Copyright © Gareth Hanrahan & Shane Lucy

Dedicated to Brian Caball 

GM Briefing: 
Thirty years ago, the planet Erial became involved in a war with the Imperium. All Erial's jump-capable ships were destroyed, and Erial's government collapsed. Now three different groups - Halicon industries, Paratech, and The Church Of Erial, rule the planet. Halicon and Paratech are mega-corporations who desperately desire to return to the stars. The Church are xenophobic isolationists who believe the loss of jump drive has signalled the beginning of a golden age of Erial. 
Two months ago, Halicon probes detected a massive burst of EM radiation from the edge of the Erial system. A vessel with Jump Drive had jumped in for the first time in thirty years. Halicon couldn't let Paratech know about the mystery ship, so they could not send a ship directly. Instead, they selected a freighter, the Dawn Star, which was being loaded for a supply run to a mining station orbiting one of the gas giants. Halicon hid a small team of elite marines on board, and added a second computer AI. This second AI was programmed to retrieve the object at all costs. 
The Dawn Star was performing a gravitational slingshot manoeuvre around the fifth planet when something seemed to go wrong. The crew had to dump the cargo, and the ship was launched on a course out into the outermost regions of the system. The crew went into cryosleep. The whole accident and course correction was a cover designed by Halicon to explain why one of their cargo ships had flown out to the edge of the system. Everything was going according to plan, or so Halicon thought. 
However, the Church had spies within Halicon. The Dawn Star's second engineer is a Church devotee. The Church informed him of the heretical plans. He planned to sabotage the ship before it reached the object. Halicon's course correction plot forced him into cryosleep along with the rest of the crew. 
The Dawn Star reached the object, which had jumped in, and discovered it looked like a small comet. The ship had been in space so long hydrogen and other gases had frozen around its hull. The marines hidden on the Dawn Star boarded the alien vessel... 
It is now three days since the Dawn Star reached the object. The primary computer core (the original, not Halicon's plant) is awakening the crew to prepare the ship for its long journey back to Erial. 

Events in the Scenario: 

• The characters wake up and explore the ship. They meet with Aurora, the ship's primary AI. 

• They discover they have a big fucking comet instead of cargo. 

• They find evidence of other people on board ship (the insane marines). 

• They deal with the marines while getting the Dawn Star underway. 

• They encounter a Paratech warship, and must somehow deal with it (probably by using the alien vessel in some way). 

The Dawn Star: 
The Dawn Star is shaped like an upside-down U. The two legs of the U are the cargo pylons. Normally, vast containers are held there. Now, they are clamped onto the comet. The bridge of the U is about a kilometre long. The living quarters, environmental systems, bridge, medlab, cyrocrypt and computer cores are towards the front of the ship. A mini monorail goes between the forward section and the engineering section. The engineering section contains the...well, what to you think? Drives and engines and power plants. A new engineering section was recently installed containing a pod where the marines were hiding. 
The ship is like the Nostromo, only slightly more high-tech. The upper hull was originally destined (fifty years ago) to be starship. Now it's been converted into a freighter. The cargo pylons are very low-tech and grimy. 

Computers on board the Dawn Star: 
The computer core controls all on-board systems. This core has an AI called Aurora. It is designed to be friendly and calming, and tries to diffuse disputes at all times. It is not capable of acting on its own without orders. 
The other computer is the secondary computer core installed by Halicon. It has been programmed to retrieve the object at all costs, including killing all PCs. It knows about the marines and their mission, but was programmed to only obey their commander, who's dead. It can be hacked by the Science Officer and CSO working together. 

• The Ventilation Ducts: Yes, there are ducts. They are small and cramped and smelly. The PCs will probably take to them at the earliest opportunity. The ducts leading to the area underneath the CSO's cabin are sealed, and cables go from here to the Aurora Computer Core. 
  

• The Cryocrypt: This room looks oddly like something out of Alien. And it is. It's the room with the cryo chambers. 
  

• The Bridge: The Dawn Star has a rudimentary security system (a few cameras and motion detectors, computer-controlled bulkheads). The bridge has stations for the Captain, Pilot, Chief Engineer and Company Security Officer (CSO). At the start of the scenario, the main drives are off-line, and must be reactivated. 
  

