Game Idea 4-13-2019 Frontier-Land

The PCs are assigned to pick up Starfleet Captain Dunbar and assist him to complete his mission. 

Dunbar is searching for a missing Starfleet scout the USS Mach. 

The USS Mach was at the edge of known space investigating unusual sensor readings.

The USS Mach was commanded by Captain Peschi. A former escort captain, Peschi is regarded as a hero.  He put his ship into a bad spot to protect fleeing refugee ships. They got mangled but held the line long enough for the refugees to escape. 

Afterwards, Peschi requested a transfer to more exploration oriented, less combat oriented posting.  He was given command of a deep space scout. 

stop 1  Deep space 32.  A Federation base station on the edge of space, the commander has too many issues to address and not enough people. This was the last stop of the USS Mach before pressing into deep space.  DS32 is seeing the same sensor anomalies. They're small signals that seem to move at excessive speed. They're only visible in small chunks.

DS32 is also hearing reports of piracy and raids.  They respond to distress calls when they can, but due to distance and thin manpower, they are often too late. 

stop 1a A distress call comes in.  The PCs are the only ones in position.  But it's 24 hours away at emergency speed.

The PCs arrive to find a Bugaloo trade ship shot to pieces and then stripped of anything useful. There are no survivors.

The weapons read as disruptors, but odd ones. 

By metaphor, Disruptors come in calibers and muzzle velocities.  These disruptors are .22 caliber but their muzzle velocity is insane. The Federation would struggle to make a weapon that could do that without exploding. 

Stop 2 The Bugaloo. 

The Bugaloo are humanoids.  They are semi-friendly with the Federation.  They are also being courted by Orions and The League of Unaligned worlds. 

The Bugaloos have a monarchy.  They consider treason and sedition against their monarch to be worth fighting over and burning the whole place down, if necessary. 

They find the Federation discomfort with their absolute monarchy mystifying. 

The Bugaloo are humanoids - they have multiple pastels colors red, green, yellow, purple, blue.  They look like Wendi Pini Elves, but with insectoid multifaceted eyes. Their voices are high pitched, but pleasant.  Everything about them seems pretty cool. They eat flowers of various types which is cute. Most other folks wouldn't consider their flowers food. 

They dance, and sing and have sex with each other, they have sports and art and all the good stuff.

The Bugaloo do not consider other humanoids attractive.  Just blank.  Like door jams. 

The Bugaloo secret is that they are not humans - they are closer to bees in some ways. The Queen and Princesses are the only fertile ones.  They have male "drones" around them.  The Bugaloo one encounters most of the time are workers.  The smartest and wisest Workers make an advisory council for the Queen, but what she says goes. Period. End of discussion.  The Queen is the biggest, oldest queen caste Individual.  The Princesses are Queen caste Bugaloo who are subsidiary to the Queen. 

A queen can name her own successor.  Is she doesn't, when she passes, things can get tense among the Princesses.  Usually, this is handled sensibly, by debate and votes.  But if two Princesses will not compromise or submit, things can get violent.  From blood duel in the queens' chamber violent to civil war violence. 

The current Queen has been ruling for 175 years and is near death.  She refuses to name an heir. 

When the PCs arrive at the Bugaloo homeworld, they are welcomed.  The Bugaloo are having a military build up. Multiple warships are under construction and weapons tests are visible.  

If asked the Bugaloo will say that the piracy has gotten out of hand and they need to fight back. 

Orion, Ferengi and other types of folks are on hand selling weapons and technology to the Bugaloo.

The Mach stopped by, exchanged information about the sensor ghosts, had shore leave and then pressed on. 

The Bugaloo assume Pirates got the USS Mach.

Note the Bugaloo approached the Federation for Tech support and the Federation is dithering. 

Captain Dunbar seems to know a few of the arms and technology dealers. 

If the PCs have a prior history with a pirate or black market guy, and it's reasonable, they might encounter him here. He won't start static, though.  This gig is too lucrative.

If pressed their rival pirate or black market guy will laugh and tell the PCs "We're on the same side here!   I'm working for Starfleet, myself!"

This is true. Elements of Starfleet Intelligence use deniable scumbags to sell potential allies technology to help them defend themselves... or cause problems for rivals.  SI doesn't sell Starfleet technology to such questionable allies.  Goodness, no.  That would be unlawful. 

But they sell all the Klingon, Ferengi and Orion technology that Starfleet Intelligence has "acquired" over time.  Starfleet Intelligence feels no obligation to abide by Orion or Ferengi patent or copyright laws.  Potential Allies get very good deals on these technological data.

Starfleet Intelligence is selling the Bugaloo weapons and technology data to try and block the other powers from totally winning the Bugaloo over. 

The Bugaloos appreciate this.  If nothing else, right now they are totally good for a trade and diplomatic relationship.  But they won't turn down money and friendship from rivals of the Federation.  

Step 3 - Frontier Land.  This world is a source of minerals useful for high technology. an Orion Mining Company (OMC3) set up to try and exploit the place. It is so far away that there is too much temporal dislocation between sending a ship full of ore away and getting paid for it.  This has disrupted OMC3's business plan.  

