The Dragon: Once per episode, at the beginning of combat place an Advantage on the field representing a cunning tactic or strategy devised by Danara Pel.
NAME
USS Voyager
PROF.
MULTIROLE
CLASS
Sovereign Class Heavy Exploration Vessel
CONST
2371
SHIELDS
13/13
RESISTANCE
6
SCALE
6
POWER
13/13
CREW SUPPORT
6
SMALL CRAFT
5
COMMS
ENGINES
STRUCTURE
COMPUTERS
SENSORS
WEAPONS
BREACHES
0/6
0/6
0/6
0/6
0/6
0/6
9
11
10
11
9
10
COMMAND
3
12
14
13
14
12
13
CONNING
2
12
14
13
14
12
13
ENGINEERING
2
11
13
12
13
11
12
SECURITY
3
13
15
14
16
13
14
SCIENCE
2
11
13
12
13
11
12
MEDICINE
2
11
13
12
13
11
12
TALENTS
Command Ship: Can give advantages using Command within range to Away Missions or to supporting ships.
EMH: Has an EMH!
Improved Warp Drive: When going to warp, roll 1cd on an effect, regain the power point.
Quantum Torpedoes: Can use Quantum Torpedoes! (60 total)
Secondary Reactors: +5 to Power
High Resolution Sensors: +1 momentum to out of combat sensor checks.
TRAITS
Federation Starship – A highly sophisticated and advanced vessel, with holodecks, replicators, and similar comforts, primarily designed to handle multiple operations. Highly sensitive and requiring constant maintenance, the vehicle is less rugged than other interstellar craft
Maquis Crew - a good chunk of the crew are former Maquis troublemakers. Expect discipline problems and unorthodox plans.
WEAPONS
Phaser Arrays
Power Cost: 1-3 | Range: Medium | Damage: 9cd [+1 per extra power spent]
Can Use Spread: Hit +1 time at ½ damage per effect OR Area: hit +1 ship per effect within close range.
Versatile 2: Gain 2 bonus momentum with a successful hit
Photon Torpedoes
Power Cost: 0 | Range: Long | Damage: 6cd
High Yield: If it causes 1 breach, it causes +1 breach
Quantum Torpedoes
Power Cost: 0 | Range: Long | Damage: 7cd (Vicious 1 - +1 damage on effects)
High Yield: If it causes 1 breach, it causes +1 breach
Calibrations: Requires 1 minor action to calibrate
Tractor Beam (Strength 5)
Power Cost: 0 | Range: Close | Damage: None
Effect: If successfully established, enemies face a diff 5 check to escape.
SCIENCE: Tuvok (Skilled: Science | Weakness: Emotionless)
COMMS: Lt. Bian T'are (Skilled: Communications | Weakness: Combat)
MEDICAL: The EMH (Skilled: Doctor | Weakness: Kind of a Dick)
ENGINEER: B'lanna Torres (Skilled: Engineering | Weakness: Also a dick)
SECONDARY CHARACTERS
Ensign Steve (Useless Security Goon)
Ensign Becky (plural fighter jock)
Petty Officer Third Class Jessie (Hard working engineer)
Crewman Billingsly (Dude, Billingsly!)
Crewman Chandra (Concerned Crewman)
Bifurcate (bidimensional robot girlfriend of Harry Kim)
Princess Lyan Positron (runaway daughter of magician most foul and girlfriend of Harry Kim)
Soria Flyte (Pegasus girl and girlfriend of Harry Kim)
Mirror Universe Trevor (he's fine!)
NAME
MRSS Val Jean
PROF.
TACOPS
CLASS
Keldon Class Heavy Cruiser
CONST
2370
SHIELDS
12/12
RESISTANCE
5
SCALE
4
POWER
7/7
CREW SUPPORT
4
SMALL CRAFT
3
COMMS
ENGINES
STRUCTURE
COMPUTERS
SENSORS
WEAPONS
BREACHES
0/4
0/4
0/4
0/4
0/4
0/4
9
9
9
8
7
10
COMMAND
3
12
12
12
11
10
13
CONNING
2
11
11
11
10
9
12
ENGINEERING
2
11
11
11
10
9
12
SECURITY
3
12
12
12
11
10
13
SCIENCE
1
10
10
10
9
8
11
MEDICINE
2
11
11
11
10
9
12
TALENTS
Electronic Warfare Suite: Whenever making a Jamming or Intercept communications check, can spend 2 momentum to select +1 target (repeatable.)
