Game #5 - Space Station Zulu
We recruit !
Volunteers for a long term mission in our galactic outposts.
All types of skills required : research, robotics, maintenance,... Just apply.
Knowledge of xenobiology a plus.
Position is SAFE but requires willingness to leave for a multi-year mission and good psychological condition : capacity to work for a long time in an artificial environment light-years away from family & friends.
Mission is organized along a 3 months active - 6 months hibernation cycle.
- Arrival
- First contact
- First casualties
- Robot to the rescue ?
- Breaching hulls
- Weapon testing ground
- Board meeting
- Space Station Zulu
- The Expedition to Corridor 7
- Central Room Clearing
- The Death of Bart
- Board meeting
- Gubbisson awakes
- The battle of Room P
- Avenging two good men
- Spore crushing
- Trying to kill an isolated alien - again
- Trying to kill the same isolated alien - once again
- The Great Battle
- The Great Culling
Players :
AndnjordBaudKalarionBrutusTrumpStrange FellowHelly- Argyraspide
DayyaluGubbisson
A mission among the stars thou say? Acceptable I suppose, this plane of existence was getting beneath my talents, and thou promiseth an entire galaxy ready to be dedicated to the glories of He Who Rages?
Notable skills: Castigation, infliction of penance, disciplining of weakness.
Finding new species never seen before and experimenting on them sounds definitely like my cup of tea.
Even if they don't want *me* I'll just get in that flight anyway. I have my ways...
ah, hum... I'm good at... maintenance? Like hitting things until they stop complainin- I mean they stop making noise. And I... research, in like, where to hit stuff?
So... when can I board? It's not that I'm in a hurry, but I'd like a change of air, like real soon
So let's check the candidacies. First this Baud guy. What do you guys think ?
Well, I am not sure he is the kind of person anyone wants with him or her in an enclosed environnement. I think we told everyone the mission was safe, and I am not sure the mission keeps this qualifier with this guy around.
True ... true... But one should look at the broader picture. Collectively, do we feel safer with that person light-years away from us or, you know, on this planet with us.
Good point. Perfectly good point.
OK ! Approved ! What about that Helly guy ?
Full disclosure. I am in, er, business partnership with my good friend Helly so I have to withdraw on this case.
Well, I happen to have started a business partnership with my new but precious friend Helly myself yesterday and, well, I must withdraw too.
Seriously ? I was about to withdraw for the same reason ! That's a novel situation ! Does it mean we have no one to decide ? How do we explain that to the bosses ?
Honestly, I don't really want to explain in too much details my relationship with Helly.
Uh, Yes ! let's not have an investigation indeed. I approve Helly !
Then there is this last guy.
... definitely does not quality for good psychological condition.
I am not sure he is great in the kind of teamwork we want.
Do we have anyone else ?
No
Oh well, let's approve.
Quote from The Wargaming Scribe on 21 October 2021, 13h54and I am not sure the mission keeps this qualifier with this guy around.
I have found that Earth no longer holds anything of interest for me, so a long and far-away assignement is exactly what I'm looking for at the moment.
As for my skills, I was in the army for a few years, then went back to my original field of study as an engineer.
As I always say, from solving problems to creating new ones, everybody needs an engineer!
Thank you for considering my application, and I look forward to working with you in the coming years.
I say, an expedition to parts unknown for amount of time yet to be disclosed?! Hmmmm... I daresay my unique talent of stepping into fights unasked in order to protect fair maidens would be useful. My life for Aiur the crew!
Qualifications: shields, ducking behind shields, throwing shields, flailing wildly with pointy objects, pain management, resilience, field medic.
Just sign me up for now, whatever job you need. I don't wanna be left out. I'll come up with something once we get going, promise.
Brutus Trump, having narrowly escaped from his last mission in the Warp Factor, is ready for a quieter job. He has been looking for months, but the job market hasn't been pretty. Finally, he ventured to Coruscant. Perhaps there would be a new job there. At the Grand Galactic Unemployment Office, he found an opening.
A long-term mission, away from people, with lots of sleep? It sounded like bliss to Brutus. He had a good psychological condition. Despite being a rampant liar and hating all people, he was perfectly fine. Besides, he wouldn't have to run into all of those other people from his last few missions.
He signed the papers and ventured to Naboo on the start of the journey.
"You know, my life sucks. I get back home every day in utter despair, and every morning I wake up nauseated. I need something different. Let's take a walk and check the job offers."
"Maint crew for this newfangled FTL sharship? Naah. Plus who the fuck calls his ship Von Braun?"
Wait a sec... "Position is SAFE ..... light-years away from family & friends." Wait, this one sounds good. It's not like I have family or friends. Sure everyone needs a maintenance worker. What can go wrong?"
