GM: Sam Tillis
Players: Sarah Terman, Adrienne Mueller, James Lawton, Dylan Arena, Sean Nittner
System: Fate Accelerated
Welcome officers… Your orders are go undercover on the pre-contact planet of Kalmur to investigate the accidental death of a Federation observer.
When a Kalmuri experiment into artificial gravity goes wildly wrong, an experimental device explodes crushing everyone within the test lab, including a Starfleet scientist, Lieutenant Ano, who had infiltrated the project as an observer.
Sent to investigate this apparently accidental death, your team is confronted by a Kalmuri detective, Lanox, who is convinced the deaths are the result of sabotage.
Can you solve this classic locked-room murder mystery without violating Starfleet’s Prime Directive?
Our bridge crew:
- Ltd Commander Dimia, a Bajoran operations officer who used the emotional weaknesses of her crew to shape and mold them, manipulating them to be the best officers they could be.
- Lt. 101101 aka Bits, our Bynar Chief Science Officer (or officers if you consider 0 and 1 separate people) who figured out how to block Borg trans-warp communication. Bald and hot.
- Lt. Jelle, a Deltan Communications officer who has been sworn to chastity. Bald and hot.
- Lt. Xads, a Bolian Medical officer and life of the party. Bald and hot.
- Lt. 5 of 5, a Borg Security Officer whose connections to the collective is blocked by Lt. 101101’s brilliant invention. Bald and hot.
Clearly, bald is the new hottness.
R&R in the Holodeck
Xads organized a karaoke night and we were all there enjoying ourselves to greater or lesser degrees.
Commander Tookog was not having a good time, though to be fair he never does.
Bits tried to convince him to relax, stop inspecting the tiny glitch in the holodeck, and actually enjoy the party.
Tookog was not moved, and in fact alarmed that safety protocols had been disabled, but Jelle vouched for Bits and told our commander she’d get the controls back on so that nobody got hurt, or worse…drunk.
Xads agreed to turn off the inebriation functions, but by this time his hips were quite loose and Jelle found herself distracted by more than just the safety protocols!
5 of 5 asked if Lt. Jelle was the one that Lt. Xads wanted to copulate with.
Lt. Commander Dimia convinced Commander Tookog this kind of social bonding was just what the crew needed. Five noticed she placed extra emphasis on the phrases lubricant, increased connections, wash hands, and immature impulses. Five wondered if she thought copulation was going to happen as well.
Bits tried to learn the limbo moves from Xads but couldn’t help correcting Xads’ form as he was teaching.
In the morning One shared his hangover with Zero. The downside of being a Bynar.
Mission Briefing
Captain Murphy started our briefing asking Lt. Commander Dimia how Star Fleet interacts with near warp species.
“We observe closely but don’t interfere.”
“Correct. And why do we observe them?”
“Assess them for threats, but primarily for anthropological research.”
The captain commended Dimia’s understanding and presented us with our mission.
A member of an observation team on Kalmer, an M-class pre-warp world, has gone missing and is presumed dead. We are to find the missing officer and return them. We also need to learn what they were doing outside the holo barrier and prevent others from observation team from interfering further.
The missing officer was Lt. Ano, Lt. Jelle’s cousin!
We reviewed data pads to learn about Kalmurian culture as the captain told us to prevent others from fucking with the prime directive.
Five wondered how you could copulate with an principle.
Kalmur is smaller and warmer than earth, with population centers on the poles, most of the days spent in twilight.
Xads performed the dermal regeneration to make us all look like Kalmurians. Bits added a culturally appropriate beret to cover his cranium implants. Five got an eye patch for her ocular device and hood in case any other Borg components spontaneously grew (as they tend to do in moments of stress).
Planet Kalmur
We transported from our ship the USS Hopper to the Observation Base, hidden behind a mostly faultless holo barrier. We met the lead anthropologist, a Grazerite named Dr. Naorsan Gur, who Dimia sensed didn’t want us to be there.
He introduced us to a Vulcan Ensign T’Zheen, who was part of the away team with Dr. Ano. She was able to tell us some of what she knew. She and Lt. Ano were monitoring the experiments with an artificial gravity generator. Lt. Ano was was in the test chamber when they did a test run and the gravity generator went out of control. Lt. Ano and the Kalmuan researchers were crushed to death.