Fast Targeting Systems: No +1 diff for called shots
Improved Hull Integrity: +1 Resistance
Cloaking Device: Spend 3 power, and make a Control+Engineering + Engines + Security check with a diff of 2. If successful, gain the Cloaked Trait (impossible to detect, cannot attack, shields are down.) It takes a minor action to decloak.
TRAITS
Cardassian Ship – Durable, uncomfortable, close, cramped and cheap. Thinks creature comforts are for other people and technical sophistication is for people who haven't spent decades starving to death. The fact that the starving could have been avoided if the government were less...you know, monstrous doesn't seem to have occurred to that many of them.
Okampan Crew – the crew are bright, perky, cheerful, and incredibly psychically powerful. Individually, they're all better than Vulcans, and as a gestalt? Who knows!
WEAPONS
Phaser Arrays
Power Cost: 1-3 | Range: Medium | Damage: 7-9cd (Spread: Hit +1 time at ½ damage per effect OR Area)
Versatile 2: Gain X bonus momentum with a successful hit
Disruptor Banks
Range: Medium | Damage: 8-10cd (Vicious 1: Each effect adds +1 damage)
Crewman Stadi - Age 23, Betazoid, born Beta Colony-5 to Zani and Talwyn of the House of Riis, survived by her sisters Tari and Batri.
R'mor - age 182, Vulcan, burn on Romulus to R'tan and Leslali, survived by his twelve nieces and nephews across the Empire
On the one hand, the Dragon is clearly the lynchpin of the Vidiian's efforts to thwart us, and is the crucial plot hook, by following we will probably put ourselves in danger but also be able to resolve this plotline. On the other hand, we don't even know IC that the Dragon exists, just that there's a command ship and the Vidiian fleet seems to have been prematurely quick and prepared in reacting to us - which we would naturally attribute to the Focused. Which is not even necessarily incorrect, we just don't know that the Legendary Super-Focused has been awakened from its* slumber.
Capturing an entire Vidiian fleet is... not a bad deal here. If we put those ships back into service with the Liberated Pod, and have our Phage substitute and a few good alliances? We've straight up got a well-armed revolutionary state up and running. The Vidiian fleet is, what, multiple escorts, a handful of destroyers which match a Constitution class in size, and a couple big dumb space dreadnoughts that other powers love building? Considering the Federation built twelve Constitution class ships in their initial run, and the Vidiians are probably smaller than the Federation, we could have a decent chunk of their line of battle, sitting right here, a blow that might seriously damage Nurel senior's standing and make the other Pods think about terms.
There is also nothing stopping us from chasing down the Dragon and Nurel senior later. If we've identified him as the nexus of our opposition here (which debriefing the captured crews will quickly tell us), then we can then follow their last known vector and chase him down, perhaps presenting the other Pods with a deal once he's captured. The Dragon fleeing also seems so much like they are tempting us into following them (and they've had traps laid for us before) that I think we have to assign a significant probability to a trap - quite possibly a trap which we can fight our way out of, but still.
So I respect the other plans, they probably represent the most direct route to resolve this episode, and if this were an episode, it would probably be what we were doing, unless this were DS9, in which case we would definitely capture the fleet first. But I am going to vote for:
[X] This fleet will be removed from play. Now. Open a channel, demand their surrender - and if they don't take it, open fire.
-[X] Janeway tells the crews that they will be treated well, that we have a cure for the Phage and an artificial substitute, and they can decide whether to remain in the liberated pod or be re-patriated back to their home Pods.
(Yes, I'm fishing blatantly to get the +1 Momentum from Diplomacy, why do you ask.)
*(By the way @DragonCobolt, are "it/its" the Dragon's genuinely preferred pronouns, or just something the Vidiians are doing because they don't view the Dragon as a person anymore? I have been unsure on this and wanted to check.)
