MISSION BRIEFS: EXTREMEOPHILE

  • Suggested Era: Any.
  • Spotlight Characters: Science officers

SYNOPSIS

The ship is doing a survey sweep through an unremarkable system when they encounter a space-borne life lifeform.

OPENING LOG ENTRY

Science officer’s log: We are doing a sweep of system SSC-0913. The parent stars are a pair of unremarkable M4V main sequence stars of similar size. Both are 0.8 the size and brightness of Sol and are circling a barycenter 3AU from each star. Survey probes have been launched to map the system.

MAJOR BEATS

1) Do the Science Thing

While moving through the system, the flight control officers can set up courses for the probe with a Reason+Conn, Diff 2 to create an advantage of “Probe Data” for the science officer. The science officer can scan the system with a Insight or Control+Science, Diff 2 to gather information.

The system has a pair of red stars circling each other at roughly 6AUs with a barycenter that is littered with asteroids and gas in a bar-bell shape where the stars are pulling on them. Each star has a J-class gas giant companion at half an AU and 1.1 AU, respectively, with a T-class superjovian orbiting the pair at 12AUs out. But the real surprise: they note an anomalous vector change on one of the asteroids. It’s a bit smaller than their vessel and looks like it had an outgassing of material. It’s weirdly shaped — almost shrimp-like, and with a momentum spend of 1) it’s warmer than the surrounding rocks with a crust of nickel-iron, and the material expelled is a curious mixture of elements; another 2) the rock appears to have an extensive system of caves and is pinging back EM and heat signatures, as well as chemical signatures that indicate life. Lots of it!

They can reorient the probe to have another look or bring the ship in. As they get close, they can take another look. Insight+Science, Diff 1: their scans look to be making the rock outgas again, changing course and moving away. Whatever it is, it’s alive and responding to their scans. A momentum spend will also confirm there appear to be multiple life forms inside the network of caverns; some kind of ship? Ant attempt to communicate will not get a response, but the transmissions also seem to make the rock thrust away from them.

2) Beachhead

Control+Conn, Diff 2 to beam the landing party into the cave system. The extensive life signatures mean locking in on the party to return them will require a Control or Insight+Conn, Diff 3 to bring them back. (If they take transporter signal repeaters with them, this gives “Signal Repeater” trait that will give an advantage to this test.) The initial scan suggests a toxic atmosphere; they’ll need space suits.

As soon as they beam in, the creature will react to their transport and start to move away from the ship, requiring a Control+Conn, Diff 2 to stay in transport range, but not cause the creature to react.

Having beamed into one of the outer areas, they will find it has a more organic quality and are smaller than they were ready for. There’s no gravity, either. There are critters moving around the “corridors” and avoiding the team. Insight+Science, Diff 2: there’s everything from microorganisms up to creatures that are person-sized. Some of these look to be cleaning plague off of the corridor walls. If they have used their tricorders or set up signal repeaters (Control+Conn or Engineering, Diff 1), this counts as an Escalation 1. (What they don’t know: the radiation signatures of their equipment has drawn the attention of the creature’s immune system.)

Exploring the interior will require a Control or Daring+Conn, Diff 2. The Spacewalk trait knocks this down to Diff 1. As they explore, a Insight+Science or Medicine, Diff 2 to note there are areas of damage — the walls of the corridors have collapsed exposing musculature and vascular material. A spider-like creatures is appears to eating the damaged tissue, like a maggot, then excreting material to “fix” the damage. A momentum spend or second test using Reason to determine it’s either had some form of disease or injury. With a +2 momentum spend — it’s damage. It looks like something has eaten its way through the flesh? If they scan — or have the ship scan — the creature, Insight+Science or Medicine, Diff 3 to locate the reason: the creature has some form of parasite. It’s a nematode of some sort, but big — ten to twenty meters long. 

As they’ve worked their way into the interior, their comms get more and more spotty from interference. They’ve found a sort of energy plexus, where energy is surging through massive conduits through a central spine. Reason+Science or Medicine, Diff 2: the “digestive” system, maybe? What is it “eating”? Could it be absorbing radiation and channeling it through this system? Is it eating rocks?

3) Immune Response

The team’s communications and scans will attract the attention of the creature’s immune system and they will be aggressed by some kind of critter — an ameboid like thing with tentacles/cilia. It’s main target is the repeaters (the radiation is being deemed a threat.) Reason or Insight+Medicine or Science, Diff 1 to realize there is something about the repeaters the creatures are responding to. It will attempt to eat them. Using phasers will be an Escalation 2 and will bring more immune response.

Beaming out could be difficult. If they left a team with the transport repeaters, they will also be attacked — the leucocytes are going after the repeaters. They’re not interested in the crew — just the stuff that is transmitting. If they left them alone, the repeaters have been eaten; Control+Conn, Diff 3 to beam the team(s) out.

4) Call a vet…

If they’ve found the parasite, they can either monitor the activity for science-sake, or they can attempt to help creature S-69281 by going in and killing it. (When I ran this, the doctor actually got creative and they used the transporter to beam the brain out of the worm.) Any use of transporters, phasers, etc. caused the creature to try and escape. Inside, any use of phasers or other energy weapons will bring the leucocytes within two rounds. If they can damage the worm, this will distract the leucocytes, which will attack the worm.

CONCLUSION

The crew should have assisted the creature and learned a little bit about it’s biology and behavior. If they monitor it for a while, they will also find that some of the asteroids in the system have the creature’s larvae inside. They eat the interior of the asteroids and wear them as a shell once they are large enough to set off on their own.

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