Breaker Morant

What does the Breaker Morant story have to do w/ Star Trek? Well, after reading this article below, I thought of some possible adventure ideas for any Star Trek RPG.

Antipodean Adventures: Breaker Morant
http://www.silven.com/articles.asp?c...owreview&id=28

The Crew are Starfleet officers who are guarding some captured Cardassians/Breen/Jemhadar that have been charged w/ terrorist acts against Federation civilians. Section 31 arrives to interrogate the prisoners. However, unbeknownst to the Crew, the Dominion recently caught a Section 31 spy in their midst & executed him & Section 31 is looking for some payback. They torture & then kill the prisoners. The Crew have witnessed it. Section 31 tells the Crew they had verbal authority from a Starfleet Admiral to execute Dominion terrorists. What does the Crew do about it? Throw in an added complication that one or more of the Crew recently lost a friend/loved one/family member in a Dominion/Cardassian/Breen attack.

Or...

The Crew are members of an elite Starfleet unit engaged in counterinsurgency actions against Dominion (or Maquis) guerrillas. A Starfleet Admiral w/ a grudge against the Dominion (or Maquis) verbally authorizes the Crew's commanding officer (CO) to execute any prisoners not captured in uniform, even though this violates written Starfleet regulations. After capturing some Dominion or Maquis prisoners, the Crew's CO executes some of the prisoners. This action is later found out by Starfleet HQ & they bring charges against the CO. What do the Crew do?

Nice translation of a bloody brilliant film. Breaker Morant is one of my favorite historical films.

Love his last line: Don't muck it up!

If you use Section 31, remember that they do not operate openly - the PCs should not know that they are Section 31. They could there openly as Starfleet Intelligence (remember, S31 is a covert section of Starfleet Intelligence), or undercover as regular Starfleet , Starfleet Ground Forces or Starfleet Security.

Should the PCs discover their true affiliation with S31, this will of course not help them - Section 31 goes to great lengths to hide their existance. Senior officers (like Admiral Ross, f'rinstance) who cooperate with S31 may pressure them to shut up and take the rap. There may be bribes, intimidation attempts, or even attempts on their lives.

Alternatively, you could forego Section 31 and instead make the killers Maquis - former Starfleet officer/crew disguised as Starfleet Security.

In the second instance, unless you're already playing an elite team, or plan to do so as a continuing campaign, this could just as easily happen to regular Starfleet personnel. As a complication (assuming this happens early enough in the War), the "admiral" may be a Founder. When the CO claims to be under orders, the real admiral can prove he was elsewhere and did not give any such orders. If it goes to trial, remember that even if he was under such orders, he's still guilty - just as guilty as the admiral. Following an illegal order is itself illegal. For spice, have the CO order the PCs to execute the prisoners and have them deal directly with whether or not they should do it.

Note that if the PCs are convicted of the murders, (innocent or not), you've effectively ended their careers as Starfleet personnel - unless you're prepared to run a Maquis or rogue campaign, they're going have to create new characters. Be sure that your players are OK with this concept...

(Note to Moderator: this should probably be tossed into the Narrators' Ready Room, since it's a scenario seed and not a game mechanics issue.)