On the one hand, the Dragon is clearly the lynchpin of the Vidiian's efforts to thwart us, and is the crucial plot hook, by following we will probably put ourselves in danger but also be able to resolve this plotline. On the other hand, we don't even know IC that the Dragon exists, just that there's a command ship and the Vidiian fleet seems to have been prematurely quick and prepared in reacting to us - which we would naturally attribute to the Focused. Which is not even necessarily incorrect, we just don't know that the Legendary Super-Focused has been awakened from its* slumber.
Capturing an entire Vidiian fleet is... not a bad deal here. If we put those ships back into service with the Liberated Pod, and have our Phage substitute and a few good alliances? We've straight up got a well-armed revolutionary state up and running. The Vidiian fleet is, what, multiple escorts, a handful of destroyers which match a Constitution class in size, and a couple big dumb space dreadnoughts that other powers love building? Considering the Federation built twelve Constitution class ships in their initial run, and the Vidiians are probably smaller than the Federation, we could have a decent chunk of their line of battle, sitting right here, a blow that might seriously damage Nurel senior's standing and make the other Pods think about terms.
There is also nothing stopping us from chasing down the Dragon and Nurel senior later. If we've identified him as the nexus of our opposition here (which debriefing the captured crews will quickly tell us), then we can then follow their last known vector and chase him down, perhaps presenting the other Pods with a deal once he's captured. The Dragon fleeing also seems so much like they are tempting us into following them (and they've had traps laid for us before) that I think we have to assign a significant probability to a trap - quite possibly a trap which we can fight our way out of, but still.
So I respect the other plans, they probably represent the most direct route to resolve this episode, and if this were an episode, it would probably be what we were doing, unless this were DS9, in which case we would definitely capture the fleet first. But I am going to vote for:
[X] This fleet will be removed from play. Now. Open a channel, demand their surrender - and if they don't take it, open fire.
-[X] Janeway tells the crews that they will be treated well, that we have a cure for the Phage and an artificial substitute, and they can decide whether to remain in the liberated pod or be re-patriated back to their home Pods.
(Yes, I'm fishing blatantly to get the +1 Momentum from Diplomacy, why do you ask.)
*(By the way @DragonCobolt, are "it/its" the Dragon's genuinely preferred pronouns, or just something the Vidiians are doing because they don't view the Dragon as a person anymore? I have been unsure on this and wanted to check.)
I agree to disagree. As I see it none of the Dragon's plans against Voyager have succeeded and I think they are at this point cutting their losses and running. Also while Voyager may not know about the Dragon it is a common tactic to go after command staff and captured high ranking officers often make for good hostages.
Finally I think we'll have a better chance at getting the rest of the Emergent fleet to stand down if we manage to take the Dragon out of play. That is going to be a major blow to morale and make it undeniable to those fighting that there is no chance of victory.
If that's not enough to convince you, I would ask that you consider having the captured destroyer crew send out their own message to further encourage a surrender in your plan. The reveal that one of the fleet's heavy hitters has surrendered and that its crew is being treated well would likely help in getting what is left of the Emergent fleet to stand down.
/snip/
Finally I think we'll have a better chance at getting the rest of the Emergent fleet to stand down if we manage to take the Dragon out of play.
/snip/
Just to pick up on this bit specifically... there is a tendency in quests, I think, when there is are two or more choices and one choice which we prefer, to want to rationalise along the lines "Actually Option A will also give us everything Option B does as well, because-". (I know this because I have often been the one making those arguments, haha.) However, in my experience this is rarely true - GMs, when they ask players to choose between things, often get pretty annoyed when players "Try to have their cake and eat it", as it were. Dilemmas between two options are generally intended to be actual dilemmas.
Capturing the Dragon/Nurel senior might well make the fleet no longer an issue, because it will lead to us resolving the plot of this episode, but I'd be really shocked if the fleet handed itself in. They don't really have much reason to do so - the Vidiian polity still controls all the other Pods and a massive territory, whatever is going on with the Dragon or Nurel senior. It would be a bit like the Japanese fleet turning itself in because Yamamoto's plane had been shot down. I expect they'll just retreat as DC said they would.
More broadly, you're right, maybe the Dragon really is turning tail and running here, after having been outmatched at every turn by our ability to improvise, rather than laying a trap. (There is no way to know for sure.) As I see it, that would mean the Dragon is less of a threat, and means our bridge crew are more likely to want to capture a chunk of the Vidiian fleet rather than prioritise eliminating the Dragon, who we know we can beat. But it's a genuine dilemma and I'm not sure there's a strong "correct" choice here.
