help with scary Mirror Universe tech (and plot)

[woodelf]

OK, i'm about to start a 'Trek miniseries--we made characters before Xmas, and it'll last until my roommate ships out, so we should get 5-6 [weekly] sessions. The intention is to plot out a contained plot in that timeframe (i'll compress or stretch in the middle, if i have to).

Here's what i've got so far:
Basic premise is that the Federation figures out a controlled way to move large masses to the Mirror Universe, sends a ship there to covertly look around, and the ship sent a mayday instead of meeting at its rendezvous point. The PCs are crew of a heavily-armed ship sent to retrieve them. Their mission is to rescue the others if at all possible, and make sure that those in the Mirror Universe don't find out about the Federation, or at least that there's a way to hop universes.

Tech level is DS9+ --timeframe isn't set yet, but i'm thinking shortly after the Dominion War. This would explain the UFP's relatively militaristic stance, and their extreme wariness about confronting a powerful new foe.

Oh, as for the Mirror Universe itself, i'm thinking of extrapolating from Mirror, Mirror, but not necessarily matching the stuff we saw in DS9. In particular, my gut feeling is to still have the Terran Empire aronud in some form as the major power. Haven't decided yet what to do with the other major races (subjugated, enemies, allies, etc.).

Now, i have two sorts of questions. Mostly, i'm wondering about tech. I want to equip their ship with the latest cutting-edge Treknology (appropriate to the era), since they'd want this ship to have the best possible chance of succeeding, and it's as on its own as anything could be. In fact, i'm thinking that the crucial element that makes universe-hopping possible either can't be put aboard a ship, or simply wasn't, so that should they be captured the Terran Empire won't be able to figure it out. So their only way back is to be at the right place at the right time, so that the device (in the UFP universe) can bring them back.

So, certainly quantum torpedoes, the latest phaser arrays, ablative armor, self-modulating shields...what else? What about personal equipment?

Now, what i want to do for the Terran Empire tech i basically take the literary device of the mirror universe to its logical extreme: use as many of the same events from the standard timeline (i.e., the TV shows & movies), but with slightly different feel or outcome. So, a changed event only has changed consequences when it's convenient for the plot. IOW, ramifications when i want them, but not otherwise. So, given a ruthless, opportunistic empire, what can i give them to make the players' lives difficult? Some initial thoughts:

Abuse the Guardian of Forever, rather than just leaving it alone once they rescue McCoy. Though maybe they let the peace activist live, thus producinga timeline (in the Mirror universe) where a more ruthless society is the precursor to the Eugenics wars, and eventually the Terran Empire.

Pull Data and/or Lore apart, find out what makes them tick, and make armies (or at least commando squads) of deadly super-soldiers.

Widely and ruthlessly use the Genesis Project as a weapon, on any planet they don't need for the resources. Perhaps all capital ships carry them?

Use the concept of the transporter-using slugthrower rifle as a standard personal weapon, or even expand it to torpedoes? Or is there something i'm forgetting that makes transporting [live] photon/quantum torpedoes impossible?

Conquer/co-opt/align with the Breen and swipe their energy-draining tech?

What other scary tech (especially weapons) did the various crews (especially Federation crews, i.e., Enterprise of one flavor or another) choose to nobly destroy so that none could use them? 'Cause the Terran Empire would probably grab every last one of those they could, and mass-produce those that could be mass-produced.

The other thing, which ties tightly into the tech, is any cool changes to the setting. Again, i don't want to actually take these things to their logical extremes, and consequences only follow when entertaining (thus leaving the universe a "dark reflection", not a completel ydifferent place). Frex, how would things go when the Mirror universe Enterprise found the Botany Bay?

[Kirok]

I wonder if the outcomes of the encounters with the Borg would be different in the MU. Given the Borg's lack of reaction to one's intent or disposition, i can't imagine the early encounters would have gone much differently. Certainly "Hugh" would have been sent back with a nasty virus.
As for The Guardian, even evil people know not to mess with time travel too much. They may be evil, but they're not stupid. It's too hard to predict the outcomes of events. That said, The Terran Empire seems cocky enough to think they could use it more than the UFP would.
Army of Datas: yes. That whole Measure of a Man thing? Never happened. No ethical debate there...although the Datas might decide to revolt. Who could stop them? Maybe an emotion chip makes it's way into a Data, and he leads a revolt? Or maybe Lore pops up and leads a revolt. What would Lore take advantage of in the MU?
Genesis: definitely a weapon. Kirk really is "The Genesis Commander himself" (or whatever it is Kruge calls him)
So much to explore...