• Medlab: A rather rudimentary medical facility. It has various drugs, surgical equipment etc. 
  

• Living Quarters: The captain and CSO have private berths next to the lifeboats. The rest of the crew share a single room with four bunk beds. 
  Examination of the bunk bed (owned by the second engineer) reveals that he has a copy of the Erial Bible hidden under his pillow. This book contains the isolationist teachings of the Church of Erial. 
  

• The Secondary Computer Core: This core is trapped with a small, motorised laser, which fires on anyone coming down here. 
  

• Lifeboats: There are three lifeboats, each of which fit three people. A big red lever launches the boats. Computers can't launch the boats, but they can close the outer hatches, making launching lifeboats crash. Boom. Ha ha. 
  

• The Armoury: As a result of the hostile business practices of Paratech, all Halicon ships are outfitted with a small armoury. Weapons are at a premium after the war, so the weapons available here are tasers, small hand lasers (not powerful enough to damage the hull) and shrapnel grenades. 
  The armoury also contains multi-scanners, breathing gear etc. 
  If anyone thinks of it, Alien-style flamers can be rigged up in the engineering section. 
  

• Docking Airlock: The main exit from the ship, the docking bay has two small workpods (like the ones in 2001) and vac suits. 
  

• The Monorail: It goes from A (the end of the forward section) to B (the engineering section). It takes about 30 seconds to get from A to B. As the monorail is Zero-G, it only takes an initial acceleration to get it going all the way. 
  

• The Engineering Section: A big cavernous chamber surrounding the fusion power plant. Lots of pipes, cables, machines etc. 
  

• The Fusion Power Plant: A huge spiked sphere. The spikes are high-powered lasers, which heat the hydrogen fuel. It can be rigged to explode. 
  

• The Engines: Huge fusion-powered ion drives. They are connected to the cooling tanks by a mass of piping. If anyone explores the piping, they can discover... 
  

• The Secret Room: This chamber contains ten tightly packed cryotubes, a gun rack designed to hold heavy weapons, a console connected to the secondary computer core. This chamber held the squad of marines sent by Halicon. 
  

• The Pylons: These contain a lift shaft and the machinery for holding the cargo in place. At the base of each pylon is a small docking airlock similar to the one in the main section. The airlock on the left pylon is open, and leads into a lasered tunnel through the hydrogen slush to the alien ship. There is no life support in the left pylon. 
  

• The Lifts to the Cargo Pylons: The cargo pylons have no artificial gravity. The lift goes very slowly down to the pylon. As there is no life support in the left pylon, the lift will not go down unless overridden.

The Alien Ship: 
The ship being carried by the Dawn Star is not a human vessel. It is millions of years old, from a now-dead culture. (Think of the Cthulhu Mythos or the Vorlons in Babylon 5). It is roughly circular, and composed of an alien metal, which was spun by spider-like creatures. It feels very dry to the touch. 
The tunnel winds its way to a door into the alien ship. The corpses of three marines lie next to it. They all committed suicide. 
The alien vessel can be entered by touching the door and mentally requesting entrance. The ship is telepathically controlled. The door does not open, it appears to ingest the person trying to get in. 
The inside of the ship is in hyperspace - it is bigger inside than out. If characters go inside the ship, they will find themselves in a completely incomprehensible space. It looks organic and incredibly confusing. 
One of the first things they encounter is the corpse of the commander of the marine squad. An yellow energy field has divided him into a floating skeleton, nervous system, musculatory system, circulation, digestive system etc. (He's still alive, the connections between organs are now passing through hyper-space...) He cannot be talked to unless the effect is broken. If anyone puts any part of their body into the field, that part is divided up. The corresponding parts of the marine captain reform in another part of the chamber. 
The marine is named Captain Hestis. He is a dedicated Halicon officer, and has fought numerous engagements with Paratech. He is quite mad, and believes Paratech agents are torturing him. He cannot be disabused of this notion, but is close to breaking. Freeing him from the energy field and then threatening to put him back in might work. 
Towards the rear of the alien ship is its jump drive. It's in a round room. At the centre of the room is a glowing black pillar. The closer someone gets to the pillar, the more time distorts. It's 30 metres from the entrance to the pillar. At 5 metres, time is speeded up by 2. At 20 metres, 10. At 15, 100. At 10, 10000, at 5, about a trillion. The person walking towards the pillar sees the other characters slow down more and more. 
Also in the alien ship is the ship's telepathic computer system. One passage leads into a perfectly spherical white room. Once someone enters the room, a beam of shining white light lances down upon them. Human minds perceive contact with the computer as a meeting with God. (It causes religious hallucinations). The characters cannot control the computer, but they can get the marine captain freed, or awaken the sleeper... 