I mean if I was a part of the fleet and witnessed my vaunted leader, the one who saved my species from the Borg, get captured after getting smacked around for an entire engagement, losing two ships to the enemy, one of which decided to surrender on its own initiative because of the actions of a handful of fighters, all while inflicting nearly no losses on the enemy I'd probably surrender too. Especially if the enemy was also offering free medical treatments.
Like I'm not trying to eat my cake and have it too. It didn't even occur to me that you thought that is what I was trying to do. It simply makes logical sense to me that these conditions would better encourage a surrender and I truly didn't believe that a simple call for them to surrender was bound to work.
In character, going after the command ship makes sense in that it likely contains intel in its databanks and the officer in command is bound to be valuable and would improve the chances of any negotiation if they were captured. Out of character the Dragon is a threat because they offer a mechanical advantage to our opposition and their loss would be a major blow to the Emergent because of the reputation that we the questers knows they have.
I think it's entirely possible that capturing the command ship and the Dragon might lead to some kind of peace settlement, including our offer of a Phage cure . As I said, I think it would be a bit strange for military personnel to surrender because of something like that, especially when they'll likely have retreated to friendly territory by then. The thing making them surrender if we stick around is that we can destroy their ships if they don't.
Anyway, I think there are valid arguments for both, and am excited to see the next update.
*(By the way @DragonCobolt, are "it/its" the Dragon's genuinely preferred pronouns, or just something the Vidiians are doing because they don't view the Dragon as a person anymore? I have been unsure on this and wanted to check.)
Adhoc vote count started by DragonCobolt on Jun 8, 2022 at 9:55 AM, finished with 35 posts and 6 votes.
[x] Plan Pursuit
-[x] ...that ship! It used a laser communicator before leaving - almost as if it was the command ship! AFTER IT! (give me 1 threat to use the momentum spend of "asking questions" to learn that ship was the command ship, then rush after it!)
—[x] spend 4 power
-[x] val jean will stay behind and menace/pursue the remaining three ships preventing them from attacking the pod or pursuing voyager (a safe distance from the pulsar
-[x] pulsars are scary!! Broadcast a general warning that the pulsar has been destabilized and that anyone nearby should take shelter from the increased radiation/technobabble particles
[X] Plan The Nistrim Maneuver
-[x] ...that ship! It used a laser communicator before leaving - almost as if it was the command ship! AFTER IT! (give me 1 threat to use the momentum spend of "asking questions" to learn that ship was the command ship, then rush after it!)
--[X] Spend 4 power
-[X] Replicate what the Sect Nistrim ships did to escape Voyager and launch a volley of torpedoes set to blind the Emergent fleet.
-[X] Have the crew of the captured destroyer broadcast that they have surrendered, that they are being held with concern being given to their well being, and are being provided free cures for the Phage.
[X] This fleet will be removed from play. Now. Open a channel, demand their surrender - and if they don't take it, open fire.
-[X] Janeway tells the crews that they will be treated well, that we have a cure for the Phage and an artificial substitute, and they can decide whether to remain in the liberated pod or be re-patriated back to their home Pods.
[X] Plan The Nistrim Maneuver
-[x] ...that ship! It used a laser communicator before leaving - almost as if it was the command ship! AFTER IT! (give me 1 threat to use the momentum spend of "asking questions" to learn that ship was the command ship, then rush after it!)
--[X] Spend 4 power
-[X] Replicate what the Sect Nistrim ships did to escape Voyager and launch a volley of torpedoes set to blind the Emergent fleet.
-[X] Have the crew of the captured destroyer broadcast that they have surrendered, that they are being held with concern being given to their well being, and are being provided free cures for the Phage.
That's 2s! You will need to give me 1 threat to get enough advantage to create the blinding field behind you (since it costs 2 momentum to make a blinding field, and you only got 1 momentum from it.)
Since that's in your plan...that's what shall happen! Hehe...*eats the threat*
Janeway, for a moment, swore she had a thought from a different time. A different place. A different her.
Semaphore towers, blinking in the distance, in a misty fog. The home she'd never had...
"That's a laser communicator - that ship is the flagship!" Janeway said, springing to her feet, thrusting her finger out. "After it, Mr. Paris!"