The effective ruler of the planet the Vice President of Operations of OMC3, an organization he's not even sure exists anymore.  Zoggo Lamore wears slightly out of fashion business suits.  He has a variety of administrative assistants who are pretty competent. 

Lamore sells ore and refined metals to anyone who comes by and has anything to sell. He has created a "Store Credit" system of exchange which has become the defacto money of the colony. The company store is stocked with whatever food can be grown locally, whatever tools and machines that can be built and repaired locally and whatever comes in from trade ships and pirates. 

Lamore is backed up by Zemo Konat, a mercenary and occasional murder hobo and his crew. Lamore and Konat are old friends.  If Lamore can stabilize things, then Konat and his friends are on the ground floor to become part of the ruling class. So they're sticking around and putting down anyone who wants to screw over Lamore.

But recently, pirates have really put a dent in the shipping traffic. Lamore is not having a good time, although he's hiding it well. 

Lamore will totally cooperate with Starfleet in any way that shuts down the pirates that are killing his colony.

If a Federation shipping line wanted to bring a big ship on a regular schedule, Lamore would cheerfully bear all their children. But that's not a thing until the area is made safer. 

Lamore and his mining colony are generally happy to see the PCs. They will assist however possible.

There are scumbags and criminals present.  They won't mess with the PCs unless the PCs really want a conflict. 

Lamore will direct the PCs to "toothless" a local scout, weirdo, adventurer, smuggler, and crazy person. The name "Toothless" is Ironic.  He is an old Imperial Klingon half breed with huge teeth. He has an old beater of a Klingon Scout with the most perfectly insane warp drive anyone has ever seen. It seems to be a conglomeration of every technology base in the area - including components that should not work together. 

Toothless has hacked together the fastest ship in the area out of parts that shouldn't work and worse, installed a surrealist masterpiece of a warp drive into a 100-year-old beater.  

Toothless has a Green Orion woman, Kolbat, who wants to stab everyone.  She's pretty and Pretty Crazy.  If asked why she hangs out with an insane old Klingon she will respond with a spate of invective and curses, including 30% all new curses the PCs have never heard before. 

Toothless asserts that the new pirates are the Borg.  He spoke to Captain Peschi and directed him to a class M planet known only by a catalog number.  There's borg there, that are up to something. 

Step 4

If the PCs go to [Catalog Number], they'll spot weak Borg type energy signatures as well as weak Federation type energy signatures.

Dunbar will insist they go to the planet. 

As they get into orbit, the PCs ship is crippled by a gravimetric mine.  The mine was so well cloaked there was no chance for the PCs to see it.

The Warp Drive is borked. They'll need parts to fix it. But it looks like there might be parts, the USS Mach is crashed on the planet below. 

Step 5

The PCs beam down to find a mixed group of people building a settlement out of the wreck of the USS Mach and another ship.

Starfleet people and Former Borg drones, many of which used to be Klingons. 

What's been going on

Captain Peschi has made common cause with the free borg. 

Captain Dunbar is outraged and furious and tells everyone so.  He demands that Captain Peschi be arrested and held to be transported back to starbase.  Definitely a court-martial and maybe a firing squad before or after the court-martial.

Dunbar further demands that the PCs ship take the parts needed for repair at phaser point, to stun and capture anyone who resists.  The survivors of Mach crew also to be arrested and bound over for court-martial. 

Captain Peschi will point out that his mission was to locate the free borg so Starfleet could capture them, and when he realized it,  he decided not to.  Peschi and a number of his crew feel that the Free Borg here deserve to live on their own terms. 

The Klingon free borg do not want to return to the Empire.  By being captured and assimilated, they have been dishonored. They've had enough fighting. 

If asked about the Pirates the Free Borg will admit that they aren't the only Free Borg in the area.  Another group wanted to become pirates and raiders.  Peschis group didn't want to and so split from the others. 

Dunbar insists that everyone is to be taken into custody, and transported back to Starfleet. Peschi, the Mach crew and the Free Borg.

Dunbar is an agent of Starfleet Intelligence. Peschi is right.  This particular faction of S.I. wants to capture free Borg, interrogate and then disassemble them.  They don't give a flying [darn] about the rights of the former borg or the Mach crew.  They see them as a means to enhance the Federations technology and military power and will do whatever it takes.

A good number of the Mach crew want to get on the PCs ship and go home.  Peschi, like the free Borg has had his fill and settling down here sounded nicer the more he thought about it. 

So

Do the PCS follow their orders?  Do they bargain for the parts to fix their warp drive or confiscate them by force?

After this question is resolved - the Free Borg who are Pirating show up to try and kill the PCs the other Free borg and the Mach crew.  Dead men tell no tales.

The Free Borg will cheerfully help the PCs recover Warp Drive Parts in exchange for some basic supplies. If the PCs don't trade and just go dig the parts out themselves - the Free Borg won't interfere, but won't help at all.