How many more candidates do we need to find ?
Five.
How many candidates do we have ?
Five.
It is going to be easy. First, that Argyraspide.
... overqualified, if you ask me.
I guess he can compensate for the slack we can expect from the others.
Also. ex-Army. Exactly who we need for this Baud dude.
Yes. He is in. "Kalarion"?
Two words: Field Medic. We won't even have to create the position !!!!
Yeah, but he does not seem very stable ?
Have you have seen the rest ?
OK... accepted. What about that Fellow who did not fill any field on the form ?
Well, perfect, we can just fill them ourselves and make sure he helps us with all those diversity quota we are supposed to follow.
... then there is this guy pretending to be a former pilot, and the guy who does not even pretend to have any skill.
Perfect. Cheap, AND unlikely to start a lawsuit. Just sign them in and we have got our eight bodies !!
Space, the Ultimate Frontier !
Well, the Frontier had been pushed fast, with the help of an all-powerful State and its network of Space Stations - at the same time observation posts, research station and refuelling bases. As new worlds were discovered, those Space Stations were deployed everywhere!
What no one expected was how fast the galactic map would change. One year, humankind would find valuable resources on a planet, and thousands of colons would pour in. Two years later, someone would find the same resource on a planet with less gravity and as such lower operative cost, and thousands of colons would pour out.
Everyone left, but the Space Stations remained, orbiting over abandoned worlds, in forgotten segments of the galaxy. You see, they were State-owned, which means that the Ministry of Space Travel knew that if they dismantled them, their budget would be reduced the following year. Fewer Space Stations did not mean more Space Exploration, it meant more education programs, or more tax-break, or whatever. For the Ministry, it was just safer and easier to keep them, just in case. But maybe it was not worth it anymore to send the best and the brightest...
On an unrelated topic, you have been assigned to Space Station Xenon, to replace the team of professionals that has been there for quite a few years. You know there will be other teams, recruited on other planets, also joining. You don't know them. In total, a Space Station is crewed is 48 people, 16 active at any given time, 32 hibernating. Plus the robots, of course. Lots of them.
The long travel is over, and you are emerging from hibernation. You see Space Station Xenon through the portholes. Your new home. It is exactly like they described it in your 2-days training: a rectangular shape, with four landing areas, a control room in the middle and the freeze... I mean the hibernation rooms on both sides of the control room. Spacious, quite literally, but no windows, and no garden. Oh well, you will adapt. You always did.
[We start Monday, the rules are trivially easy so no worries - we can take more players, they will be in the station in hibernation. And if by some miracle you identified the game, hush-hush on the surprise of the ruleset.]
As your small shuttle approaches Dock #3, you notice another ship, of similar size, is approaching Dock #1. "It must be some of those recruits replacing the current crew". You also notice something Dock #2... the angle is not very good... are those robots ... dancing?... I guess the people here need a distraction.
Landing is automatic, with advanced computer-to-computer communication. Still, you cannot fail to notice there is no communication coming from the Space Station. No "Hello", no "Welcome". Your ship is now a few meters from the land pad in Dock #3 and as you peer through the porthole, you don't see anyone to welcome you. Odd.
The eight of you emerge from the shuttle. No one. You take the gate leading from Dock #3 to the station.
Still, not a sound. No one. As if it had been abandoned.
And suddenly :
Oh, SHIT!
FUCK! Back to the ship! Now!
Impossible! It is out of fuel!
How long is it to refuel?
This model? Two full standard days!
And indeed, Helly is right. It may seem a lot, but when galactic travels take years, no one cares about two days.
You have no choice then. It is either you... or them. Whatever THEY are.
You are in some sort of storage room for the dock. There is a toolshed in Room E. Sadly, it is almost empty : two laser cutters. At least they have batteries. Not the best self-defense weapon, though.
How to play this game? Well, each of you can do one action by turn :
- MOVE (to room D or room F, or back to Dock 3, but it is empty for sure),
- SEARCH (useless for the first turn),
- ATTACK (no target right now),
- DEFEND (nothing to defend from),
Picking up a weapon is a free action, you can only carry one weapon at a time.
There is no friendly fire.
I pick up one of the laser cutters.
It's not a weapon, but it's at least a tool I'm familiar with.
Picking up a weapon is free. You can still move.
I... don't feel like going anywhere.
*clutches the laser cutter*
It is only just and fair that someone of my talents should take charge of one of the weapons. You! The one who is cowering with his weapon behind his silver shield. You have shown initiative but obviously need leadership. Follow me to room F, we need to secure the control room first.
All right. Lead the way.
I'm entirely sure this And guy knows what he's doing. Let's follow him .... from a safe distance to room F.