Xads asked if it could have just been an accident but T’Zheen replied in typical Vulcan fashion “That is impossible to know without further investigation.”
She told us this world has a history of warfare between two nations, Athios and Pitos, who lived on opposite poles, but T’Zheen did not experience suspicion or hostility when she was disguised as a Pitosian among the Athios people.
She also (reluctantly) admitted that during the time of the of the incident she was at a residence in Athios. Xads asked about the technology they had available and T’Zheen said it was primitive but in this regard, but we want to preserve and capture the moment of discovery. It will be very important for our understanding of their role in interstellar relations.
Sidling up the the lab techs
We were ready to head out but Jelle thought we should stay on the research lab for a bit and have lunch.
“Nutrient injection?” Five offered, but Jelle brought Deltan Zucchini Bread and the lab techs, who had been living off nutrient packs were thankful for the real food.
When they were alone, Jelle attempted to win their confidence “Gar seems intense, yeah?”
Lombard and Shau, the lab technicians nodded “He’s very good at his job, but yes, he’s intense. There have been a lot more field expeditions.”
“Are they fighting about it?”
“Not anymore. Gur wanted more filed expeditions, but Ano was a prime directive purist, and wanted to make sure we didn’t interfere. Towards the end he and T’Zheen were fighting. We overheard him threatening her.”
Investigating Ensign T’Zheen
Dimia, meanwhile, was talking to T’Zheen. “It sounds like the last few days were difficulty for you.”
“I don’t experience emotions as most species do.”
“I only meant that you faced many trials.”
“Yes.” T’Zheen accented and noted that she believed the observation team should leave before affecting the Kalmuran people further.
Dimia asked about what she was doing at a residence during the time of the accident, and caught the image of a Kalmuran researcher named Medi Nelorn in her T’Zheen’s mind.
T’Zheen initially tried to evade the question but Dimia pressed. Eventually she offered more “Someone was acting inappropriately toward Medi Nelorn, and I was advising them.”
“Why would you interfere?” Dimia questioned. This didn’t sound like a violation, but it could be getting close.
“I understand that it wasn’t my place, but I didn’t believe it affected the Prime Directive.” Eventually she explained that a senior researcher had been making unwanted advances on her and while the Kalmuran are stronger than humans, they are not as strong as Vulcans. She grabbed his wrist and threw him across the room, spraining his wrist. Since this senior researcher Rax Kortar was one of the victims of the accident, this made Medi Nelorn (and T’Zheen for that matter) a possible suspect. “I don’t believe that Medi Nelorn caused the accident, but I tend to focus on microscopic details rather than the larger picture and as such, I’m not a good judge of such things.”
Train Station Bathrooms
We transported into a train station bathroom that had been secured by the observation team. When we got onto the streets we as the city was indeed in a state of perpetual dusk, full of vehicles burning fossil fuels and skyscrapers reaching at the starts.
Athios Institute, our first stop, was all white walls and immaculate offices. We met Director Karm Market who told us he was sorry for our loss (we were posing as delegates from Pitos, coming to collect the remains of Lt. Ano).
Karm took us to the lab where we saw the wreckage. The walls were buckled, the controls panels lurching towards the center, and metal objects wrapped around the taurus in the center where the artificial gravity was formed. Apparently when the device was turned on for testing, it exhibited far more gravitational strength than planned or even thought possible. Everyone inside “fell” to their death within moments.
We asked about security precautions, and there were two:
- A switch was in place inside the room, if it was pulled towards the taurus the machine would shut down. The switch had been pulled, but to no effect.
- There was an observer, Senior Researcher Sifa Jezen who should have been there to disable the machine if there was a malfunction, but she had to step out just before the experiment due to health issues.
Bits wanted to get data from the computer but found there were no wireless functions to access. Five covered for them by standing in front of the console and giving uncomfortable glares to anyone who looked her way. Bit was able to obtain log data including:
- Records of those who entered and exited the rooms (both the lap and the observation room)
- Records of the gravity generated (SO MUCH!)
- Timing of tests that show if sabotage was done, it would have had to be done by someone inside the room, just before the test was initiated.
When we asked about why the observer would have left before the incident Director Market told us she had known health issues.