"Aye aye!"
They banked, stretched, then shot away - and moments later, enough railgun rounds to blow through to the warp core zipped through where the USS Voyager had been.
***
"I am Pod Captain Jandi Rox...and do you take me for a child?" The stern woman who commanded the ESS Invisan Hanl asked as she looked at Amy. Amy put her hands over her face, while C'nola groaned.
"Do we need to parade people out at you?" she asked, throwing up her arms. "What does it take you to get it, that we're giving away the product for free! No, not product, the cure, the same stuff the Podmasters have been using for CENTURIES! That stuff? The stuff they've been hiding from you? I...we can get a Vidiian doc, we have med techs here!"
The three of them were in the brig of Pod Liberté and thus far, nothing that Amy or C'nola had said had convinced the stern woman to do anything but give them a harsh frown and her serial number and little else. Amy rubbed her palms against her face, then C'nola stood and started to pace.
"We can do it, you know, don't test us!" she said.
"You can find as many collaborators as you want, but I will not do more than my duty to my ship and my crew. You are asking me to betray the very essence of what makes me an Emergent. What makes me strong." She squared her shoulders. "You are asking me to tell my fellow sailors to give up on the strength of a lie."
"How is it we swap universes and everyone's still assholes?" C'nola growled.
Amy sighed, then placed her palms on the table. "Listen," she said, her voice soft. "I...am used to people justifying what they do because of hard times and extremis. And...maybe sometimes it is true. I know I've used that excuse more than once. But...yet...despite having the best intentions, at the end of it, all I was left was a lot of corpses. My hard choices didn't save anyone anything...they just made everything harder. For everyone." She stood up. "I know...it is a lot to ask for. But the Federation I come from now, is built on one idea. That there's always a better tomorrow - we can make it, if we're brave enough."
She offered her hand to Pod Captain Jandi Rox.
***
Brixto hunched over his console as the hateful blip that was the alien ship shot towards them. "They will overtake us," the Dragon said, quietly. "Reroute power from life support to ionic weapons."
There was no response to her orders - not verbal, at least. Instead, the bridge crew hastily began to work their consoles. The air filters sputtered and died and the lights dimmed on the bridge as the Dragon watched the forward screen with the same nothingness that she had turned to everyone and everything else.
"Pod Captain!" Tashel called out, her voice panicking. "We have an over correction in our ziphead pens for the warp engines - they're restabilizing but we have an incoherence in the warp bubble."
"Acceptable," the Dragon said. "Bracket fire on the dorsal line...now."
The warp bubble shimmered and swept away as they shuddered from FTL to merely absurdly fast. A second later, the alien ship filled space above them as the Dragon tapped at her armrest. The ship shuddered and the ionic cannons began to fire, blanketing space above them. The shields of the enemy ship flared, flashed, popped, hissed.
The Dragon's voice was soft. "They will attempt to board us or tractor us, giving us the time required to-"
The tractor beam slammed down around their ship, a glowing blue field.
"Very good," the Dragon said - before actually smiling.
Brixto had never been more afraid in his life.
Then the Dragon frowned.
And Brixto nearly wet himself.
Because he was damn sure she had just sighed and said: "Ah. Well. Hurm. We'll see."
***
The bridge of the USS Voyager was still filled with a thin pall of smoke from one of the sensor consoles that had exploded in the terrifying overflow of ionic energy that had swept through the ship. Janeway coughed, while D-91 called out. "Our tractor beam is locked on - we have them!"
"Captain, I picked up subspace signal sent from the flagship moments before we hit them with the force field," Tuvok said, his voice grim.
"Hell," Janeway said. "Mr. Kim, our shields?"
"They're damaged, but-"
The space behind them filled with three ships - the destroyer and both corvettes. The corvettes arrived in a flanking chevron and they swung to bear their angular torpedo broadsides to the USS Voyager. Mr. Paris, though, was not asleep at the swtich. The tractor beam hummed as it swung the captured Flagship to the side, using the momentum as a pendulum to bring the USS Voyager around - and the phasers whirred to life. Torpedoes streaked in - and died in fiery blasts as they corkscrewed and whipped around the point defense beams.
They struck detonating along the shields with glancing blows and near detonations rather than direct hits. The shields flared and the ship trembled...
