Author Topic: Hide and Seek  (Read 748 times)

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Offline Arrun Dihsar

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Hide and Seek
« on: August 30, 2017, 12:51:34 am »
Mission Title: Hide and Seek
Synopsis: The USS Yourship has been fitted with an experimental sensor suite that can perform long-range scans at 20 light years; about 3 light years farther than any known ship out at space. During a discrete border patrol to test the state-of-the-art system, using long range sensors to just pick out any ships unlawfully entering Federation Space, the Captain of the USS Yourship is sent a Captains-Only priority two message from Starfleet Intelligence. According to verified sources, it has become known that a Dominion Attack Ship has been ship-jacked by unknown forces and is believed to have violated Federation Space near the USS Yourship's position. The Captain of the USS Yourship is being advised of the situation so they can take appropriate action. However, Starfleet Intelligence has not yet fully revealed how much they know about the situation, and the Captain and crew of the Yourship are about to be engaged by an enemy that has managed to influence a member of the crew to betray the ship and the Federation.

Starting Point: USS Yourship, 20 light years away from assigned border. The Captain of the USS Yourship is about to go to sleep when they are woken up with an urgent command-level message from Starfleet Intelligence.
End Goal: The USS Yourship engages the Attack Ship, discovers who among the crew betrayed the ship and why.

Story points that must be passed?:

1) As the night watch begins about the USS Yourship, the ship is sent an encoded priority two message from Starfleet Intelligence. Keyed only for the Captain's security codes. The Captain is informed of the message and is required to use their security clearance to read the message.

2) Given the security clearance required, the Captain has to choose who needs-to-know to respond to the possible threat. The fact that Starfleet Intelligence encoded information indicates they do not want this information know to the entire ship and crew; however, the report did not limit the Captain's powers to inform: only that they, at the very least, were told first and had the option to tell who they wanted to tell.

3) At some point, Ops has to be informed what is going on, that there is a ship far more dangerous than a smuggling freighter or junker pirate ship to be watchful for on sensors. Tactical also needs to be made aware to ensure the crew is ready for a big fight. Even if the ship is a damaged one, a Jem'hadar Attack Ship is still a major threat to any Starfleet vessel. The XO should be brought into the loop too if they are to be of any help to the Captain. However, the more people know, the more likely a certain crew member may catch on that something strange is going on aboard the ship. Research or knowledge of the capabilities of a Jem'Hadar Attack Ship (likely with a functional cloaking device) is incredibly important information; the more prepared and informed the Captain and XO are, the better they will perform later.

4) At some point OPS will discover a strange reading on short-range sensors. An anomaly is producing an incredibly faint energy pulse at a sub-space level. The faster the ship goes, the stronger the pulse; the slower it goes, the weaker it gets. The crew will have to determine if this is of great concern or not; but if ignored will result in the ship being easily detected by the Attack Ship later. The only way to find it is a through level 1 diagnostic of the impulse and warp drives to search for what is causing the energy pulse. In what specific manner or place it is hidden will be left to the discretion of whomever runs this mission. It is a surprisingly simple device, rendered from Federation parts and miscellaneous salvaged parts to create something that would not immediately seem to be a foreign object. Small enough to fit in a pocket and simple enough that following basic schematics any of a starfleet officer could assemble it and some crewman as well.

An engineer will need to examine the device to precisely determine what the device does. In short, the device is a sort of sub-space beacon. Normally, no starship sensor would pick up such a faint signal; dismissing it as background radiation. But if someone where to look for that exact energy frequency: any ship looking for it would be able to detect the ship inside even a heavily obscuring nebula if they moved at any faster than 1/4 impulse. A ship at high warp could detect it and stop short of being detected and then slip into the Yourship's sensor range at a far lower warp without any notice.

5) The device now discovered and understood, those in the know are left with a very sobering thought. The only way a device like that got where it was is if someone put it there. A saboteur who intentionally was trying to give away the Yourship's position. Although it is possible it was implanted during the refit; the anomaly only just activated two days ago; while the Yourship was in the middle of its patrol route; far from reinforcements. Thus an investigation must be launched to see who aboard either planted or activated the device. (At the one who runs this mission's discretion, and relevant characters, the saboteur can be an NPC; a PC; or the device had a built in delay before activation) Everyone aboard is a suspect until the truth of how that beacon was placed on the Yourship.

