the sensors detected small objects approaching, this time with active warheads-- it was a trap! Some fancy programming and flying by Lts. Beaufort and Grenadine got the ship away from the drone swarm in a hurry!
That night, the chief doctor asked Dr. Williams to convene a "poker game" among the department heads; he wanted to discuss their opinions of the Captain's behavior.
Meanwhile, there had been an internal-security matter. Monitoring of internal communications pointed out a brief message from the Captain's cabin to a pocket communicator-- not usually out of its rack while aboard ship?-- somewhere on Deck 3. Lt. T'Poe started a search of records and logs, and narrowed down that Yeoman Chambers probably had tried to cover up this discrepancy, which she explained, slightly red-faced, that she and the captain had been carrying on a romantic affair since they'd met on the ship during refit.
Dr. Paine revealed that he was considering invoking his medical power to relieve the captain and get the ship away before a war started. That's when the First Officer revealed that she had overheard some of this conversation, and demanded that all such disloyal talk end NOW. {Cliffhanger! end of session}
I was happy that the players (none of them playing Helm or Weapons or Navigation, so not directly involved in any of the potential shooting) sought ways to gather information on the captain and some of the crew, though they didn't ask too many questions of the other crew or officers around. They did seek ways to subtly interfere with the captain's more warlike acts, which were unanticipated by the module writer, so the usual improvisation followed. The Security Chief's player was absent, or we might have heard more about things down in his shop, too-- the captain had them running ragged on spy-detection drills, and bodyguarding himself.