The Sleeper: 
The sleeper is an alien. Well, actually it's a lot of aliens. The race is strongly telepathic, and when one dies, it transfers its mind into another. All but one of the race are now dead. The survivor has a very crowed head. If the sleeper is awakened, it will prove to be psychotic. It will run amok (like an alien) capturing characters. Instead of doing something silly like implanting eggs, it'll implant alien minds into their bodies. The minds are insane and will think they're in alien bodies. Ha ha. 
Physically, it looks like a nine-foot tall twisted thing. It has no discernible neck; its head blends into its body. It has six eye-like organs, and a large mouth with big fangs. It has six legs, which also serve as manipulating organs. 

Events during the scenario: 

• The characters wake up and explore the ship. They meet with Aurora, the ship's primary AI. 
  Aurora can tell them all about the events that led to being out here on the rim of the system (at least, it can tell them the Halicon version of events.) The Dawn Star is in perfect working order, except the engines aren't connected to the power plant. This will take about 10 engineer-hours to fix. 
  

• They discover they have a big fucking comet instead of cargo. 
  This can be discovered by looking out a window. The last time the characters saw their cargo, it was being dumped into the atmosphere of a gas giant to give them more acceleration. Remember they can't go down the left pylon without a vac suit and overriding the computer. Well, they can go down without vac suits. They die. Ha! 
  

• They find evidence of other people on board ship (the insane marines). 
  Deal with this bit as you see fit. The marines woke up, climbed through the pipes, and went straight down to the left pylon. They then zapped their way to the alien ship, and the ten of them went in. Two made it out alive, and they're not normal. 
  One, Private Carns, is a raving lunatic. He was a believer in the Church of Elias. He believes he is the Angel of Death sent to purify the world by killing all corporates. 
  The other, Private Telos, is slightly less mad, if still unsettled. He merely thinks he's being chased by floating digestive systems, frozen aliens, mad marines etc. He can be talked down, but will shoot dangerous-looking things on sight. 
  

• They deal with the marines while getting the Dawn Star underway. 
  Deal with can mean kill, talk down, run away from etc. Use your imagination. 
  

• They encounter a Paratech warship, and must somehow deal with it (probably by using the alien vessel in some way.) 
  Here's where the fit hits the shan. The other nasty megacorp has sent a big ole' warship (still bearing scars from fighting the empire 30 years ago) to intercept the Dawn Star. The warship's called the Peregrin, and has the firepower to vaporise a small moon. They don't want to fire on the jump-capable alien ship, so they'll send marines. 

Possible ways to end: 

1. Kill the Halicon marines, Paratech marines, take over the Peregrin and fly away. Right. Yeah. Marines vs. the crew of a freighter... 
   

2. Awakening the sleeper: This is probably bad. If they awaken the sleeper early, 
   1. it'll kill them. The best thing to do is awaken the sleeper when the Paratech 
   2. Marines board. It'll kill them, take over their ship and possess them all. While this is initially a good thing, the players have unleashed a nasty new race upon the galaxy. 
   

3. Bargain: Paratech aren't thick, and welcome traitors bearing alien ships with jump drives. 
   

4. Talking with the alien computer. "Hi God. Can you help us?" The alien computer doesn't want to be taken apart. If they tell it it's in danger, it can destroy the Peregrin (or Erial...) 
   

5. Something I haven't thought of. There's so much weirdness, tech and secrecy in this scenario they aren't going to get through half of it. Ha.