Eek! Help needed with canon...and a suggestion or two?

[Aldaron]

Hey guys...just after a bit of advice and a few suggestions.

Between now and tomorrow night, I've gotta come up with a solo adventure for my wife's character, Dr Sito Rana (she's the sister of Sito Jaxa, from "Lower Decks"(TNG), and the Chief Medical Officer of the Intrepid).

She's currently aboard the Odyssey en-route to her new posting (the Intrepid), but I don't want to run an adventure with her having to give way to the seniors aboard a Galaxy-class ship.

Sooo...the idea (very rough, at this stage) is like this:

She is on her way back from a medical conference aboard a shuttle. En-route, she has been asked to pick up the son of the Odyssey's chief security officer, an Andorian. The kid (call him Ranil) is not a whiny, bratty kid. I'm thinking of having him actually being really cool, and having a real thing for Bajorans ("A deep, spiritual people who can fight like 10 kinds of demons if they're cornered...yeah, they're like...cool!").

Anyway, en-route, they answer a distress call from an unexplored planet and are attacked when they enter orbit. They are forced down, the shuttle badly damaged.

They spend a couple of nights in the wilderness trying to find the source of the distress signal, and are attacked by some sort of predator. Sito drives them off, but Ranil is badly wounded.

Eventually, carrying the kid, Sito finds the source of the distress signal - it's a pair of Starfleet cadets who were on their way back to the Academy in a shuttle after finishing their cadet cruise. They were checking out the planet when they were shot down.

The catch is, however, that one of the cadets is Cardassian; Nevek, who was orphaned during the Cardassian wars and raised by a Starfleet officer. He's now the first Cardassian in Starfleet. Thought it might make and interesting situation for my wife's Bajoran, ex-Resistance, ex-Kohn Mahr character to be in... .

Now, I'm kinda stuck. I want to use cadets, 'cos that way Sito will be undeniably in charge (she's a Lieutenant (Senior Grade), after all), and it'll also mean something interesting "personal growth" issues should come up (re: a 19 yr-old Cardassian depending on her).

I'm not sure where to go from here, though. I thought about having them have to sneak into a pirate outpost which is on the planet (they're the mob who shot them down in the first place) and steal a ship, but I don't know if that's too cliche.

I'm open to any suggestions...bear in mind, though. My games are very "cinematic" - they're a bit like the series; it's incredibly rare for a PC to die in them; I tend to go with story awards/punishments/etc, so I wouldn't be happy putting them into a "Roll Difficulty 10 on the next check or you're all dead" type situations.

Oh, also - re: the Odyssey.
My wife has conveniently forgotten it was the Odyssey which gets destroyed in about 3 months (game time) by the Jem'Hadar - which should work out well, since she's forming friendships with the NPCs aboard - the impact of their deaths should really hit home when she hears about the Odyssey's destruction.

One question, though. Was there any mention in DS9 of the Odyssey off-loading its families before heading into the Gamma Quadrant, or were they killed along with everyone else?

I'm wondering whether to set the relationship up between Sito and Ranil so that (if he survives the Odyssey), he could become a "Dependent" disadvantage for Sito.

All thoughts welcome!
Thanks!


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"Every atom in our bodies was forged in the furnace of ancient stars - it is our destiny to return home..."

[Dan Gurden]

I am fairly sur the Oddessy off-loaded families at DS9. However If I am wrong then its a simple matter to make it so in your campaign...

As for being a senior officer, it seems fair... Although the Cardassian in Starfleet would be a problem... The cadet would likely find the same problem as Simon Tarses on the Enterprise. Being a member of a species at conflict with the Federation is stated as Barring service in the Fleet (Worf had gone througfh academy and proved his loyalty multiple times before the Khitomer accords were abandoned.

Again if this is what you want then fine.

I do think its odd that the cadets would have a shuttle at their disposal, and not have a pilot assigned to bring the shuttle back to their posting, but an Ensign or NCO could be assigned as pilot, and even killed before Sito shows up...

Just some ideas.

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DanG.

"Hi, I'm Commander Troy McClure, you might remember me from other academy training holo-simulations as, Abandon Ship, the quickest way out, and I sense danger, 101 things you dont need a Betazoid to know..."

http://www.theventure.freeserve.co.uk

[Capt.Hunter]

Given that Starfleet had already been informed of the destruction of the New Bajor colony and several Alpha Quad vessels, and had first-hand experience of Jem'Hadar technology (able to beam through shields and walk through forcefields), I'd say Capt.Keogh would've been a fool if he didn't offload the civvies. Of course, he wasn't expecting the Jem'Hadar weapons to cut straight through his shields, but he must've planned for the possibility of heavy combat.

