Mission Title: Stormfall
Synopsis: The Tempest detects a strange, repeating signal coming from an unexplored rogue planet. The signal appears to be some kind of beacon. The Tempest approaches and scans the rogue planet, only to be struck by a powerful tractor beam from the surface. The tractor beam is so powerful it takes all of the Tempest's power merely to prevent an uncontrolled descent to the surface. Energy must be transferred from every system just to keep the ship aloft, leaving nothing. Only minimal life support can be maintained. Worse, the strain can not be maintained indefinitely. The tractor beam itself seems to be emitted from a shielded facility on the surface, employing a shield so powerful that even torpedoes can not breach it. The Tempest must beam a team to the planet's surface- using runabout transporters because the Tempest's own transporters have insufficient power remaining- and figure out how to disable the tractor beam before the Tempest and everyone aboard is pulled to the surface in a horrific crash.
Starting Point: The Tempest detects a strange, repeating signal coming from an unexplored rogue planet. The signal appears to be some kind of beacon.
End Goal: The away team takes control of the planet's computer system and disables the tractor beam, freeing the Tempest.
Story points that must be passed?:
I) Tempest investigates beacon on rogue planetoid. The beacon seems to identify the planetoid as a 'shelter.'
II) Upon arriving, Tempest is caught in tractor beam. All attempts to pull away fail. Sooner or later, Tempest will fall.
III) Due to concerns about additional tractor emitters on the planetoid, the Tempest can't send an away team by shuttle. Instead, independently powered runabout transporters are used to beam down a team.
IV) Team finds a way to gain entry to ancient alien structure on the surface within which the emitter is based.
V) Team handles holographic sentries which defend the structure's halls as part of an automated defense system.
VI) Team gains access to huge space that seems like some kind of recycling and deconstruction yard. Team figures out that passing space ships or asteroids are pulled into this space and then hacked apart and recycled into usable materials. An underground storage facility is full of recycled comets, ships, and other passerby collected over hundreds of years.
VII) Team gains access to computer room, but the computer is well protected, and attempts to break its high level encryption fail. However, low-level files can be accessed and show that the Rogue Planetoid is carrying evacuees from a destroyed solar system. The planetoid was originally a vast recycling yard built into a moon that was orbiting a gas giant, but now is an emergency escape vehicle that will carry the evacuees to a new solar system within the next thousand years. Surprisingly, the builders of this remarkable facility never cracked warp travel, instead building an ultra-sophisticated sublight civilization confined to their home system and places reachable by sublight drive. When their sun became unexpectedly unstable, there was little time to prepare. The planetoid was set into motion by powerful thrusters installed on the surface, and every lawful citizen who could get to it was put into stasis. Over a million aliens now sleep aboard her.
VIII) Vast stasis rooms are discovered, with hundreds of thousands of stasis chambers, and the medical officers figure out how to revive some of these aliens.
IX) The aliens are shocked to learn of alien life, and are apologetic to learn that their planetoid has been capturing starships for recycling. They explain the facility was only meant to take meteors and other non-living phenomenon from nearby space to store up materials that could be used to build a colony when they arrive at their destination solar system in a thousand years. They also explain the holographic sentries were there, not to prevent alien intruders, but as part of the normal security system to deter pirates native to their system. There was concern that criminals might try to hijaack the planetoid and take it from the good citizens who could make it aboard. Once they process unexpected developments, the aliens obligingly log into the computer and turn off the tractor beam. Then, after a brief cultural exchange, they return to their stasis pods to resume their journey. The Prime Directive forbids giving a non-warp culture any info on how to build warp drive, but they don't seem particularly interested in the technology, anyway. They have achieved remarkable things as a sublight culture and don't seem to mind sleeping through the remainder of their journey.
X) With the tractor beam disabled, the Tempest can resume its travels.
Departments: (To make sure everyone has something to do.)
- Flight: The Flight personnel will actually be on the surface for this one, part of the away team that tries to shut down the tractor beam.
- Engineering: There are two roles for Engineering personnel. 1) Keep the engines firing at full power and keep systems online while the away team investigates a way to shut down the Tractor. 2) Join the away team and help them to investigate the alien structure.
- Operations: Operations should join the away team in their investigation of the alien structure, trying to find a way to shut down the tractor beam.
- Security and tactical: There are holographic sentries in the alien structure that must be dealt with.
- Medical: Medical personnel will be needed to revive the aliens from stasis safely, and to treat any injuries caused by the holographic sentries.
- Science: Science will doubtless be deeply involved in analyzing the features of the alien structure and also in accessing the low-level files in the alien computer.
NOTE: This mission bears similarities to the Race from Extinction mission chain, and so probably one or the other should be used, but not both.