And the barrage ended, the racks on the two corvettes working frantically to reload in time.
Janeway, her voice shockingly calm in the nearly silent bridge, said: "...damage?"
"None to the hull, captain. Shields at 1% and holding," Tuvok said, his voice equally at calm.
"Holy shit," Tom Paris breathed.
"Captain!" T'are's voice was nearly breaking. "We have a warp signature coming from Pod Liberte...it's the destroyer!"
Janeway knew all eyes were on her. She wanted to crumple. Instead, she stood and watched - and then allowed a faint smile show on her face. "Well, it seems everyone's come to play," she said, as if the USS Voyager could take on a whole Vidiian fleet.
The ESS Invisan Hanl slammed out of Warp in a dominating position above the battlefield...and flanking her were the fighters of Alpha squadron, carried along her warp bubble like lampreys and a shark. The fighters swept forward to move into an attack chevron pattern - while a stern, female, Vidiian voice came over the communicators. "The is...this is Captain Jandi Rox, representing Pod Liberté. We have a full supply of permanent Phage cure aboard. All hands in task force, stand down and the cure will be beamed aboard immediately for your crews."
Janeway blinked, while Harry pumped his fist at his console. "Amy Strong! Yes!" He laughed. "Hah!"
"Captain, we're getting a hail from the Vidiian flagship," T'are said. "It's...they...are the Dragon."
"Put them on," Janeway said, pursing her lips. She wasn't sure what to expect - but to see the Dragon was just a woman was...not exactly what she had been imagining. She nodded across the screen to the other woman, who looked at everywhere but Janeway's eyes. "Greetings. You are the Dragon?"
"That is the designation," she said, quietly.
"Do you offer your surrender?" Janeway asked.
"No," the Dragon said. "If you approach my ship, it will be destroyed. We will withdraw. Furthermore-"
There was a flash of light. She grunted - then fell forward, out of the view of the camera, smoke rising from off the edge of the view. Janeway blinked, then a terrified looking Vidiian male stepped into the view, holding a disruptor in his hand. "This is acting pod captain Brixtel, we surrender, we surrender immediately!"
***
Janeway, Brian and D-91 entered into the sickbay to find that the Doctor was rinsing his hands off in the decon tank.
"Aren't you a hologram?" Brian asked, lightly.
"And if force fields were frictionless, I'd be unable to do my job," he said, his voice acerbic. "Now, I don't know about you, but last time I checked, sidearms tend to carry stun settings."
"Disruptors don't," D-91 said.
"I see. Another reason to find them distasteful," The Doctor said. "The Vidiian admiral was admitted with a low level energy weapon shot to her sternum - I would say she is lucky to be alive, but I am very good at my job." He frowned. "She is still unconscious - interrogation may be difficult."
"Why is that?" Janeway asked, stepping to the bed where the woman lay sleeping, her only sign of adornment - her necklace - resting on the edge of the pale white sheet that covered her.
"She's Focused," the Doctor said.
"Hold up, the Vidiian documentation says Focus only really works on analytic and mathematic stuff, or replications, not people skills like tactics," Brian said, holding up his hand.
"If you want my guess? She's a one in a million example of someone with innate tactical and strategic ability and obsessive personality - combining to make it possible for the Vidiian brain butchery to hone in on and accentuate the ability to their preferred monstrosity," the Doctor said. "No wonder they kept her in storage."
"How old do you think she is?" Janeway asked.
"Based on thawing signifiers, chemicals used to prevent and reverse ice damage, and quantum dating on her bone and teeth?" the Doctor said. "She's two centuries old."
Brian reached down, gently, and touched the necklace. It glowed to life and projected a shimmering holographic image - an army of tanks, helicopters and other vehicles, heavily armed and yet crudly built, as if they had been crafted from scrap and ruins, all of them marching victoriously past ruined, bombed out buildings. At their head were two figures - a woman in glittering armor, her head covered with a helmet, and a figure in rags and on a chain, forced to march before crowds of jeering Vidiians. The vehicles all flew the Emergent flag. Brian shook his head, drawing his hand back and the image stopped playing.
"What a charming memento," he said. "Think she was some early Podmaster, who lost in a battle between cliques?"
"Maybe," Janeway said.