In the lab itself we found all the devices, destroyed as we has observed them from the observation room as well as a giant slab in the corner. When we asked Director Market about it, he said it was a work in progress, but Dimia heard in his mind it was a failed expiriment.
Xads investigated and found that the technology was less advanced than ours, but the creator was clearly making progress.
Sifa Jezen
Jelle and Five went to speak with Researcher Jezen, who should have been watching the experiment when it happened. She noted that Five was as awkward as the inspector who questioned her. An inspector you say?
She told us her experiment was meant to be an anti-gravity device, but it failed and was now just a useless slab.
We discussed what would be needed to sabotage the experiment and determined it came down to three things:
- Someone who could disable the kill switch.
- Someone who could increase the gravity that the generator created
- And someone who could get Sifa out of the room, perhaps by giving her poison that would mimic the ailments she suffered on her own accord due to age.
As far as we could tell the people that could do that were all those who died in the room: Senior Gravitics Researcher Rox Kortar, Gravitics Researcher Loat Imorin, and Lt. Ano.
In the Lap
Xads continued to inspect the slab and determined that while it was currently deactivated, it was functional! It was also strange to see that the anti-gravity field it would generate would be facing towards the wall (rather than to the center of the room). Could a person have hidden behind it when the experiment happened? Yes, and further, Xads found a Kalmurian hair behind it!
Who could have made it work and hidden behind it? Bits believed this must have been premeditated and spent a lot of time checking the logs to see who came in and out of the room.
The Morge
Director Market took Dimia to the morgue where the remains (now mostly in liquid form) of the three researchers were. As the Pitosians have strong beliefs around funerary rights, Dimia said that she would want to take Ano’s remains. Though the director offered to help, in his mind he recounted how weird things happened when he tried to separate the matter.
Dimia received the remains with reverence and Xads tried to examine it, but without his equipment all he could tell was that there didn’t appear to be enough matter to account for three bodies.
An adventurous train ride
Five, Bits, and Dimia took the train to find the detective Researcher Jezen had mentioned. On the way Bits began to feel the affects of separation form their other half. A Bynar disconnected is incomplete.
Five offered a possible solution, the implanting of Borg nanites that would increase One and Zero’s transmission range, allowing them to communicate again and be made whole. We crammed into the train bathroom to perform the operations away from prying eyes.
Five took the opportunity to ask their friend a question that had been bothering her for some time. “Is the Prime Directive arbitrary? It seems that Federation officers decide when it applies and when doesn’t. Why not help others when we can?”
“They are not ready for it.” Lt. 101101 used the common argument for the directive.
“Should I have withheld the Borg technology and leave you deprived of your connection?”
“That’s different. We’re colleagues.
“Seems arbitrary” she said again and injected Lt. 101101 with the nanites allowing them to be whole again.
—
In the train car outside Dimia sensed the violent intent of three Kalmurans as they moved towards her. She knocked on the door to the bathroom to get our attention, but had to act fast to protect herself. She waited until her assailant drew his projectile and got up close to knock it aside. He was startled that she was prepared for him, but his two companions were unphased.
—
Meanwhile, back in the observatory lab, Xads identified that there was never a large amount of Ano’s DNA among the remains…and that the hair he found belonged to Lt. Ano as well. Suddenly the Starfleet Officer was our number one suspect.
Jelle took the opportunity to review Ano’s logs and noted that while he didn’t seem like a person capable of doing such a thing, he had stopped recording entries a week before the incident.
Xads looked at the facility records for everyone who had gone into the field. Only Gur, T’Zheen, and Ano. He was reading Gur’s reports which lovingly detailed the anthropological details he had found so far when Researcher Gur entered.
“Has there been any good news? Or any news at all?”
Xads reported that “Lt. Ano is still at large.”
Gur lit up, he had imagined Ano was killed “That is good news!”
“Perhaps. His location is still unknown. It’s possible he’s being held. Also, we noticed your holo projector has a small glitch, you’re team should attend to that.” Ironic these words coming from Xads.
Gur dismissed the issue as a minor one, but Xads could tell that secretly he wanted their base to be discovered by the Kalmurans. Even though he knew it was impossible, he wanted to be the one to welcome them to the future.
