Module 7: The Missing Ship

Having arrived at Shangrila, equipped, and set off after the missing ship, the players will take several weeks to find it. While no maps of the system are enclosed, the characters do have a navigational analysis of the Snowbird's probable path, which allows them to start looking in roughly the right place-the region of the secondary gas giant's moons, which will take about a week to reach; the cutter could do the trip in less time, but excessive speed would look suspicious.

Once per week of searching in the region indicated by their navigational analysis, the referee should roll 2d6 and add the highest level of Navigation skill available to the party. In addition, DMs may be allowed for exceptionally bright or stupid ideas on the part of the band. A modified score of 12+ indicates that weak distress signals have been picked up. During the search, the referee should also roll weekly on the encounter table of Module 8.

The distress signal mentions only the name and registry of the missing vessel, and the fact that the ship has suffered a major manoeuvre drive failure, thus rendering it unable to moue. The voice is anxious, but controlled.

Approaching the source of the signals, the players observe the ship slowly tumbling end to end. Lacking manoeuvre capability, the crew have not been able to restabilise their craft, or aim their laser accurately enough to send a message by it to Shangrila; hence their resorting to the comparatively inefficient method of radio signals. There is the merest glow of navigation lights on the vessel, and no infernal lighting; instruments aboard the player's craft, if they use them to check, will reveal that the ship's power plant is still functioning but at the lowest possible level. There is no sign of life.

The players will probably decide to board the stricken vessel. This requires an approach using vacc suits and backpack thrusters; characters must make the usual roll to avoid mishaps. The main airlock (A9) does not respond to attempts to open it in the normal way; a character of Electronics-3 can bypass the circuits alter removing the maintenance panels. Failing that, a character of Mechanical-3 may be able to gain access via the emergency airlock (B6) by fiddling with the hand crank mechanism alter removing maintenance panels. The players may decide to make an external survey of the vessel before entering; all seems in order on the outside of the ship. The interior can be seen at two points; first, through the windows of the bridge (A1), and second through the port of the dorsal turret.

A character clambering to these locations must make an additional Vacc Suit skill roll to avoid mishap (probably losing his grip and falling off). Once there, he may shine a torch into them. The dorsal turret is empty, and unlit-not even instrument lights are lit up. On the bridge, the figures of the pilot and navigator can be seen strapped into their acceleration couches. They look perfectly at peace, having removed their headsets, and very dead. There is no evidence of decomposition if the players think to ask. They should be allowed to confer since they will undoubtedly be in radio contact. Anyone with experience of working as part of a ship's crew naval, marine, scout or merchant characters, for example-may, if he asks, be told the function of the half-dozen instruments which are lit up, providing the only illumination on the bridge. They show that the power plant and life support systems are active; everything else is shut down, and the activity of these two systems is minimal.

If the players have taken more than 15 weeks to find the ship, then the lights will be dimly red; otherwise, they will be green and fairly bright

Players who specify making art unusually close scrutiny of the crewmen should be told that they appear to be wearing cold weather clothing, their eyes are closed, and on the console between them is an empty pill-boule, with a plastic bottle of the kind used to hold water. From the way things are floating around, it will be clear to anyone looking in that the ship's infernal gravity has been turned off.

Once aboard, the players will search the ship. Below follows a description of what they will find; each location is taken in turn. Descriptions have two parts; the first paragraph, in italics, should be read to the players as they enter the area, and the second paragraph, in normal type, is for the referee. Aboard, all lights except for those stated are off, as is the cabin gravity. The air is cold, but breathable; not quite cold enough to show condensation from the player's breathing. If anyone tries it though, the lights and gravity can be switched on; the lights by the usual studs, in the area concerned, and the gravity from the bridge or engineering by anyone with ship's crew experience, ie those who have served on ships before. The heating can also be restored from these two locations (A1 orA12). However, if by chance the players have taken more than 15 weeks to find the ship no systems can be activated - the power plant will have run out of fuel and stopped working.

If the adventurers have not found the ship by the time the power plant runs out of fuel, then the following modifications apply: First, the crew will all be dead of cold. Second, the air on board, while not actually liquefied, will be far too cold to breathe (say about-150° C) and slightly tainted with waste products from the crew's breathing. Third, there will be no power to run the lights, grav plates etc and only the bridge lights and the distress call will be functioning-batteries and solar cells provide enough power to run these. Fourth, because of the extreme cold there will be very little decomposition of the bodies.