This adventure is a mystery/thriller, with a dash ( or heaping handful, if you prefer it) of horror. My thanks to Mike for granting permission for me to host his revised version on my web site. -Kevin Clark - Nov. 5th, 1998.

Old Enemies

by Michael C. LaBossiere
( Ontologist AT aol DOT com )

Copyright ©1993, 1998 Dr. Michael C. LaBossiere. All Rights Reserved.
Originally published in Challenge magazine #67.

HTML layout/editing by Kevin Clark
( kevinc AT cnetech DOT com )
Please report errors to me.

http://www.geocities.com/pentapod2300/mag/oldenemy.htm

Legal Information: This adventure is copyright 1993, 1998 by Dr. Michael C. LaBossiere. It may be freely distributed for personal use provided that it is not modified and no fee above the normal cost of distribution is charged for it. Visit my web site at: http://user.aol.com/ontologist/index.html.
Disclaimer required by Far Future Enterprises: This item is not authorized or endorsed by Far Future Enterprises ( FFE) and is used without permission. The item is for personal use only. Any use of FFE's copyrighted material or trademarks in this file should not be viewed as a challenge to those copyrights or trademarks. In addition, this item cannot be republished or distributed without the consent of the author ( Dr. Michael C. LaBossiere).

Part I Starcruiser Scenario

Mayday. This is the Forty Niner, we are under attack from the second moon of Apollo. We have suffered severe power plant damage and have internal fires. Mayday. This is . . . ( Transmission ceases).

Year: 2301
System: Mu Herculis
Background: A mayday was received from a prospecting vessel of American registry in the Mu Herculis system. The vessel reported being under attack from one of Apollo’s moons. An American military vessel was sent to investigate and encountered an unexpected adversary.
Set-up: Place a planet counter in the center of the map. This counter represents Apollo. The American vessel enters from the far side of the map. The alien weapons are set up within four hexes of the planet.
Victory: The American wins if he destroys all the alien weapons. The alien wins if he destroys the American vessel.
Intruder: America
Concord-class System Defense Boat ( use the statistics for the British SDB, the Exeter-class in Ships of the French Arm) ( CQ+1)
Native: Alien
Four Sphere “Missiles”
Combat Performance Data: Movement: 8, Radiated Signature: 1 Radial Reflected Signature: 1, Radial Target Profile: -5 Lateral Target Profile:-5, Hull Hits: 1/1/1 Power Plant Hits: 1/1, Armament: One unlimited shot 1x1 laser, or one detonation attack as a 5x2 detonation laser, Active Sensors: 10 Passive Sensors: 5 Screens: 3
Note: These alien weapons consist primarily of energy bound within a magnetic containment field. At the center of the weapon is the power plant and field generator. The weapon forms its components by rearranging the energy within its field. Fortunately for the American vessel, the weapons have been severely weakened by the ravages of time.

Part II 2300AD Adventure

The military had quarantined the area of space immediately around Apollo after the Forty Niner incident. Rumor has it that they brought in some experts on xeno-archeology. If so, they probably found something old and alien on the moon that the Niner mentioned in her last transmission.

Introduction

This adventure deals with a mission into the asteroid belt that rings Mu Herculis at 4.5 AU distance. The purpose of the mission is to locate an alien base in the belt. This adventure is intended for a group of experienced characters.

Information

The PCs will have heard about the destruction of the prospecting ship Forty Niner near Apollo. They will have also have heard about the encounter between the Wheston ( the SDB) and an unknown force. ( the exact details depend on the outcome of the above scenario). They will also be aware that the American goverment has closed of the area of space around Apollo.

PCs with friends in the military or government ( or who are in the military or government themselves) will be aware that the Forty Niner was destroyed by alien weapons and that the SDB Wheston engaged the same alien weapons. According to the reports, the weapons were not the product of any known races’ technology. Because of the potential danger, the area has been sealed off. PCs with access to high level information will know that an alien base of great age has been located on one of Apollo’s moons. No one is sure why the base launched an attack on the Forty Niner, since other ships have been through the area without being attacked. Naturally, there will be speculation that the base was somehow involved with the disappearance of the Carolina Dream.

Finally, all the PCs will hear about a second tragedy that will strike the Forty Niner Prospecting Company ( the company that owned the Forty Niner). The orbital station used by FNPC will explode a day after the destruction of the Forty Niner, killing all of the surviving FNCP personnel, except for Rosco Jones. He was aboard the company’s other vessel, the Gold Rush, when the station was destroyed.

Getting the PCs involved

The PCs will be contacted by Rosco Jones, a well known and respected prospector. He will tell the PCs that he is part of the mining company that owned the Forty Niner.