[Dan Gurden]

Originally posted by woodelf
So, certainly quantum torpedoes, the latest phaser arrays, ablative armor, self-modulating shields...what else? What about personal equipment?

Personal Equipment is the same, maybe updates designes, but at the end of the day, the classic Phaser, Comm Badge and Tricorder combo is hard to beat.

Abuse the Guardian of Forever, rather than just leaving it alone once they rescue McCoy. Though maybe they let the peace activist live, thus producinga timeline (in the Mirror universe) where a more ruthless society is the precursor to the Eugenics wars, and eventually the Terran Empire.

Worse than that. The Empire is likely to have a Section 31/DTI unit stationed there, monitoring the universe with a strict remit to alter thye timeline to ensure the Empires cohesive history, and possibly swing any failures back into the Empires favour.

Imagine your players faces when you play the same mission 2 weeks running, but the second time with a crack commando squad who know what will happen, working against them.

If they survive that, the next week send them after the Guardian...

Pull Data and/or Lore apart, find out what makes them tick, and make armies (or at least commando squads) of deadly super-soldiers.

I disagree. The Empire ruled through pain and fear. And Data as built felt neither. But his level of Sentience would make him a dangerous adversary. A lone Data could go far within the Empire, with the deviant Lore working on the side of good. However an army of them would be more likely to turn on their masters and end up ruling the Empire... Might make an interesting sub-plot, after all the less than perfect Empire may well have been blinded to this potential outcome by their lust for power...

Widely and ruthlessly use the Genesis Project as a weapon, on any planet they don't need for the resources. Perhaps all capital ships carry them?

I like this. With all Empire ships carrying a single Genesis torpedo for this purpose (just one to ensure loyalty, or at least obedience).

Use the concept of the transporter-using slugthrower rifle as a standard personal weapon, or even expand it to torpedoes? Or is there something i'm forgetting that makes transporting [live] photon/quantum torpedoes impossible?

It would not work as a Torpedo. Transporters cannot beam through shields. And thus this would actually be less effective in ship to ship combat than before. The side-arm version is likely to be in standard issue when Phasers and agonisers dont work though. I imagine the Empire would have a wide variety of weapons to choose from (and more than likely to add agonisers and blades to the standadr universe standard issue personal kit.

As an aside, if you are ignoring the DS9 Mirror Universe, then seek out the old TNG novel Dark Mirror, with is set in a TNG Mirror Universe based around the Empire...

[woodelf]

Originally posted by Dan Gurden


Personal Equipment is the same, maybe updates designes, but at the end of the day, the classic Phaser, Comm Badge and Tricorder combo is hard to beat.

Worse than that. The Empire is likely to have a Section 31/DTI unit stationed there, monitoring the universe with a strict remit to alter thye timeline to ensure the Empires cohesive history, and possibly swing any failures back into the Empires favour.

Imagine your players faces when you play the same mission 2 weeks running, but the second time with a crack commando squad who know what will happen, working against them.

I love that, but i don't think i can do that unless it's the major pointo f the series--i don't have enough sessions to "waste" 2 on the same scenario.

If they survive that, the next week send them after the Guardian...

Very cool idea, but, in general, 'Trek-style time travel leaves a bad taste in my mouth, and i think that layering alternate timelines on top of alternate universes would just muddle the matter, and lessen the impact of the alternate universe.

I disagree. The Empire ruled through pain and fear. And Data as built felt neither. But his level of Sentience would make him a dangerous adversary. A lone Data could go far within the Empire, with the deviant Lore working on the side of good. However an army of them would be more likely to turn on their masters and end up ruling the Empire... Might make an interesting sub-plot, after all the less than perfect Empire may well have been blinded to this potential outcome by their lust for power...

Very good point. So how about this: Data could be programmed to do all sorts of stuff, at the cost of some personal initiative (which isn't all that valuable to an organization like the Empire, anyway)--look at the ep where he incapacitated the Enterprise and went home to Dad, or ST: Insurrection. Think about a bunch of androids built with the capabilities of Data, maybe with emotion chips (so that fear could be used on them), but with slightly more restrictive programming. Heck, the equivalent of an agonizer could be programmed in as an integral part of the positronic brain.