—
Back in the train Five came out of the bathroom and intercepted the two remaining hitmen. She slammed one of their heads into the overhead bin, but was shot by his companion.
Dimia anticipated one of the shooters and just as he raised his gun, she knocked it aside disarming him. Bits received a message from their other half and suddenly had the flash of inspiration to pull the train line, causing the breaks to apply and jostle everyone forward.
Five held the the gunman with his arm twisted behind his back and said demanded to know “Who sent you?”
He snarled in defiance “Someone who is going to keep coming after you!”
His companion took another shot at Five (she’s been shot twice now!) and they all ran off the train.
We got off as well, hiding in the ILL-LIT STREETS long enough for Fives nanites to repair her wounds, replacing organic skin with more Borg componentry.
Inspector Dori Lanox
We found Inspector Lanox in his office and asked about the investigation. He asked who we were and we told him our cover story.
“We’re from the Pitos government. This is a sensitive matter.”
“Then perhaps you can explain this.” He pulled a box out from his desk, removed the lid, and using tongs pulled a damage com badge from it. “Do you know what this is?”
Bits feigned ignorance “That looks remarkable. What is it?”
Lanox was not fooled “I’m going to ask you a wild question. Are you aliens from another planet?”
Our stunned looks gave us away.
“Well that explains some things. I’ve ever been attracted to a crime scene before” He must have been affected by Lt. Ano’s pheromones. He also let us know that not only were our cover identities not in the Pitos records, neither was the identity that Ensign T’Zheen used. “Why are you here? To stop us from going to space?”
“No, we just want observe.” Dimia told him as much as we safely could (though at this point, safe was a relative term) and he agreed to work with us to solve the crime, and that if we did it, he would return the communicator.
He shared more, that it was possible someone might want Ano alive, but would want it to look like he died in the accident, to keep others from looking for him.
We also revealed more, and by the end of the conversation, the Prime Directive felt as arbitrary as ever.
Rendevous
The team reconnected in a cafe that had good reviews on the local networks. Jelle and Xads learned the inspector had figured out many things on his own, but we had also let things slip.
The checked the transporter logs and determined that Lt. Ano attempted a transport out of the room when the gravitic experiment started, but the transport failed.
We looked back at our list of suspects and people involved.
- Sifa Jezen had a reason to want Kortar out of the picture (they were rivals).
- The men who assaulted us most likely worked for a man named Burk Niryk, who ran a local casino and was also known for hiring out mercenaries.
We obtained the floorplans of the casino, noting that it had a deep basement, and offered for Lanox to come with us.
Stakeout
Five of Five and Inspector Lanox went to a nearby building to watch the casino and look for confirmation that the men who assaulted them on the train also worked there.
—
The rest of the team went to the survey lab. There Xads made a knockout drug that could be administered via injection rather than hypospray. Ensign T’Zheen found him doing this and looked dubious “Are you going to use that on the inhabitants of this planet?”
Dimia interrupted and told T’Zheen that the inspector had seen through our cover identities. She was surprised by this, as she had done the due diligence to fabricate records that would confirm her identity.
Jelle tried to find Ano using a DNA scanner but could not do it. He was either off planet or deep underground. “Bits, where would you put a deep underground basement? In a casino perhaps?” It could have also been in one of the military installations, but so far as we could tell, none of those were active.
—
“What is the point of gambling?” Five asked Lanox as they watched the comings and goings from the opulent building. They discussed the preoccupation with joy as they surveilled the building: lots of power running into it, a large security detachment, including two of the three men who they met in the train earlier that day.
When Lanox asked about sharing technology, Five asked if they had anything the equivalent of an atomic bomb in their history. Lanox looked in horror and shouted “No!” After a moment of consideration “Maybe we shouldn’t learn about all this technology.” More discussion of the Prime Directive.
—
T’Zheen discovers that the files she created to establish her fake identity had been deleted! Who could have done it?
Xads told the lap techs to fix that busted holo barrier.
We met back up outside the casino and shared what we’d learned so far. Xads tried to treat Five’s wounds but he was stressed out by using a syringe (she had so many ports!) instead of a hypospray. No chill vibes here.
Big Winners
Bits and Five went in and moved towards the large slot machine in the center of the casino.