"What do we do with her?" D-91 asked.
"Can she be...unfocused?" Janeway asked.
"Possibly," the Doctor said. "But...it's a risk..."
Janeway frowned. "She's also one of the biggest prize slaves of the Nurel faction in the Emergency. They say she stopped the Borg cold."
"We beat her easily enough," D-91 said.
"We don't fight like the Borg," Janeway said. "And...it was damn close."
---
CURRENT MOMENTUM: 2
CURRENT TRUTHS: "Victory! ...for now."
What do you do?
[ ] Unfocus her and question her.
[ ] Keep her on ice as a way to end this peacefully - trade her back for Liberte's...liberty.
[ ] Write in
MOMENTUM: 2
THREAT: 0
Ionic Frigates have 4 resistance, 12 shields, 8 power and do 6d with ionic arrays (Piercing 2, Light Impact, this is a rule I have INVENTED that reduces breaches by -1 if they cause any) and 7d for their railguns (calibrations, vicious 1, no damage if they hit shields)
Torpedo Corvettes have 3 resistance, 10 shields, 8 power, and do 6d with their torpedoes and have fast racks (re-roll one d20 for their shooting.)
STARFLEET
Voyager spends 4 power versus the Phaxtor which spends 3 power! They catch up! The Phaxtor has 2 actions, Voyager has 1 action left.
VIDIIANS
Phaxtor attempts to get more juice for their engines. Base diff is 2, -1 for the Dragon. They get 2s and 1 complication. The complication shall be "unstable warp bubble." - but still, they succeed, regaining 1 power, then have 2 threat banked. They spend it to add +2 to their power recovery.
STARFLEET
Voyager has 0 power. They attempt to get their power back online too and roll an OUTSTANDING 5, 3, 1 - that's 5s against a diff of 2! They recover 1 power with 3 momentum left over - which they spend on taking a second action at +1 diff. They spend 1 power and slam on the tractor! That's diff 2, +1 for second action, -1 for unstable warp bubble. They get 3s! That's a success with 1 momentum! ...and you get a complication. I'll say that gives you an unstable warp bubble too - the two combined mean the if/then "at warp" gets set to no. You both drop from warp in interstellar space.
VIDIIANS
They have 3 power and put all of it into Ionic blasts, called shot at your weapons! That diff is 2 +1 for called shot, -1 for The Dragon, versus 2s! They hit! They get 5/2/2/2 damage, with pierce 6, meaning they ignore your soak entirely. Your shields, which were restored for their full 13 are brought down to 2/13, no breaches.
VIDIIANS
Since Val Jean, Voyager and fighter are out of actions, the Vidiian fleet is free to act. one of them - the one that shot you - had one action. The others have two. They take the actions to warp...TO THE DRAGON!? All three succeed, and the two torpedo corvettes come in around the USS Voyager! They throw 3 momentum and 3 momentum at you to unleash TWO BARRAGES OF PHOTON TORPEDOES! The first gets 2s and the second gets 2s, against a base diff of 2! Two hits, doing 6/3/3 and 2/1 holy shit that last damage roll, hah! Your resistance is 5, reducing that to 1/0/0 and 0/0!!! Your shields JUST BARELY hold out at 1 shields...and the Dragon's last hope dies by a SINGLE POINT OF DAMAGE!
ROUND TWO (yes, really, this is the second round of combat, jesus)
STARFLEET
Janeway spends 2 momentum to create the advantage of "broadcast from surrendering Vidiians" and then uses THAT to make the formerly impossible check of reaching out to the Vidiians! She spends 3 momentum for +2d20...and gets... 3s against a diff of 2+1 for dragon. She just BARELY MANAGES IT and creates the advantage of "surrendering Vidiians." Also, you get +1 momentum thanks to your special ability!
The battle of the pulsar is over.
But the war for the Emergency may have just begun.
I say we need more info. Can she be questioned as is? For a general sense of her being?
Does she just do wherever she's told or does she hold some loyalty to her people or something?
I'm fine with this as long as it doesn't just make her Nurotypical, it sounds like she was maybe some kind of ND before the Focus, removing that while getting at the Focus feels a little eugenics-y.
Of course, I trust Dragon to think of this stuff too, so I'm sure it's fine! but ya know, hyper vigilance brain