6) At the mission runner's discretion, one crewman/officer appears to be the saboteur be circumstantial evidence. It is possible this person is the saboteur, the saboteur's backup, a scapegoat the saboteur is framing, or an unlucky crew member who was at the wrong place and time. In any event, the suspect looks to be a perfect fit for the crime they are accused of. Further investigation will need to be done by a JAG officer and a panel of judges will need to be convened for the serious and career ending charge of sabotage. For now, they will have to be held in the brig until the crisis has passed.

7) Unknown to the USS Yourship the USS BackUp, a Defiant-Class ((Maybe another ship in the Task Force?)) ship, has been deployed deeper in Federation Space as a backup ship in case the Attack Ship slips by or destroys the Yourship.

8 ) As the USS Yourship passes through a corridor between two massive sensor and communications obscuring phenomena; Ops detects weapons signature at bearing 135, mark 015, just just barely within torpedo range. The crew of the USS Yourship has mere moments to prepare for Red Alert battle stations. They are under attack from a cloaked ship! It is so far away, it is possible the ship can evade to torpedo or phaser it clean out of space. Upon being struck by, evading, or destroying the torpedo; the USS Yourship loses contact with the hostile ship and is unable to determine where it is currently hiding.

9) Ops detects a tachyon surge at 20 light years ahead on an intercept course at warp. With a bit of sensor analysis it becomes apparent that it is in fact a cloaked Klingon ship. What is strange is that the cloak will only help once they slow down, at such high speeds any Federation vessel and even most standing Star empires would be able to detect a cloaked Klingon ship at that speed. With a bit of thought, it occurs to the officers aboard that they have a cloaked ship behind them and a cloaked ship in front of them. Although the Klingons were allies, it was not unheard of for some foolish warrior or house to get it into their head that the Federation was an enemy to be defeated. There was no way to know for sure quite yet, but approaching a Federation vessel at cloak, in Federation space, was not the act of an ally.

10) Meanwhile at the Backup Ship, they too detect the cloaked Klingon ship moving toward the USS YourShip's patrol area; roughly in the direction of a certain space corridor between two sensor and communication obscuring phenomena.  They were told to watch for a Dominion vessel, not Klingons. USS BackUp has not been cleared to hail the YourShip yet or even to assist. However, he was not in anyway restricted from calling Starfleet Command to clarify what exactly was going on here. He also called for yellow alert; the Captain of the Backup had a really bad feeling about what was going on here.

11)At the USS YourShip, the crew has a serious problem on their hands. The cannot call for help, are wedged between two blinding space clouds, and have a hostile at their back and a possible hostile ahead; with a possible saboteur aboard. Even crew not in the know can tell the ship is getting tense; the senior staff seem grim and serious as if it was wartime. They need to seize the initiative somehow; gain control of the situation; they will just have to get creative with how they will do that; they may even have to violate certain General Orders and Regulations to do it. However, they need to be careful; the only ship that has acted hostile is the one behind them, making threatening behavior toward the Klingon ship ahead will give them an excuse to attack.

12) With whatever crazy idea the ship that came up with the spook the ship behind them from hiding, it makes a lot of erratic movements into torpedo range to avoid the phantom threat the USS Yourship has cooked up. For all their dodging and weaving, they have only made themselves plain and visible to the Yourship; cloak or no cloak. The USS Yourship has a chance to disable or destroy the ship before the Klingons arrive. If the Klingons are friendly, then they'll be impressed; if they are hostile, the odds will be even.

13) The ship suddenly changes energy signature and Ops detects a sensor clone of the USS Yourship! The first volley of torpedoes veer away or self-destruct as per Starfleet regulations (unless Tactical comes up with some quick thinking and disengages the safety protocols in a hurry). Once the Yourship figures out the sensor trick, they can engage and destroy the Jem'Hadar Attack ship (even if they did not mean to, the enemy ship was not in the best of shape and its warp core overloads when the ship suffers enough damage); also, powerful as it is, Starfleet has had a lot of experience and time to adjust to the new ships and knows how to fight them; at least, so long as Tactical was made aware of what the were coming up against. Though, the ability to cloak and mask its energy signature to appear as any number of phenomena is a wrinkle that made fighting this ship that much harder.

