Previously on USS Pioneer

Spoiler warning - details of the ongoing mystery are included below, continue at your own risk!

Our team were finally getting to the bottom of the mysterious murder of what appeared to be a Romulan secret agent aboard the pleasure cruiser SS Christie. Unfortunately, the situation is becoming desperate as the team finds themselves disrupting an escape attempt, fending off a Romulan attack and revealing a Cardassian agent on board. After discovering the synthetic crew of the ship were, in reality, sentient androids on the run from persecution, the crew of Pioneer agreed to help secure the vessel's journey to Coppellius where the refugees were seeking safety. Pioneer has called for aid but the race to Coppelius has begun. 

Pre Game

We rejoined our team in the meeting room aboard the SS Christie where Kaz and Gik enquired as to the combat capability of Christie given that support was some time away. (They also establish that Coppelius will have some protection from Starfleet but they are preparing for the possibility they will be intercepted.) Amarilla confirms that they have some basic defences, having managed to secure the ship's deflectors and phaser banks during its decommissioning, but they are severely outdated and are intended for fighting pirates, not Romulan cruisers. Kaz notices with his telepathic abilities that Amarilla is hiding something and after some prompting, (and promises that they won't be in trouble) she reveals they have a half dozen smuggled photon torpedoes. The team also noted that there is no sign of the possible Cardassian operative. As they begin considering their options Christie falls out of warp and an alert indicates a Romulan cruiser is approaching. Amarilla sounds a warning, informing all passengers to return to their cabins while the team makes their way to the bridge. 

Round 1

The team arrive on the bridge to find the ship's commander in a panic, clearly out of his depth. Gik takes over command of the situation and ship, whilst Kaz moves to the helm and Sindel takes the engineering station with Amarilla, the rest of the team takes supporting positions [GM Note: several players were absent and their characters are working ‘off-screen’]. Realising the Romulans must still have the ability to interdict and sabotage Chrsitie, Kaz instructs Sindel to begin locking out computer systems and routing all controls centrally to the small bridge. Whilst doing so the android confirms efforts to make the passengers safe are almost complete and all the civilians on board have been moved to the central, reinforced sections. Kaz reports that the ship still retains impulse capabilities but at the moment cannot go to warp once again, Sindel begins working with the other android to find the source of the interference. After scanning the local region Kaz also identifies they are in the shelter of a planetary ring system, a Romulan warbird hovering nearby, penning them in. He also notices Amarilla is unusually distracted and after probing her mind with his Betazoid abilities catches the thought ‘Where is Gul Mastren?’. Before he can investigate a large red light on the console begins to blink; the Romulans are hailing.

A cold voice echoes across the bridge as Gik opens the channel. 

“You are carrying criminals and enemies of the Romulan Free State. Surrender them immediately and you will be free allowed to leave alive.”

Gik challenges the Romulan officer as to the identity of these criminals, concealing his knowledge of the android's true nature, and after some tense trading of information [GM Note: including some very good deception rolls from Gik], manages to convince the Romulan cruiser that their transporters are offline and they are unable to deliver them remotely. The Romulan commander, unwilling to lose his position of tactical superiority, informs them to approach slowly and prepare to be boarded before closing the channel. Kaz begins plotting a slow and meandering course through the asteroid field towards the warbird, which will take approximately 20 minutes, buying vital time for the team to come up with a plan. Gik remembers the presence of the photon torpedoes on board and instructs Amarilla and Sindel to have the deckhands secure them together with some antimatter transport pods, in essence creating a mine that would explode on a remote command, Sindel confirms it will explode violently. As Kaz navigates the ship around a large asteroid, which they hope will mask their actions, they push the makeshift mine out of the shuttle bay and into space. Confident their ruse has remained undetected they approach the Romulan cruiser, shields still raised and prepare to spring their trap. 

Round Two

The Romulan Commander returns to the airwaves, confused by the ship's raised shields and threatens to attack the cruise ship if they do not comply immediately with their demands. The team make one last long-range sensor sweep to see if Pioneer is in range, hoping to avoid an extremely asymmetric conflict. Unfortunately, there is no sign of them, possibly due to interference from the field and the Romulan commander is rapidly losing his patience, claiming the androids are the enemies of the state and will be punished regardless. Christie is outnumbered and outgunned. Refusing to give in Gik instructs Kaz to begin evasive actions, turning back into the asteroid field and towards the makeshift mine, slowly floating undetected amongst the asteroids. The first Romulan Cruiser takes the bait and pursues them at speed, unleashing a volley of disruptor fire that missed the old Miranda class as it swung in a tight arc behind the asteroid, dodging the waiting trap mine. The cruiser unleashed a second barrage as it came around, some of which struck Christie's shield but did not breach them. With nerves of steel, the team waited until the cruiser was right on top of the mine before Gik reached out with his scaled finger and activated the makeshift bomb. 

Several hundred metres away six photon torpedoes clicked to green and the magnetic locks on their antimatter compartments deactivated, allowing the stored antimatter to collide, creating a massive explosion. Fueled by the additional antimatter in the storage pods, the explosion is violent and instant. It quickly overwhelms the cruiser's shields, exploding at essentially point-blank range; in turn causing massive damage to the ship's hull and scattering several large asteroids through the field with its shockwave. Seeing the lead cruiser heavily damaged, two further cruisers decloak and begin closing, unleashing a series of inaccurate disrupter barrages. As Christie attempts to dodge these incoming volleys they detect another warp signature on approach and pressure mounts to get the warp engines back online. Deciding on more cover, they navigate deeper into the asteroid field as a vessel drops out of warp, the sleek grey shape of Pioneer.