It would not work as a Torpedo. Transporters cannot beam through shields.

Doh! I wasn't thinking. Though if you could transport the torpedo to pretty much right on top of the opponent (with forward momentum, of course), it'd cut down on their time to evade.

As an aside, if you are ignoring the DS9 Mirror Universe, then seek out the old TNG novel Dark Mirror, with is set in a TNG Mirror Universe based around the Empire...

I haven't decided yet whether to completely ignore it (after all, i loved those episodes, and the depictions of the characters and universe), or just say that the Terran Empire hasn't fallen, but has lost control of the Bajoran/Cardassian sector of space. I particularly like the way that the characters in the DS9 episodes, like Spock, but unlike most of the rest in Mirror, Mirror, weren't simple opposites. Instead, they were the same character, different background. Thus, Several of them were good guys in both universes, or bad guys in both. I've never cared for the "let's make everything good in this universe bad in the other, and vice versa" approach--it's just too simplistic--even in Mirror Mirror, only the Terran Empire was obviously constructed this way, while those they were facing were obviously the same as in the UFP universe. Which is just a longwinded way of saying that, if they survived, Data might still be the "good guy", and lore the "bad guy". In fact, much as Spock could use logic to override emotion and see the bad in the Empire, maybe Data could carry on his torch as rebel leader.

[I still have to decide what to do about Evil Spock. I *really* like the idea of him taking Kirk's words to heart, but i don't want the Empire already gone (or on the defensive) by the time the PCs get there. OTOH, it's always a bit of a characterization stretch when Kirk out-logics Spock (in either universe), so you'd think that either Evil Spock had already thought of that, or Kirk missed something and was wrong, logically speaking.]

[XHare]

What about the Varon-T disruptor in that episode where Data was captured as a museum piece.

Though it seemed to disintegrate rather slowly, it did look rather painful, right in like with a continuing Terran Empire.

XHare

[pesterfield]

In the TNG mirror book Spock tried to overthrow the Empire, but failed and was executed for treason.

Data/Lore would likely be dismantled as posing a threat to the Empire, if Soong wasn't executed for trying something like that in the first place. Independent science doesn't seem like a good career move in the Empire.

They'll have cloaking devices and use them. No one sided better for the enemy treaties for them like our UFP.

[BouncyCaitian]

The Diane Duane "Dark Mirror" book touches on the United Empire of Planets a bit as far as tech goes. But here a few foul ideas for you to play with.

The Agonizer: Oft forgotten by the TNG era, I can see this nasty little beasty being upgraded and improved by the Empire's pain techs. Variable yeild, but still not leaving a mark on a body. Settings to think about: Various levels of toothache, general neural pain stimulation of varying levels, up to cardiac inducing pain.

The Agony Booth: As above but with more settings and refinement potential.

The Klingon Mindsifter: or Mind Ripper if you prefer. A nasty variation on the old Psycho-tricorder that allows the Empire to view thoughts and memories. Might leave the subject a mental vegitable..then again it might not. depends on the skill and mood of the tech running it.

Neural Neutralizer: sorta like the Mindsifter, but allows for behavior modification. The Romulans would weep at how efficent this thing is...

Telepaths: Think B5's Psi Corps witha much stronger Telepathic base. And no reason to hide themselves...tho they do anyway.

Bio-Experimentation. Hey...with an entire captive population of slaves to play with, you can come up with all sorts of things....

Kironide Injections: Referenced from TOS. In short, Telekinetic powers within hours.


As to the Empire's general tech base...put it about at dominion level for weapons technology (since POWER is what these people care about) and scale back a bit on sensor ability. Any large vessels will probably have about 1/2 of the cargo space they normally have (can't have those big ships go wandering and getting ideas)...but all the other space going for weapons and such.

Above all, The Empires crews should be ruthlessly competent as I don't see them suffering fools gladly and the stupid would have been weeded out in training...leaving the shark pool aboard ship very cagey and vicious.

[pesterfield]

I agree with the shark comment, basically just think of all the times the crews on the show have done something blatently stupid. The Empire crew wouldn't have.

Properly defended ships, competent crews, if it weren't so violent it'd be the preferred universe.

[ghosty]

We did this a couple of years ago. Check out the following link:

http://forum.trek-rpg.net/showthread.php?s=&threadid=2745

I wrote the bulk of it with input from the other local denizens. Hope you enjoy.