14) The USS Yourship can relax a little, the Klingon ship, if it is hostile, is unlikely to attack a Federation ship of the line in a straight fight; even if it does, the crew can at least take a breath before bracing for the next wave of the crisis.

14.5) However, should there be a saboteur aboard (again, mission runner's discretion if there is even one aboard); then evidence turns up revealing, without question, who the true traitor is. As ship's security moves to arrest the traitor, things go sideways and the traitor manages to produce a Type-2 Phaser set to kill; a short fire-fight ensues and the traitor makes way to a critical part of the ship holding a hostage. Things are tense, the ship will be in serious jeopardy if phaser fire hits the wrong things in that room. The traitor was under the influence of Dominion spies who were looking to start a conflict between the Federation and the Klingons. During the war, the traitor worked for them for leniency if they won; incurring some personal benefits along the way. However, when the Treaty of Bajor was signed, they were oddly thought to be free of their shame and betrayal.  However, they were suddenly called upon to set the sub-space beacon and make sure their escape pod got to certain coordinates to avoid being blasted. No-one was to survive the "brutal attack by Klingon aggressors." It was to be a spark that would reignite war or at the very least tensions between the Klingons and the Federation. The beauty of the plan? No changlings involved, just a few well placed bribes, a clandestine message handed off, and one officer who thought they would never have to betray their uniform ever again. The crew must capture or kill the traitor, or risk losing the ship.

15) The Klingon Ship closes to attack range and opens fire on the USS Yourship; using its cloak more effectively at the much slower battle speed. It is unresponsive to hails. Just as the Yourship seems to be in trouble, the USS Backup charges out from the obscuring phenomena; it fires not one shot but instead slips between the USS YourShip and the Klingon attacker to take some of the shots meant to cripple the USS Yourship; while the Yourship gets clean hits on the cruiser. Surprised by the appearance of the BackUp, the Klingon ship ceases fire and slips into the obscuring phenomena itself.

16) The USS Backup has suffered critical hits in its stunt, it is in dire need of assistance to help stabilize its warp core. The USS Yourship must decide if it helps its fellow ship in distress while in a hide and seek battle with a Klingon ship or abandon the USS BackShip and stay on alert footing for the hostile ship. This choice left to the discretion of the USS Yourship and its crew.

17) The Klingon ship returns to continue its fight. This time the USS Yourship is waiting for the attack (or has the limited resources of the Backup. As more combat capable starship with no current contact with Starfleet Command; the Yourship Captain has command and is able to order the BackUp Captain's ship to engage the hostile ship...even though, technically, their last orders were not to engage.) With a bit of tense fighting, the Klingons ship is disabled or destroyed. The Yourship and its crew are finally safe and able to leave exit the corridor and inform Starfleet Command of what just happened.

What DID go on here? Starfleet Intelligence was aware of a possible spy aboard the USS Yourship and of certain intelligence actions in Klingon space. However, it could not risk spreading that information around; and told the USS Yourship Captain what they believed they needed to know. It was not aware of the Sensor Masking capabilities of the ship. However, at the end of the mission they have some good data on the new SOTA sensor suite; a bit of diplomatic clout against the Dominion; and a round of commendations to offer to the ship the USS Yourship.

It is believed that the Dominion informed a group of rogues and mercenaries of the access codes needed to steal the "gifted" attack ship. With the mastermind of the plan, a certain (rogue?) Vorta was able to board the ship and orchestrate a plan to not only start a war between the Klingons and the Federation but to possibly steal a SOTA sensor system as a gift to the Dominion. Starfleet Intelligence knew what danger the Yourship faced, but was confident that with the little information they were given, and the tools they had, they would prevail. Besides, they had the USS Backup to fall back on if all else failed.

