Tabletop Tuesday — Nyberrite Alliance Mission Brief: “Red in Tooth and Claw”

Another Tuesday has arrived, so here’s the fifth of eight planned Nyberrite Alliance briefs. These Mission Briefs follow the typical format for Star Trek Adventures game from Modiphius, across a decade or so with the intention of revisiting the people of the Nyberrite Alliance and adding their influence on Alpha and Beta Quadrant space. This one takes place after the Dominion War, when the Federation is trying to rebuilt much of what was broken during the war, and shows the Nyberrite Alliance as allied in those efforts—and brings the crew back to the Halee System, which they originally visited in “Tradition.”

Last week was a diplomatic episode, but this week it’s all about surviving a dangerous jungle and trying to recover supplies while a clock ticks down for those in need on two fronts: the war-ravaged worlds in need of what’s in the cargo hold, and the people trapped in the jungle in a downed craft.

Red in Tooth and Claw

Suggested Era of Play: The Next Generation era, 2376

Tactical Officer’s Log: “The Halee government has reported a Wallenberg-class transport towing full cargo containers of relief supplies needed for war recovery efforts has been forced to land in one of their predator-filled jungles. A group of Halee rangers reached the site, reported survivors and that the ship was mostly intact, and then went radio silent. 

We’ve been diverted to assist in search and recovery efforts, both of which will be made all the more difficult not only by the limited efficacy of sensors on Halee II, but by the network of shielded pathways the Halee Rangers use to navigate the interior territories of their world. 

These supplies are desperately needed on the former Dominion warfront; we can’t afford to waste any time.”

Suggested Spotlight Role: Security Officer, Engineering Officer

Synopsis
Recovery efforts after the Dominion War required drawing on resources from places left relatively (or entirely) untouched in the conflict, and the Nyberrite Alliance contributes to these efforts with important non-replicatable minerals from their various mining operations, as well as foodstuffs, medicine, and other immediately high-need perishables that allow the Starfleet Corps of Engineers to focus on larger infrastructure recovery projects. When one of these shipments crashes on the surface of Halee II, the Halee government sent out rangers—individuals trained to handle the difficult and predator-filled jungles of the planet’s interior—to the crash site and found both survivors and reported the vessel should be capable of being returning to operation. 

Then their signal went silent. The Halee rangers are an organization of tough volunteers (including criminals, off-world or otherwise, who choose to serve out duty on the rangers rather than incarceration for crimes on Nyberrite Alliance worlds), so while Starfleet isn’t ruling there still being survivors, they’re going to function on the assumption the predators of the jungle may have gotten to the crew and rangers.

The crew arrive and learn that one of the reasons the jungles of Halee II require these rangers is how dangerous they are to navigate, and how the local flora and soil refracts and distorts sensor readings—this won’t be a simple case of beaming in and out, and the density of the flora also makes shuttles too risky a venture, what with no functional landing sites. The Halee maintain routes in and out of the interior jungles with  forcefield-enclosed pathways used to get materials in and out from mining or other production facilities, shielded rest areas, and for the most part, only those working in those environments go much past the edges of the jungles or the coasts or grasslands beside the jungles, where the modern-day Halee maintain their settlements. 

The crew must join their ranger guides, who lead them to the point on the forcefield pathways closest to the crash site and then take them off the path and through the jungle to where Wallenberg 130/22 and its crew of six made their emergency landing. The journey itself is challenging, with Halee II’s predators both foreign and domestic making things harder for the crew, and upon arrival at the downed vessel, they’ll need to make some ethical decisions—because the ship and its valuable supplies can be restored, but there’s also signs an old enemy has taken advantage of the opportunity Wallenberg 130/22 provided.

Directives
Discover the fate of Wallenberg 130/22 and her crew and cargo. If possible, restore Wallenberg 130/22 so she can deliver her necessary cargo; failing that, recover the cargo. 

Major Beats
Mayday Briefing—The crew learn one of the many Wallenberg-class tugs being used to bring necessary cargo to post-war relief effort sites had EPS trouble near Halee II and needed to make an emergency landing before their power system destabilized completely. They succeeded in doing so in the dense jungles of Halee II, and the Halee government sent volunteer rangers (given the danger involved), but those rangers, after reporting that the ship could be repaired and the crew had some injuries but were mostly stable, went radio silent. The supplies are greatly needed, and include refined gallicite intended to fuel power-cells needed at multiple relief stations—without it, multiple refugee medical sites will go dark. There’s also foodstuffs and other supplies that would take significant stress off the limited replicator access on various worlds ravaged by the Dominion War. Wallenberg 130/22 had six crew, was captained by Lieutenant Jeanette Dupuis. The crew are also briefed on the interior jungles of Halee II, which is full of predators, is transport and sensor resistant thanks to soil particulates (which the towering rainforest trees absorb into their bark and branches) and the Engineering Team will have to lug tools and supplies on-foot from one of the force-field pathways the Halee maintain. The group of rangers will guide the group to the landing site. Prep time for the players should involve them considering repair-work based on the initial report from the rangers, and figuring out what they’ll need, as well as reading up on such beasts as the Halee grass leopard, jungle pythons, and Halee divebeak falcons. Upon arrival at Halee II, they beam down to a dedicated transporter pad at the community closest to their destination, and are joined by two Halee Rangers, Mako Naroshan and Arn Khenoya, both with a great deal of experience, who don’t waste time and paint a grim picture of the inexperienced alone in the jungles, noting that they’re both the only two left of their training group of ten “rehabilitants” (both Mako and Arn are former criminals, though they’ve long served out their sentence and find the life of rangering suits them). If the crew think to inquire as to who the Halee rangers were, they’ll be told they were the closest volunteers available, but included two Halee as well as two rangers who were part of the rehabilitant program (which allows those committing major crimes in Nyberrite Alliance space to work in trade against their sentence—many disgraced Klingons, for example, consider this a much better option than simply being arrested and incarcerated, as it offers the chance of an honourable death in battle with the predators of Halee II). 