Dimia and Jelle, disguised as the two Kalmuran’s that attack us followed soon after to find the boss. Xads (also disguised) was supposed to wait till we found the third assailant, but he couldn’t let Jelle go without him.
Bits and Five drew everyone’s attention by rigging the machine to win and coins went flying everywhere. Five had a strange sense of exhilaration as they were showered in coins. Winning at a game of chance (even if you cheated) felt good!
We started throwing coins into the air and both the patrons and security guards flooded towards us. By the time security arrived however, we’d slipped away, leaving a small Kalmuran fortune behind.
Boss Man
Jelle, Dimia, and Xads used their disguises to make it to Bruk’s office, learn that he worked from another “boss” and that he had a captive in the basement whose face was peeling off! They tried to convince him to back out of the deal but he said the money was worth it. His boss was some rich academic type!
Xads administered his knockout drug and Bruk passed out. The took his keys and bluffed their way pas the guards to the elevator in the basement.
Resistance is Futile?
Bits and Five got out of the casino form an emergency door and Five used her Borg strength to bend a metal bar around the door handles, keeping the guards trapped inside. The strain however triggered an explosive growth of Borg componentry that destroyed her dermal disguise and for a moment she was once again part of the collective.
She grabbed Bits and was about to inject him in with nanites that would add him to the collective as well, but that is when he revealed the Borg tech Five had already installed in him and she paused “Five of Five, it’s me.”
“One of Two” she said and stumbled back, in control of her actions once more.
An Electric Gauntlet
At the basement of the casino Jelle knew something was wrong but she ran through a metal corridor to find her cousin despite the danger. Lighting coursed from the walls and electrocuted her, but she made it through and found a cell with her cousin in it!
He looked at her in horror, his disguise peeling away “Jelle. You can’t be here!”
“We’re getting you out!”
“You’ll only make it worse!”
“Tell me cousin. What happened?”
“They’ve taken so much from me. There’s been so much bleed.”
“Is that why you killed the researchers?”
“So much bleed!”
Jelle unlocked the cage and tried to run with Ano but he fought back. The grappled and she pin him to the ground. He begged her to leave him “Too many people know!”
Jelle realized her cousin might have broken the prime directive and murdered researchers, but she was not ready to give up on him “We can solve this together cousin, come with me!”
Dimia and Xads disabled the electrified hallway and they escaped the casino together.
What to do now?
We regrouped and Ano told us the rest of the story. When T’Zheen threw Researcher Kortar across the room she did something no Kalmuran was strong enough to do. The knew something was wrong and they were getting closer to finding out the truth, so he setup a trap to kill them and cover the evidence. He was going to hide behind the anti-grav device which he had completed the work on, but when he set off the trap there was someone else there and they knocked him out.
He woke in the cell and through interrogation they were able to pry much of his advanced knowledge from him. Dimia probed his thoughts and caught that the person who was behind the anti-grav device was indeed Sifa Jezen.
Sifa Jezen
We debated what to do. Try to remove her memories. Destroy her work. Take her with us? Bring her to the local authorities?
Bits and Five snuck into her lap and found her notes. We removed all that she learned from Ano and dismantled the anti-grav device but left the rest in tact. We would not remove the work she had accomplished on her own. We debated the prime directive once more and Five decided she no longer believed in the Federation’s stance. “Observation makes engagement inevitable. Satisfying our curiosity is not worth the harm we cause.”
Jezen was brought in for questioning and for quite some time she would not crack. She knew who we were and knew that we wouldn’t risk others knowing. After some time of battling with her will, Xads took a gentler approach. He brought in tea and biscuits and got her to open up to him “I was always being surpassed. I found the advantage I needed to bring my people to the stars.” For a long time she said nothing incriminating but finally she slipped and said “I would have let him go eventually.”
That was close enough to a confession for Lanox.
What to do with Ano? Dimia divided the work “We’ve got two criminals, one for each of us to try for their crimes.”
Lanox returned the communicator and agreed to keep everything he had learned to himself but told us at the end “We’re more resilient than you think. Whatever the universe has in store for us, we can take it.”
We transported away, the first and last time Lanox would see our technology in action.
Mission Debrief
We reported back to Captain Murphy, who decided that the damage had been contained as well as it could be, but each of us had our own private thoughts on the ethical choices we as individuals and as part of the Federation had made.