He wants to hire the PCs to help him investigate what happened. He has access to a Mammoth-class Freighter ( with two CargoDevil Freight Handlers) if the PCs don’t have a ship of their own. The vessel is carrying custom made modules that make the vessel, the Gold Rush, into a fair prospecting vessel. The vessel has a special sensor module, a module containing a geological laboratory, a module containing digging and sample taking equipment, a base camp module, and the rest of the modules are standard cargo modules.

If he hires the PCs, he will tell them that his partners sent a message from the belt saying that they had made a very important discovery along their prospecting route and that they were going to proceed to Apollo. They finished by saying that they would be bringing a big surprise back. Jones will explain that his partners didn’t go into details because they did not want to broadcast the details of their find until they were able to stake a legal claim on it. Jones will say that he knows the prospecting route they were following when they made their discovery. He wants to hire the PCs to go with him into the belt to retrace his partners’ movements and locate what they found that sent them to their untimely deaths. He will offer pay appropriate to the PCs experience, reputation, and abilities. If asked, he will say that he suspects that the two events ( the destruction of the Forty Niner and the destruction of the FNPC station) are connected and that he is worried about his own life.

The Real Story

The Forty Niner’s crew discovered an alien base in the belt. While investigating it, they accidentally re-activated the computer. The computer captured the crew and replaced their brains with robotic brains. The computer then sent its servants to destroy its old enemy, the computer based on one of Apollo’s moons. The asteroid computer was thwarted in its plans when the Apollo computer noted the approach of the vessel and scanned it. The scanning revealed the presence of the robotic brains and the Apollo computer sent its weapons to destroy the vessel. Prior to the destruction of the vessel, the Apollo computer captured one of the robot-humans and replaced the asteroid computer’s brain with one of its own. This robot-human was sent ( via a one use vessel, similar to the alien weapons) to gather a force to attack the asteroid computer. The robot-human was detected by the other FNPC personnel and it was forced to kill them, to avoid being exposed. The robot-human is, of course, Rosco Jones.

The robot-human Jones functions as a veteran NPC with an initiative of 7.

The robot brain is programmed with Sidearm 3, Combat Rifleman 3, Computer 3, Pilot 2, Prospecting 2, Demolitions 2. He is armed with a Muller-Rivera P-3 and a Mueller-Rivera F-19. The robot brain is programmed with a personality that is based on the information the computer was able to acquire from Jones’ brain. It can pass as a human being, provided it does not engage in long conversations. Unfortunately for the computer, Jones was legendary as a non-stop talker. If asked about its quietness, it will say that the tragedies have made it not want to talk. Naturally, it will avoid people who knew Jones well. Its mission is to locate the asteroid computer and destroy it. To this end, it has a large supply of mining explosives aboard the Gold Rush.

Task: To notice that Jones is not human: Difficult. Psychology. 10 minutes. A successful roll will reveal that whatever Jones is, he is not a human. The roll should be made secretly for all characters with psychology skill.

Into the Belt

The asteroid belt is 4.5 AU from the sun. It is quite dense and contains radioactive ores and other valauble commodities. It is only recently that small, independent mining companies have begun to exploit the belt’s resources. There have several lucrative finds in the belt. One expedition found several pieces of a manufactured alloy on an asteroid that turned out to be very, very old and not of human manufacture. No other such finds have been made.

Going over the Forty Niner’s prospecting route will be a long and tedious task. There are a total of 32 asteroids on the route. The asteroid the PCs are looking for is the 28th asteroid ( the Forty Niner's crew only prospected that far). Asteroids 1 through 28 are marked as being checked, so 29-32 can be ignored.

Task: To examine an asteroid Routine. Prospecting. 30 minutes.
Referee: The time roll is reduced by 1 for each person who makes the task roll. Minimum time is thirty minutes, however. This roll should be made in secret. That way, the players will not be certain they have not missed something.

Stalker on the Rock

Once the PCs have been lulled into a false sense of security, it will be time to spring a nasty surprise on them. The previous expedition disturbed a robotic combat unit that was laying dormant beneath the asteroid’s surface. It was slow to recover from its long rest and the first expedition left before it could take action against them. Now it is alert and ready to deal with any invaders.

The unit looks somewhat like a dull gray praying mantis. It is four meters in length and has four legs and two arms. Armor value: 3 Life Level: 25 Initiative: 7 Hit: Routine

It is considered a veteran NPC and moves like a human. Its arms are equipped with extendible blades ( Melee Range: short Melee Skill Modifier: +2 DP: 0.4) and laser weapons ( treat as Mueller-Rivera P-3s, with 40 pulses). The unit is also equipped with two chest mounted plasma guns. Fortunately for the PCs, its ammunition hoppers are empty. The robot is extremely sophisticated and will act intelligently in combat. The robot ( or parts of it) would be very valuable to human scientists or a robotic company as the unit’s CPU and batteries are highly advanced relative to human technology.

