Session 3-1: Cirrus Star Cluster

When the PC's respond the message will cut off and all communications will resort to their own language. The next few messages will demand identification of the ship and her captain, then will ask clarification of the call signs, (who is GalCom). Once it is determined that the crew is human, they will be invited to proceed. When they get within 100LS a space tug will lock onto them with a tractor beam and guide them the rest of the way. A stream of information will then start giving the crew specifics to where they will land, and their designated quarters/offices while they visit.
As the approach they will realize that the star base is easily three times the size of any they have visited in the past. A concentrated beam of light is projected towards the planet and sensors are detecting unknown readings in just about every frequency. Thousands of lights welcome them as they get nearer and they see other ships on the flight deck.

All requests after that will get the reply, "The Watch Commander has been notified of your request, please use channel 252 for further communications." No response at all will be given to their queries on that channel, or any other though... As you approach you can see weapons fire, but not what is being shot at, you surmise that meteors are being destroyed, at an extreme range.

The star base resembles a child's toy (top), with a circular column rising from the middle of the flight deck for a thousand of meter. An orb shaped structure on the top is brightly lit. The bottom portion of the star base for several hundred meters is lit also, but below that only warning lights flash in strobe, white and red. As they are on the final approach, they can count fifteen star ships docked on the flight deck, ranging from small cargo vessels to one that may be bigger than the science vessel. They don't look to be of a familiar design and have some odd external features, yet none of them seem truly alien.
Shortly after they land gently, mobile towers and maintenance bots swarm towards the ship and an automated message requests that they power down the engines. Several of the towers will move towards the air locks and cargo bays and noises will be heard as they magnetically lock onto the hull. When the air locks are tested, they will find a breathable atmosphere (richer in oxygen than they are use to) and full gravity. They are greeted in the access tower, by a courtesy bot, who offers to lead them to the pursers office. If they bring energy weapons with them, a barricade will close and they will be asked to leave their weapons behind. (Archaic weapons will not elicit this response.)
The bot will lead them down into the base and towards the hub, along a green passageway, there will be only a few side passages, marked in black, with sealed doors, leading to other parts of the deck. If anyone tries to go exploring a voice will announce, "Access is restricted without a pass card and the door ahead of them will close. The bot will reply to most questions, "Unable to reply" and will only answer questions such as the composition of the atmosphere, gravity, location of restrooms, how far they are going, the name of the station, and will sing the praises of the GE, (That it spans thousands of light years and has 26 alien races as members, the rest will be mostly gibberish to the PC's).
There are obvious signs of age, but also of maintenance and upkeep, the passageway has recently been cleaned, but elsewhere thick dust will cover everything. Minor incidents such as a chair, or table collapsing, doors sticking shut, or open, computer terminals going dark, machinery grinding to a halt, bots malfunctioning, etc... can happen every hour, per group that is exploring 1 on a (d6).

The passageways are a labyrinth of intersecting corridors, many lead into darkness but some are lighted, there are many closed doors and hatches as well. Each door, or entry is color coded, though the paint is somewhat faded. Their escort remains in green colored passageways and detours around others, the PC's will realize that a shorter, direct route could have been made, if so many detours were not taken. The captain and PC's arrive at the pursers office, but no one is there to greet them. The room is decorated in the abstract and sparsely furnished. A desk with a terminal and a few chairs surrounding a table is all that awaits them. Upon examination the terminal is running a registration program. There aren't any passwords and any character with a 2 computer skill can fill out the forms. 
One of the first questions asked will be where they have come from, if their response is "Parnell" the forms will partially fill themselves out, as if the ship is a GE member and give them greater access. Anything else will not be recognized and they will be severely restricted to the upper habitat and closed doors will bar them from exploring too far. One of the last questions, will be if any telepaths need to be registered... If any character is carrying a PK crystal, their pass card (green with a red strip) must be worn conspicuously, with a headband that nullifies telepathy. Removal of same will cause an announcement to follow the PC, "Unregistered telepath present!". This may present problems with the NPC's.
The majority of the questions will be about the ship and needed supplies, the landing crew and their dietary requirements and desired visits. A offer for guides will be given and if the answer is yes, courtesy bots will assemble in the hallway beyond the inner door, which will open upon completion of the forms. When the forms are completed pass cards will be issued with their names on them and the inner door will open. Without a pass card doors will close ahead of them
If "Parnell" is not given, they will all be instructed to visit the welcome center, which will be the only place they will be given access to. Once the forms are filled out they can not change anything, unless the ship leaves the system and sends a shuttle, or fighter to land alone. If one is launched in the system, it will be recognized as being launched from a registered ship and the forms will automatically be filled out and pass cards waiting in the access tower. Any attempt to force a door will result in sleep gas being released into the room, or a stun from energy weapons. Normally a security detachment would carry them off to the brig, but the PC's will just wake up to find themselves trapped.