BTW, thanks for the Cardassian cadet's background - I've wanted one've these guys in SF for a while but couldn't think of a way to make it plausible.


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"Spatial anomalies, energy beings, telepathic echoes. You know, sometimes I really miss the Dominion War. At least then all we had to worry about was where the next polaron beam was coming from...": Capt.Hunter, USS Tempest

[Aldaron]

Dan,
Thanks for the NCO/Ensign pilot suggestion - I'll definitely implement that; makes a lot more sense.

I initially thought that about the Cardassian (and the Simon Tarses connection) as well, but I think I can get around it for a couple of reasons:

IIRC, the big thing with Tarses was the fact that he lied on his application, rather than the actual fact his grandfather was Romulan. Hell, the US had American-born Japanese in the army during WWII - surely the Federation isn't so racist as to knock someone back because their grandfather was a member of an enemy species.

Which leads me to the second point: Game time, it's now the latter half of 2370. Nevek (the Cardassian cadet) started at the Academy in the beginning of 2369. (Assuming most cadets take their "Cadet Cruise" in their sophomore year, as Nog did, and as stated in the Star Trek Fact Files). At that stage, the Federation isn't at war with the Cardies (technically, anyway).

Anyway, I thought this was enough of a loophole to let me get away with it!

Hunter: good point about Keogh and offloading the civvies; thanks.

In my campaign, from now on, he definitely did, unless I can find a bit of canon evidence to circumvent that before the Odyssey buys it in my campaign.

It's good, though. It gives me a chance to bring Ranil in as a dependent of Sito's. Knowing my wife's personality (as reflected in Sito), she'll definitely want to take him in and look after him. It creates a lot more opportunities to mess with Sito's mind! (very evil grin, there!).

Thanks, guys!

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"Every atom in our bodies was forged in the furnace of ancient stars - it is our destiny to return home..."

[StyroFoam Man]

This message has been removed on request by the
poster

[spyone]

FYI & FWIW, on DS9, the part of USS Odyssee was originally written for USS Enterprise. Before they were sure they were going to do movies, that was going to be our goodbye to the Enterprise-D.
Or so I've heard.

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You're a Starfleet Officer. "Weird" is part of the job.

[Captain Zymmer]

Okay here are some thoughts.

The Pirates are using the predators which are not indiginous to this planet as guard dogs...some of them have escaped into the wild and can be loads of fun for your player.

I would have Nevek seemingly killed in one of the predator attacks, play up Sito's hatred for Cardassians, given the fate of her sister as well.

Try your best to have her captured by the Pirate's who figure they can torture her to get info about Starfleet movements in the area out of her, and when all seems lost, Nevek manages to rescue her, they steal some medical stuff and head back to the crashed shuttle to save the Andorian.

The other cadet can be used to show the audience exactly how the monster (read guard predators) works.

I like Dan's idea about the Ensign being dead on arrival as well.

Also maybe Nevek has stolen a power cell from the pirates to be used to activate the communications array on the shuttle.

Or

Once they have stablized the Andorian, she and Nevek have to work together to ge back into the pirate compound and gain access to the communcations shack to contact starfleet for a rescue.

Just some thoughts off the top of my head.

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Captain Zymmer
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Visit Star Trek:Lexington at;
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[This message has been edited by Captain Zymmer (edited 09-02-2001).]

[Aldaron]

Thanks a bunch for the suggestions, guys!

What I've decided to do with Nevek is have him acting "suspiciously" (get's caught fiddling with a commbadge, whispering into it. He claims he's trying to boost the power output and didn't want to wake them. That sort of thing). Basically, I want Sito ready to vape him by the time Act 3 comes - especially after it appears someone betrays them, getting the other cadet killed "to show how the monster works", as someone said!

In fact, nobody has betrayed anyone - it was just a logical trap set by the pirates.

Anyway, in the end, they will find that the only way into the pirate compound to steal a ship is thru a powerful energy barrier, set up to protect the base from the predators (which I imagine as something like semi-sentient velociraptors in terms of challenge level. Ouch!).

Of course, there's always an entrance thru the power core outlet pipe (I'll come up with a better technobabble name for it), but temperatures in there reach over 90 deg. Celsious. No human or Bajoran could make it thru such intense heat.

A Cardassian, however, could.

So Nevek will get thru the pipe and lower the energy barrier, despite the severe burns he suffers.

I'll be running the adventure tonight, so I'll let you guys know tomorrow how it goes!

