Adventure Source: Last Unicorn Games – A Fragile Peace – The Neutral Zone Campaign Vol. 1

Meetup Link: https://www.meetup.com/Star-Trek-Gaming/events/273527600/

Game Date: November 8 2020

Session Post: No Session Post

Teaser: “We have received orders to rendezvous with the U.S.S. Bradbury, en route to Starbase 173. We are to transfer over a Federation science team and take them to the edge of the Neutral Zone. It appears we’re hunting cloaked warbirds.
Recent encounters with the Romulans has convinced Starfleet there may be many Romulan vessels entering the Shackleton Expanse through the Neutral Zone and Federation space.
The science team brings with them three different sensor devices Starfleet Command wants tested. One of these sensors will, the confidently expect, be able to detect cloaked Romulan vessels. If it works, the cloaking device will be much less of a tactical advantage for the Romulans than it was in the past, giving the Federation a great advantage in the event of future hostilities.”

• Cmd. O’Nnyah (Raven)
• Lt. Cmd. Reittan Andreas (Jon)
• Lt Cmd. Taemin Rahn (Garrett)
• Lt. Kirkuurzhaav th’Zoarhi (Trevor)
• Lt. Cmd Asha (Jaime)
• Lt. Jr. Wolfgang Ratzel (Terry)

Important NPCs:

• Captain Georj Brandt – New Captain of the U.S.S. Kimura
• Ensign Jose-Maria “J.M.” Juaraz – Starfleet Engineering Assistant
• Lt. Satchio Nakamura – Starfleet Science Officer
• Gretel Vandermark – Technician
• Sarok – Vulcan Scientist
• Dr. Gustav Kragen – Human Scientist

Notable Information: Several members of the U.S.S. Kimura, including Captain T’Kor, Cmd. Xedrik, Lt. Cmd. Sivath, Lt. Oqwadel, Chief Petty Officer Winston Emmet, and Chief Petty Officer Dallas Brenner have been transferred to the U.S.S. Galvarino after a sneak attack by Romulans killed many members of the Galvario’s command crew.
Captain Georj Brandt has been pulled out of Academy duty and assigned as the new Captain of the U.S.S. Kimura.
Three teams of scientists have been assigned to the Kimura to test out three different devices for locating cloaked Romulan vessels.

Mission Recap: Docking at one of the orbital platforms at I Starbase 173, the U.S.S. Kimura picks up the four scientists, their assistants and equipment. As soon as everything is squared away, the Kimura proceeds to the coordinates designated for the tests.
During the trip, the Crew gets a chance to interact with each of the scientists. They have an opportunity to get to know each, and gain
an understanding of each person’s personality and foibles.

Sarok- young Vulcan, seems very reserved and doesn’t engage with anyone. He is from the Vulcan Academy of Science and this is his first trip away from Vulcan without his mentor Aurik. He is on his own and does not have an assistant.

Dr. Gustav Kragen- seems out of sorts (Taemin can tell he’s upset about something). He is around 60 and is a well-known transporter technology theorist. He is upset because no one told him that his was not to be the only sensor tested before he left. That he would have to compete with other, and in his mind, less eminent, scientists he considers an insult.

Gretel Vandermark is Dr. Gustav’s assistant and technician. She seems very cheerful. She is around 25 years old and goes out of her way to shake everyone’s hand and is very warm and friendly, particularly towards Lt. Ratzel.

Lieutenant Satchio Nakamura is a Starfleet officer who as served on two five year mission assignments. She was based at Starfleet Command working on her cloaking device sensor but misses the excitement of being on a ship. She shared with Asha that she would be interested in joining the crew of the Kimura once this assignment is over.

Ensign Jose-Maria (J.M.) Juarez is Lt. Nakamura’s assistant and this is his first tour of duty away from Starfleet Command. He seems very interested in Gretel and seems to be expressing some jealousy when Ratzel is talking to Gretel in the mess hall.

All of the teams will be hooked into the long-range sensor array, but only one set of sensors can be tested at a time. Each of the devices works in a different way.

Dr. Kragen’s device works by looking for subspace disturbances created by the cloaking device. Kragen theorizes that because a cloaking device actually causes matter to be partially deflected, it causes a sub·space ripple. Using a verteron pulse, he hopes to detect this distortion.

Sarok’s sensor works by scanning for the extremely high frequencies at which a Romulan cloaking device operates. Thus, the sensor works not by detecting the ship, but the existence of a cloak.

Lieutenant Nakamura believes that certain particles are not affected by a
cloaking device’s spectra·bending properties, and relies on bombarding the
space directly in front of the starship with polaron particles.
Unfortunately, the polaron particles react poorly to standard Federation
deflector shields, though they do not interfere with the weaker navigational and structural integrity fields of a starship.

Once at the proper coordinates, the testing begins. Each sensor package is tested in turn. Sarok’s sensor unquestionably detects cloaked Romulan ships in the Neutral Zone; four blips suddenly appear on the screen in an area of space the ship’s sensors register as empty.

Dr. Kragen’s sensor detects some ambiguous blips. He claims they are the same ships Sarok detected, though they are not in the same positions as they were a few moments before. A quick calculation shows that it is impossible for the ships to have traveled from their positions during
Sarok’s scan to their current positions

Lt. Nakamura’s equipment shows nothing, no matter what she does the sensor readout remains blank.

Soon afterwards, a freighter sends out a distress signal- a Romulan ship attacks them. Coming to the rescue, the Crew has an opportunity to test the new sensors under combat conditions. Sarok’s sensors appear to come through a flying success. Dr. Kragen’s sensors fail to detect anything. It is decided not to test Lt. Nakumara’s sensors as it would require dropping shields and they did not work in the first test.

The freighter is identified as the Genevieve, a private ship that was recently sold. The registry records show the Genevieve was a merchant vessel hailing from Ennan VI, recently decommissioned because of its age. The Genevieve’s Ennan owner recently sold the ship to an unknown party, and the ship hasn ‘t been near Ennan VI for weeks. No record of any shipments from Ennan VI o r any other worlds bound for Arteline can be found.
Inquiries to Arteline uncover no party to whom the vessel was bearing freight.

Having successfully tested the new sensors and determining that one indeed works, the U.S.S. Kimura now turns to rendezvous with the U.S.S. Fortunate for the scientists’ return trip home.