Off the Beaten Track—The rail journey takes the crew a great deal of the way into the interior of the jungles beneath force-field protected tracks, but the crew should also witness, multiple times, the various avian predators (especially dive beaks) attempting to find weak spots in the cover of the forcefield. The guides note that they’re very good at sensing when forcefields go down, and when divebeaks dive, it can be lethal. The other guide notes that’s only the start of it, as both the pythons and the leopards keep an eye on what the divebeaks are doing, and when they see the birds diving, they know dinner might be served. The railcars stop, and the crew disembark, and then the rangers lower the forcefield only long enough for everyone to get through before putting it back up again. They almost immediately have to stun some divebeaks, and the crew set off on their journey. This should involve extended tasks around navigation, and you can use threat a time or two to introduce some of the local wildlife to challenge the group, and while the trip is challenging, it shouldn’t prove lethal to crew unless they’re foolish. It should, however, highlight that this isn’t a starship or even a Federation colony, where a certain level of safety is taken for granted. It’s hot, miserable, and tiring, but eventually, the crew make it to where Wallenberg 130/22 managed to land—and find it wasn’t the Halee beasts who preyed on the crew after all.

Voluntary Exile—Wallenberg 130/22 appears intact, though it took some minor damage to the landing struts given its harsh trip through the jungle canopy, and the cargo pods are all still attached and in good shape—but her communications, thrusters, and impulse systems are strangely offline—in fact, they’ve been sabotaged, though prioritizing thrusters and impulse, the crew could get the ship back to orbit after making the other repairs necessary to restore the unstable EPS grid that caused the need for an emergency landing in the first place. The crew of six are found sealed inside one of the cargo pods, however, where they’d borderline dehydrated and overheated and have other minor injuries from the original rough landing, but will recover with some medical aid. They can tell the crew what happened—after landing, they managed to get the shields up to keep predators at bay, and since they knew their signal had been received by the Halee II network, they patched themselves up as best they could and waited it out. Four Halee rangers arrived—a Klingon, a Romulan, and two Halee—and initially were helpful, especially the two Halee, but after they reported in, things went south. First, the comm system went offline—which the Wallenberg’s ops technician only realized was sabotage after the fact—and then the shields dropped and a divebeak attack happened so suddenly while they were outside working on the landing struts the rangers told them to take shelter in the cargo pod, the Klingon ranger drawing the attention of the divebeaks to give them time to get to safety. The last thing most of the crew saw was the Romulan turning her stun pistol on the rest of the rangers and then the sound of the cargo pod being sealed from the outside. A quick survey finds the two Halee were fed upon by divebeaks, but also a blood trail leading to a natural hollow formed by multiple tree roots and very injured Klingon, D’Krek. One of his legs is badly mangled by divebeak attacks, but he’s still alive (and will remain so if he gets proper medical attention on the crew’s ship within the next few hours). It’s clear he didn’t just manage to hold his own against the divebeaks, but grappled with at least two hand-to-hand, given they’re dead on the ground beside him (and one partially eaten before he lost consciousness). From him, they can learn the Romulan ranger was none other than Talina (who the crew may have crossed paths with as far back as “Tradition” and “Caught Red Bladed” though if she was caught in “Tradition,” use the Romulan responsible from “Caught Red Bladed” instead). Talina left in the Wallenberg’s sole shuttle, skimming the tree-tops of the jungle (which would be enough to hide it from sensors until it chose to break cover, which she could have at any point later). D’kek managed to recover from the stun soon enough to fight off the divebeaks and drag himself to his hollow beneath the tree-roots. 

Minor Beats
If the players maintained positive relationships with the Halee Neo-Créchists from “Tradition,” noting that the foodstuffs were grown on Halee III could be a quick nod to continuity and the positive results of earlier diplomacy. Mako Naroshan and Arn Khenoya, as well as D’Krek, are all chances to introduce characters who worked (or, in D’Krek’s case, working) their a debt to Nyberrite Alliance society, which Starfleet officers may have multiple philosophical or moral issues with. 

Key Non-Player Characters
Mako Naroshan, Arn Khenoya, and D’Krek can all be represented by Klingon Veteran Notable NPCs, with addition of adding Jungle Survival to their Focuses, and adjusting their Value to “Repaying my debt through service to Halee.” For Halee Divebeaks, use Talarian Hook Spiders, but remove their hooks, treat the “bite” as their impaling “beak” attack, remove the Web special rule, and give them the special rule of “Dive” which allows them to make their beak melee attacks from as far as medium range when done from anywhere above their target, representing their sudden and deadly strikes from above. 

Conclusion
It technically might not be too late to attempt to recapture Talina, but the mission is clear: Wallenberg 130/22 and its supplies are the priority (and Lieutenant Dupuis and her crew will remind the players of that, if they have to). So while the crew could prioritize getting communications back online to try and capture the Romulan woman, in that same amount of time, they could undo the sabotage Talina did to the thruster assembly and impulse guidance systems, which would get the ship back into orbit and—more importantly—back underway with the needed supplies. Also, if they don’t prioritize getting the ship into orbit, they won’t be able to beam D’Krek to their ship’s sickbay in time.

Once out of the jungle’s interference, Starfleet combadges would be capable of reaching their ship; this delay of their report on Talina’s actions means she’ll be gone by then—she’s a trained Romulan agent, and the shuttle is recovered in a Halee shipyard, with another, faster warp vessel now missing instead. Justice for her actions will have to wait.