The Alien Base

Asteroid #28 contains the alien base. A visual inspection of the asteroid at close range ( or using magnifying viewing devices) will reveal the existence of an airlock as well as the existence of a metallic protrusion from the lower side ( relative to the arrangement of the base) of the asteroid. The underside of the asteroid has a broken metallic pylon sticking from it, which indicates the asteroid was once part of a larger structure. The asteroid is also oddly scarred in places ( from laser and particle weapon hits).

Level 1

Access can be gained to this level via the airlocks on the top of the asteroid or via the airlock on the side. All the airlocks are operational and will open when the controls are touched. The interior of the base is lit with white light and everything is scaled to human size. These facts indicate that the base personnel were about the same size as humans and probably lived under a yellow sun. The base is very old. If the age of the base is checked scientifically, it will be found to be several hundred years old ( at least).

The interior has a very thin atmosphere, not quite enough to breath, however. Old Enemy Map

1. Storage Area: This area contains plastic containers. Some of the containers contain mechanical and electrical parts, but most contain remnants of organic material ( food). The organic material would have been somewhat toxic to humans when it was fresh, now it would be very bad to consume. The containers are badly dented in places and some of them are smashed open, as if they were thrown about the room ( they were, when the base was smashed from its pylon).
2. Empty Chamber: A shredded and bloody human vacc suit with the name "Holtsen" is drifting about the room, orbited by globules of blood.
3. Equipment Room: There are numerous empty lockers hanging open. Broken pieces of equipment ( weapons, scientific gear, etc. ) are floating about the room. The pieces would be valuable to researchers. There is a single vacc suit in the chamber, which indicates that the crew was evacuated from the base. The vaccc suit is human sized, but the gloves are six fingered. The beings had an opposable thumb, four fingers and a fifth digit , possible a claw like structure, extending from the pinkie side of the hand. There is still some air in the tanks. The mix is primarily oxygen-nitrogen.

Level 2

1-3. Crew Quarters: These spartan quarters contain two bunks, lockers, and a terminal each. The lockers are empty.
4-5. Quarters: Like the above quarters, except there are four bunks, four lockers, and no terminals.
6. Multi-purpose room: This room is equipped with exercise equipment, electronic games, and medical equipment. The medical equipment can provide information about the chemical composition of the base personnel. Their biochemistry is similar to that of humans, but there are several important differences. This room is fully pressurized and the automated medical equipment has been in use recently. There are bloodstains on the table and on the door of what appears to be a disposal unit.
7. Galley: There is a broken Muller-Rivera laser pistol floating in the room along with globules of human blood. A vacc suit helmet with a shattered face plate also floats in the room. The wall between 6 and 7 bears marks from laser fire.

Level 3

1. Control center: This room contains the controls for the bases weapon systems. Several of the control panels have been destroyed by weapons’ fire recently and there are globules of blood in the room.
2. Computer Access: The base computer is accessed from here. The computer is very advanced and is intelligent ( capable of intelligent actions and self-direction) but is not self-aware. It is programmed to defend the base and destroy its enemy, the computer on Apollo. The computer can be destroyed by explosives or other violence directed at it from this area.

Level 4

1. Power Plant/Manufacturing/Weapons Access: This is the access area to the bases power plant, manufacturing systems, and its weapon systems. The power plant is a highly advanced fusion reactor, the manufacturing systems are designed to produce replacement components ( including robotic brains), the weapon systems are advanced lasers ( two of them) that would fire from the rectangle that extrudes from the asteroid if they were still operational.

Dangers

There are three Stalker robots active on the base that are computer directed. Their plasma guns ( treat as Quinn-Darlan Mk 2-A2 PGMPs) are fully loaded. They will attempt to capture the PCs alive in order to replace their brains with robot brains.

Finish

If the robot-human Jones destroys the computer, he will attempt to report back to his controlling computer on Apollo. He will do anything to complete his mission. If the PCs survive, and inform the authorities about the base, the base will be confiscated by the government, but they will receive some compensation. The base itself is of great scientific value and the equipment in it, especially the computer, are of great value.

If scientists have the opportunity to study the base, they will conclude that it actually is not a base at all, but part of a ship. The computer located on one of the moons of Apollo was once also part of a larger vessel. It will be speculated that two enemy vessels entered this star system, fought and crippled one another in the belt, and have been lying in wait, ready for another round. This speculation will be correct.

-Michael C. LaBossiere

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Last Update: 1998 Nov 05
First Online: 1998 Nov 05
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