Thanks again for all your help!

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"Every atom in our bodies was forged in the furnace of ancient stars - it is our destiny to return home..."

[Phantom]

Since Nevek was adopted after the Fed-Cardie War, ie when the treaty was in place, I don't really see SF having too much problem with a Cardie Cadet. However, once the DW breaks out and the Cardies join the Dominion he would have to face a lot "displaced" anger/hatred aimed at his race. But a lot of characters have had that problem in the history of ST, interesting RPing possibilities abound.

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In the Praetors Name!

[Aldaron]

Well, he wasn't adopted after the end of the Cardassian War - he is about 19, so he would have been born around 2351, and adopted around 2355, when the war was in full swing.

Thus, he has already had his share of "displaced anger" sent his way - he was allowed to join Starfleet because he was legally adopted by a Starfleet officer, and is thus a Federation citizen.

I actually plan on making the guy arrogant (as is fitting for a Cardassian), but absolutely loyal to the Federation. His "issues" with Sito will stem from her reaction to him. He has spent a lifetime "copping shit" for his heritage - so now he tends to get defensive.

It just happens that it fits perfectly with me wanting to paint him as the prime suspect for a traitor in the game, when, in fact, there is no traitor. The pirates simply came to the logical conclusion that "Spot X" was the most likely place for the fugitives to be heading, so they set a trap there.

I'm trying to get a little of the "personal growth" theme into the episode, for Sito's part: throwing a Cardassian at her who is not just a caricature is just the best way I can think of for that at this stage. He's arrogant, he's aggressive, he's defensive - yet at the same time, he's loyal and courageous, and he's not working for the Cardies!

I'm really looking forward to playing this tonight!


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"Every atom in our bodies was forged in the furnace of ancient stars - it is our destiny to return home..."

[Dan Gurden]

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by Aldaron:
Anyway, I thought this was enough of a loophole to let me get away with it!

</font>

Glad I could help...

I have to say I have used pretty much the same loophole for an NPC myself, one of my major NPC's in my campaign.

A half Bajoran/Cardassian... A half-breed hated by both sides;
http://www.theventure.freeserve.co.uk/woy.htm


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DanG.

"Hi, I'm Commander Troy McClure, you might remember me from other academy training holo-simulations as, Abandon Ship, the quickest way out, and I sense danger, 101 things you dont need a Betazoid to know..."

http://www.theventure.freeserve.co.uk

[tonyg]

One idea you might want to go with is to have to Cardie sacrifice himself for Sito and the others at the climax. Say have the wodie cardiassian jump in front of a phaser blast aimed at Sito (or maybe Rani).

That's a a good way to help illustate the drawbacks of predudice that very much in keeping with the morals of Star Trek. It will also give Sito some character issues in the future.


[This message has been edited by tonyg (edited 09-03-2001).]

[tonyg]

If you want to avoid the stealing a pirate ship cliche (sounds like a classic to me, I'd use it). You could have the PC use parts from one shuttle to fix the other, possibly having to trek across the terrian inhabited by hostile predators to do so. Or maybe just steal a required compoent from a pirate ship.

[Aldaron]

Woohoo!
Went off beautifully! Thanks a bunch for your help guys!

Went pretty much to plan. The human cadet got killed halfway thru in an ambush that Sito was convinced Nevek (the Cardie cadet) had conspired with.

She was pretty pissed with him nearly the whole time, while he was tersely polite, follwing her orders but with a definite edge to his "yes sirs".

In the end, Janetta (my wife) had forgotten about Cardassians loving heat. They had found a waste water outlet pipe from the fusion reactor in the pirate outpost. Only about 2 feet in diameter and over 200 metres long, it had an internal temperature of over 80 deg C, and Sito was trying to figure out how else to get inside the camp's energy barrier (set up to stop the predators).

"That's too hot for humanoid to survive" she commented about the pipe.

"Not for a Cardassian, it's not" says Nevek, shucking off his cloak and sliding in!

It ended with a pretty cool space battle between two Peregrine raiders, and Nevek ended up nearly dying from the severe burns he suffered in the pipe...but the final scenes had Sito Rana sitting by the unconscious Nevek's bedside for 2 days until he woke up.

Hehe...great episode. Again, couldn't have done it without you guys - thanks!

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"Every atom in our bodies was forged in the furnace of ancient stars - it is our destiny to return home..."

[Captain Zymmer]

For whatever part I played in helping, I am glad it helped

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Captain Zymmer
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Visit Star Trek:Lexington at;
http://www.usslexington.net
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