Round Three

The four ships trade volleys of weapons fire whilst they dart through the asteroid field until inspired by the continuing movements of the asteroid chunks cast out earlier by the mine, Gik considers an unorthodox plan. Locking Christie's tractor beam onto a nearby asteroid he has Kaz take a sharp turn and releases the asteroid towards the pursuing Romulan Cruiser [GM Note: Think trebuchet in space]. Caught by surprise, the cruiser takes emergency evasive action but is stuck by a glancing blow to the starboard wing, severely damaging its impulse and weapons systems. It recovers quickly however and makes for an attack run against the aging vessel. With Pioneer distracted by the third cruiser on the other side of the area, Christie is hit by the full brunt of the attack, taking heavy damage to their shields. They make another wide arc, capturing a second asteroid and casting it against the pursuing cruiser, but the damage is minor as the vessel recognises the tactic and takes evasive action. 

As the vessels continued to outmanoeuvre one another through the constantly moving field, a wayward asteroid travelled with momentum, floating away from the earlier mine explosion. It suddenly stops as it's enveloped in blooms of orange and yellow, impacting against a hidden object. A large red blip appears on sensors as the dark shadows of a cloaked vessel fall away revealing a damaged Klingon K'Vort class cruiser at the edge of the asteroid field. Sindel confirms its identity as the IKS Gil'Fan, a ship recorded lost during the Dominion War. The red icon on the console flashes once more, they are being hailed. 

Round Four

As the channel opens they are greeted by the unexpected face of a Cardassian Gul aboard a Klingon bridge, a young man carrying a confident smile. He offers his assistance to Christie; he is willing to engage the Romulans and even the playing field, but he requires something in return, the unconditional return of his agent. Kaz offers a glance to Amarilla but is unable to probe her thoughts in this stressful situation and as the deck shudders with another strike from the Romulan pursuer Gik and Kaz consider their options. The machinations of the Cardassian Union are not a priority and Christe is at a severe disadvantage, Sindel reports it would not take much to disable them as their shields begin to fail. The team agrees to allow the Cardassian operative to return. With a smile, the Gul nods offscreen and Sindel detects a transporter signature through their patchy shields, as the channel closes the K'Vort quickly swings around to engage the second cruiser, drawing its fire away from Christie. The Romulans respond in kind and the two become engaged in a dogfight through the asteroids. The team are given a brief respite from the combat to consider their next actions, Sindel reports the engineering team have successfully reactivated the Warp Drive but could only undertake a short burst, less than 10 minutes, which would take them to the edge of the Coppellius system and into the range of Starfleet's defensive forces. They signal to Pioneer their intentions and a short message comes back. “Go.” Seconds later the groaning form of Christie leaps to warp. 

The Standoff

10 minutes later Christie drops out of warp at the edge of the Coppellius system, where Sindel confirms their warp systems are burnt out and they have impulse only. Moments later the twin eagle figures of the two Romulan Cruisers dropped out of warp, their hulls cracked and bleeding, trails of green plasma leaking from their wounds. It is clear they have taken massive damage, both have no shielding and only partial weapons. The large red comm light blinks again as two more warp signatures flash on the screen and the familiar shape of Pioneer appears alongside Christie, as well as the sleek form of the Akira class cruiser USS Olmec, the system's protective sentinel. Filled with confidence Gik opens the channel to see a bloodied and bruised Romulan Commander. 

The two trade several threats but attempting to reduce casualties Gik and Kaz offer the Romulan's amnesty to retreat to Free State space, avoiding combat. The Romulan commander is overwhelmed with a zealous fury, unwilling to allow the androids aboard to continue existing, ordering both cruisers to engage their impulse engines to full burn, pointing their noses directly at Christie.  Olmec and Pioneer open fire will all their available weapons to defend the ship but this does not deter the cruisers and as they close Gik makes a last-ditch attempt to divert their path with the tractor beam, using all its power to force them to collide with each other rather than Christie. Unfortunately, his attempt is unsuccessful, [GM Note: 1 success short of the 4 required, lots of momentum used, lots of focuses and modifiers used] and the cruiser is only partially diverted and crashes into the cruise ship. 

Epilogue

Gik and Kaz awake in the familiar sickbay aboard Pioneer, the stoic face of the ship's XO, Commander Kal Rane, looking at them from the end of the bio-bed. He informs them that despite their best efforts there were significant losses in the collision. Of the 300 beings recorded aboard the ship (including the androids), under 100 have survived, most of them being passengers huddled in the reinforced centre of the ship. Of the two hundred androids being transported aboard Christie, only 16 were able to make it to safety, the others lost whilst working on various systems throughout the ship. Kaz and Gik sit in silence, the scale of loss sinking in. Commander Kal produces a small box from his pocket and opens it, containing a single gold pip. 

“For your courage under pressure, for your continued innovative thinking and your service to the goals of Starfleet and the tenants of the Federation; you are promoted to the rank of Lieutenant with all the rights and responsibilities therein.” 

[GM Note: This is a reward to recognise Gik & their player, Maxwell, stepping up and undertaking some impressive gameplay.]

The pair sit in silence as the XO departs, leaving them to their thoughts. As Pioneer slips into warp, onward to the next horizon, a barely perceptible shimmer follows them into subspace, they aren't continuing the journey alone.