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A game about the pilots of powerful machines in a war that dominates every facet of life. They are trying to do their time and part, and get out physically and mentally intact. The organizations that perpetuate the War through all of known space are too incomprehensibly huge to take down. There is no “winning” the War, there is only surviving it.

These are their stories.

 

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  2. Mission Report 19 - Pièce de Résistance

Mission Report 19 - Pièce de Résistance

Nov 3, 2021

This Mission Report is provided by M. Glatki, a member of the Beam Saber community and discord server! The mission is for the Izyan Conflict setting and is suitable for use as a one shot.

 

BRIEFING: An underground mountain fortress from the early Izyan conflict was unearthed during a recent earthquake. It is said to contain the Pièce de Résistance (PdR), a technological marvel, which allowed the Izyan resistance against the large faction far longer than everyone expected.  A reconnaissance overflight discovered the exposed fortress hours ago. Go get the PdR tonight before anybody else does.

SUGGESTED DESCRIPTIONS AND BACKGROUND:

(Completely optional ideas that you might find inspiring or otherwise helpful)

About the Fortress: In the early stages of the Izyan conflict, when the factions just arrived, the fortresses' purpose was intelligence gathering and defense coordination.
It was the location of a unique technology - the PdR. A so far unreplicatable technology that allows for long range faster-than-light scans, thus enabling the Izyan military forces to always be at the right time and place.

Knowing the importance of this critical technology, its location and specifics about the technology were kept secret. 

When the fortress AI controlling the PdR went rogue and killed everyone, no living being knew where it was. It has been a graveyard ever since. After the fortress's mysterious disappearance the resistance of the Izyan government quickly collapsed.

 

The Site: A mountainside devastated by an earthquake. Half the mountain landslid into the valley next to it, revealing the fortress hidden inside. There is rubble everywhere, and it is very hard to pass through. Large parts of the fortress are now part of the landslide, other parts are still in the mountain and very much intact.

There are visible searchlights in the ruins.

 

AI Room: A large sealed room. The AI is in a glowing quantum computer cube in the middle of the room. There are lots of thick cables coming out. The room is normally not accessible via mech, although a small one might just fit.

 

PdR: A strange rock, possibly a meteor, the size of a large cooking pot. It is embedded with circuitry resembling fossils and is currently suspended in the air with metal clamps. An array of sensors and emitters mounted on scaffolds are pointed at it. With effort, a single pilot might just be able to carry the stone. It has a load rating of 3 when carried by a pilot.

 

EMPLOYER:  A strategically oriented squad of the player faction. Suggestion: The Regional Development Council (Tier IV-S Corporatocracy).

 

OBJECTIVE:

  • Primary objective: Deny the PdR to everyone else!
  • Secondary objective: Obtain the PdR and bring it home.
  • Tertiary: Undamaged. Please.

 

TARGET: The Burden (Tier II-S Independent) is en route to the site.

 

RULES OF ENGAGEMENT: 

  • No use of enhanced interrogation.
  • No threatening of, or employing force against civilians.
  • No firing upon or presenting as a clearly marked medical transport or facility.
  • Detainees must remain unharmed.

 

COMPLICATIONS:

  • The ground is still unstable - aftershocks of the earthquakes disrupt plans or unearth additional problems.
  • Other parties are en route and may arrive with little warning. Do they know about the PdR or are they here for something else?
  • The larger area is a maze of valleys and mountains and conflicts may be drawn out. A local village might be drawn into the escalating conflict. Is the village affiliated with any faction? Do the locals know something about the fortress?
  • The nuclear reactor on site is leaking, an area is flooded by radiation or is contaminated.
  • Additional defense systems inside the fortress wake up from hibernation.
  • Proxies from people formerly living in the fortress become active.
  • The AI might want to strike a deal, but it included getting it out to safety. The PdR staying with it is non-negotiable, although it does not need it to stay alive.
  • The AI guarding the complex and the PdR must be destroyed, deactivated, or convinced in order to retrieve the PdR. No one really knows what the PdR exactly is, only that without it the resistance fell apart quickly.

 

CHARACTERS

  • Walmartha “Cinnamon” Chakrabarti (she/her), leader of the  Sliver of Civility Trading Company squad salvaging the fortress. A small woman with short dark hair wearing a corporate uniform. Genial and enterprising. She arrived first with her salvaging team and she knows there might be something very precious in the fortress, but she doesn't know what exactly it might be.
    Goal: Get rich and get out unharmed.
  • AST-201 "Short round", the (It/Its) the AI controlling the fortress systems and the PdR sensor system. The combination of interacting with the PdR feedback systems and the intelligence overwhelmingly indicating the inevitable defeat of the Izyan forces, slowly eroded its ability to differentiate between cause and effect as well as future and present. Since - from its perspective - the resistance already lost and had no permission to be present at the fortress, it defended itself against the perceived intruders using its automated defense systems.
    Goal: Survive this, either by eliminating all intruders or by striking a deal.
  • Elias “Ignition” Welsh (he/him), the leader of a local burden cell (The Burden, (T II-S), Independent). A bulky man with a military style buzz cut and working clothes. Determined but idealistic and despises unnecessary killing. He has the secret passphrases for the emergency shutoff of the fortress AI and some knowledge as to what the PdR is. He is either a descendant of someone in the fortress’s staff, or was briefly stationed there himself (depending on your timeline and how long the Izyan conflict is going on). They are too late to the party, but arrive in force.
    Goal: Claim the PdR for the Resistance, or destroy it.

 

CHALLENGES:

  • Concealed perimeter security cannons are emerging from the ground and are attacking indiscriminately.
  • The Sliver of Civility Trading Company is already there and salvaging.
  • There is rubble and ruins everywhere, making it hard to locate the PdR within the fortress/mountain. The fortress was huge. Multiple levels, ammunition depots, workshops. It was mostly self-reliant. Even after all these years, systems might be functional.
  • The fortress is riddled with deadly traps, reflecting the paranoia of the late resistance. Electrifiable floors, poison gas, automated turrets, and explosive traps. They all have in common that they do not require a human to work. 
  • The Burden squad is late to the party, but will arrive soon and in force.