In the first group, the captain, some of the other bridge officers, and a few techs will all be with the PC's. The captain will direct one of his officers to sit at the terminal and the PC's are left to watch during the process. The PC's can only make the suggestion, that they should use Parnell, as the location of where they came from. For the most part though the PC's should find themselves as a third wheel, with the officer at the terminal ignoring them. Once the pass cards have been spit out onto the table though the captain will pick up one and a map of the star base. He will then turn to a PC with computer experience and tell them,

The rest of the PC's will also stay and from this point on, they will be working as a team, on their own. When the computer tech sits down and hits the first key, a menu will pop up.

Registration Telepath registration Visitor registration Data bank Request file Job parameters

The computer is quite old and a roll of (d6) is made once per hour, a 1 indicates that a few circuits fry and the terminal will go dark. Sometime during the next day maintenance bots will replace it, but it too is old and may not even survive the trip. A computer off the ship can be hooked up to the cables and this will no longer be an issue.

Session 3-2: Burdens of Command

If the PC's can get a visitor pass and talk to the captain, he will tell them to investigate one of the ships and that they still haven't met anyone. If the PC's do not get a pass then they will be ordered back to the ship and told to set port watch (1 on 2 days off rotation), though repairs take priority. The PC who's parents are prisoners will start bothering them that they should take one of the ships and head back to GC space.
Depending on how long the PC's stay in the pursers office, the captain's group will have moved on to the habitat levels and call for help when they are attacked by wild beasts. By the time anyone reaches them though, the entire group is dead, the second group too, if they don't make a run for it... A PC will become captain, but a second mutiny is already in the works and leaving in the science ship is not an option, they are stuck there. The crew will accept the PC's orders for a while, then form a group who wants to stay on the star base, it will consist of enough crew members that there won't be enough to man the star ship. The scientists will want to stay too, as their lives back in the GC were pretty miserable.
The PC's will be forced to stay on the star ship and coordinate search teams from there, if they decide to go exploring on their own, they will return to find most of the crew has left the ship and will refuse to come back, or listen to orders. If the crew is left to their own designs and the PC's ignore their responsibilities, the death toll will rise from accidents and eventually (if something is not done) the PC's will be the only one's left on the star base alive. If the PC's listen to the concerns of the crew and not just try to make them an extension of themselves, they will be able to form a council that deals with all the tedious issues they are faced with. This council (see session four) will take responsibility for everyone and eventually start giving the PC's orders as well. It will be for the best though, as this will free up the PC's time and allow them to explore a little. By this time though the PC's will not find any areas that have not already been explored in part.
Exploration teams will not be able to get close to the star ships sitting on the flight deck though, security precautions like closed doors will prevent this. Teams can investigate the hanger bays though... After a few weeks have gone by and crews have somewhat explored the eight primary decks, it will be estimated that the systems need to support the crew can be repaired, or replaced before the ships stores run out and they won't need to return to GC space, even if they wanted to. No one (except one of the PC's) really wants to go back to their lives in GalCom so a majority vote resolves that they will all stay here. A few crew members are resentful (as they like it in space) and will still look at the PC's as being their commanders. The science vessel begins to be abandoned and the crew starts working on the star base, to make it habitable. The PC's will seem the most eager to leave, so it is left to them, to find, repair, or build a star ship...

 Session 3-3: Alone

It will become apparent that the base is uninhabited and efforts to take it over must begin. If force is used, access will become harder to gain, security measures initiated, and possibly the ship ejected and destroyed in the extreme case (trying to gain access to the command decks 01 and above). The computer systems are very sophisticated and can detect hacking, which locks out that terminal. There are basically only two ways to gain any type of command access, take a job on the star base, or land with a GE registered military ship. The latter is only possible if the ship journeys outside of the system and then returns, allowing for automated landing, (a science vessel shuttle requires outfitting the ship with a GE beacon and figuring out the call signs). In the latter cases, the captain would follow the procedures and gain access to the command bridge, request the presence of the Watch Officer and then put that person on report when they didn't show up and then assume command. (It is very unlikely that this will happen.)
The welcome center will indoctrinate them in the finer points of the GE and the advantages of being a part of it and will validate their pass cards. Then access will be given to the habitat levels, but no further. They will also be given information on how to contact key personnel on the star base, but efforts will prove fruitless. 
By taking a job on the star base (deck four) the crew member would be indoctrinated into GE policies, star base routines, and job requirements and the training schedule (six weeks, automated). A repair technician will gain the best access, according to test scores, (if Parnell is where they were born) and given menial QA tasks at first, as they complete jobs they will be given better and better access and more responsibilities and more schooling. Command positions rely more upon time in grade and only by putting other (nonexistent) staff on report and a subsequent recommendation for promotion will anyone get ahead. Attempts to bypass the system will result in disciplinary marks against the crew member and the inability to make grade.
A coordinated effort by the whole crew and by disciplinary action against the former crew, it will take two years to gain complete control of the star base. Until such a time the command center can not be accessed, and movement on the operation decks 01-035 will be severely limited. At no time will anyone be given access to the sub decks, as it is all terra-forming equipment and maintained by bots. Exploration of these decks must be done through computer terminals.
Until such a time, the NPC's will limit themselves to the eight decks below the flight deck and the habitat levels. Eight decks of the star base are somewhat accessible to the crew;

Deck One:

The maintenance deck is below the flight deck and has large maintenance bays and some offices. Passageways spider web, to connect all the rooms and an army of maintenance bots roam around doing odd jobs, until a tech finds one of the control pads and gets it to start helping him. There are dozens of different kinds of bots, from large ones designed to carry cargo, to small ones designed to crawl around in maintenance shafts. A tech PC may play around with the various models and get to know the various kinds, with their help, maintenance times are cut by one-third. The bots have regular maintenance routines, but can still grow erratic at times.
While parts are available to repair any system on the star ship, the designs will be incompatible and some re-fabrication will be needed. There are workshops scattered through out the eight decks of the habitat and any part can be modified, or fabricated from scratch if necessary. Upgrading the ships systems is possible also, but the spare parts lying around are pretty old and new ones should be made. The shops are fully automated and not too much trouble to operate. This is where the Chief Engineer and his mates will be, building a new ship and unless the PC's make specific requests, he will simply start from one end and work to the other.
Along the outer edge of this deck is the hanger bays, where cargo ships and shuttles would land, an additional 41 ships are located here, but none are operational.

Deck Two:

The crew deck is below the maintenance deck and is berthing space, cafeterias, recreation rooms, offices, and such for the crew to use while they are in port. Most of the equipment and items here will be corroded and falling apart though and it will take some time for the maintenance bots to fix all of it.

Deck Three and Four:

Houses the crew quarters for all the techs who would be normally working on the station, age and corrosion make this area a hazard. Between decks three and four alone, up to 100,000 persons can inhabit the star base.

Deck Five and Six:

Are work shops and manufacturing plants that support both the star base and ships visiting, on the outer edge of the star base are facilities to build star ships. Some of these areas are dangerous, but many are still in operation, run by the AI computers.

Deck Seven:

Houses the offices towards the interior of the base and storerooms towards the outside.

Deck Eight:

This entire deck is devoted to science labs and bays, most of which are in disrepair and may pose various hazards.
The Habitat Levels are in the center of the star base and surround the central column in an open air, mall like setting

Session 3-4: Not Quite Alone...

Habitat Level One:

The upper habitat spanning decks one and two use to be merchant shops, bars, restaurants, and the like. None are kept up though and age has taken it's toll and wild life from the lower decks have crept up here.

Habitat Level Two:

Occupies the center of decks three and four and was devoted to plant life, primarily gathered from the worlds that have been terra-formed, before starting, they have out grown their pods and completely taken over the area. Some of these plants will be hostile, or can cause allergic reactions. Animals from the third level have migrated here also.

Habitat Level Three:

Spanning decks five and six. Devoted to wild life, wild is exactly how this deck can be described, the pens no longer separate the animals from each other and the plant life from the upper habitat have grown down to this level. This level is extremely dangerous, but not saying that the others are any more safe...

Habitat Level Four:

Designed for aquatic life, this area has fared the worst, most of the species are gone and the tanks are all but dried up. The plant and animal life from the upper two levels have almost taken over.

The characters will be attacked just standing around for a few minutes, (1 on a d6), but if they venture on to the lower habitats they had better bring a small army. Having to use archaic weapons will make it even more difficult, but eventually they can secure at least the upper habitat.

In the center of the habitat level is the lower portion of the command tower, cat walks span the distance, though none of the doors are unlocked. The doors are monitored and attempts to bypass locks will activate the internal security protocols. First a warning will be issued, then stun beams, then energy disruptors, force fields, and finally battle bots. This applies to each door the characters approach and it is a long way to the top... 

Flight Decks:

The flight deck surrounding the ship will be somewhat hazardous for the first few weeks, the bots decontaminating the hull will make it dangerous to go out, even in EVA suits. If someone attempts this anyway, their radiation monitor will sound and they need to return to the ship and dispose of their suit, or suffer radiation sickness. (The contamination level is 50 rads per hour.) A second hazard is the bots themselves, there is a chance that one will drop something on them, or just run them over doing it's job. (This is a hazard on any flight deck, safe zones are marked green)
None of the ships on the station are capable of flight (except one, LMC-2384 Xenophone, see the next session (4)), they have all suffered from age and corrosion and are some what of a hazard just to investigate, especially engine rooms. The safety protocols of the star base have transported the reactors and engine cores into deep space long ago, but coolants and toxic spills are still a danger. Once a few of the ships have been investigated, the signs of age can be seen from the port holes on the science vessel. It is impossible to check out these ships up close, during the first few weeks, unless the visitor pass cards have been obtained from the purser's office.
The cargo/shuttle bays along the rim of the flight deck are the same, all the ships docked here are flightless and should be ejected into space. Trying to repair one of these ship is likely to end in disaster and a competent tech will realize this. It is possible to fly a shuttle into one of these bays and begin upgrading it, or simply starting from scratch and building a new ship, this will take awhile though, as hundreds of spare parts will have to be rejected before new ones are made.
A small flight deck exists at the top of the command tower, but repulsors will prevent any ship from landing there. Vessels flying within 3000 meters of the star base are automatically towed in and vessels leaving are taken out beyond this point.

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