Departments: (To make sure everyone has something to do.)
- Flight: Handling the ship during the fighting and getting the ship into position are vital; if the ship goes into the obscuring clouds the FCO at the Helm will have to be very careful in their maneuvering to avoid unwanted collisions. Shuttle pilots may be used to help search for the cloaked ships or used to draw the ships out of hiding. Given the nature of the sabotage, any member of the Flight Department could have placed the sub-space beacon. Absent a Player Engineer, a FCO character could puzzle out what the sabotage device is.
- Engineering: The new sensor suite needs eyes-on to stay relevant and helpful. When the sabotage made known to them, engineers can be vital in not only finding the device but puzzling out what it even is exactly.
- Operations: Someone has to be the eyes of the ship, and Ops has to keep a close eye out for hostiles in this mission. During investigations, Operations knows where nearly everyone while on duty and most of the time off duty as well. they will also be helpful in managing a rescue effort for the USS BackUp.
- Security and tactical: Not only does security have two hostile ships to worry about, but it has sabotage aboard ship to worry about.
- Medical: As the mission gets more tense, the crew will show signs of wear and high stress; the need to be watched carefully to make sure no-one gets too worked up. In addition, during investigations, Medical can be crucial in finding out who was where and touched what. In battle, they will be flooded with injured crewmen to worry about; especially if the USS Backup is given assistance.
- Science: Another set of eyes on the sensors and able to puzzle out many factors of what is going on; they may be instrumental in puzzling out an out-of-the-box solution to finding and understanding the sabotage device; also for figuring out how to get the Attack ship to give itself away.



This is an adaptation from the plot of the Full Motion Video Computer Game Silent Steel; a favorite of mine. Good luck if you want to play it (FMV games of the mid-90s are a pain to get running) and kudos to you if you have! No worries about spoiling the exact events of the game if you wanted to play it for yourself; I may have told you roughly had the story goes, but how to get that path is not always clear; plus, I made some creative changes to get a submarine story to fit a Star Trek episode.
« Last Edit: August 30, 2017, 12:53:05 am by Arrun Dihsar »

Offline Constance Lafayette

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Re: Hide and Seek
« Reply #1 on: August 30, 2017, 12:15:35 pm »
It's a good start.
I'd encourage you to plan less. 16, super detailed, points are REALLY hard to run as a mission.
Missions, you have to remember, have a lot of player direction in them. It's best if you plan out the larger story beats in pretty broad strokes.
Here is an example of a mission planning document I actually used for a mission back in April. You can kind of see the scale of detail it gets to.

Rear Admiral Constance Lafayette
Commanding Officer, USS Athena
Academy Command Officer Instructor

Offline Arrun Dihsar

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Re: Hide and Seek
« Reply #2 on: August 30, 2017, 01:18:40 pm »
1) The Captain is informed of the message and chooses who to tell.

2) The ship has been sabotaged in some strange way that reveals its location to ships looking for a unique energy signature.

3) The Yourship is attacked briefly from behind by the AttackShip while remaining cloaked, but it immediately withdraws after it fires.

4) Long-range sensors detects a new contact on an intercept course approaching from the bow. Possible friend or foe.

5) Crew has to deal with the cloaked ship before new contact arrives. Some creative out-of-the-box thinking to flush it out of hiding and fight it!

6) When attacked the AttackShip creates masks its sensor readings to appear to be a friendly Federation starship to confuse its enemies. If left alone long enough, it may approach the YourShip under this fake sensor reading to get close enough to shoot or otherwise attack the Yourship with its shields down.

7) Saboteur aboard! Is wrecking havoc with the ship's systems.

8 ) NewContact attacks the Yourship from cloak. Possibly the ones who implanted the saboteur aboard.

9) Nearby friendly starship warps in to help defend the Yourship from new contact; it is critically damaged and in need of assistance but will scare away the NewContact with its sudden appearance.

10) NewContact eventually returns to continue fighting from cloak; focusing on YourShip.

11) If Saboteur captured, will detail the masterplan of NewContact.

Departments: (To make sure everyone has something to do.)
- Flight: Fancy flying in battle; shuttles possibly used to help the fight or aid the Friendly damaged ship.
- Engineering: Experimental sensor system means more work, A sabotaged ship needs repairs.
- Operations: Trying to call for help or communicate with strange hostiles; can help discern who among the crew is the saboteur.
- Security and tactical: Ships to fight and a saboteur aboard, you'll be busy..
- Medical: Between the Sabotage; hostile aboard; hostile ship attacks; and a ship in distress; there will be a busy medical team.
- Science: Need to understand the sensor mask ability; great source for out-of-the-box ideas; could help with figuring out the sabotuer's plans.



Trimmed it down to the vital points, left a lot more vague, but just enough to keep the highlights of the original story. Too vague maybe?

 

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