Star Trek: Fistful of Dilithium – The Covid Nebula Campaign

Returning our focus back to the Gamma Quadrant,  This Episode sees an Away Team from the USS Artemis defending a Federation research outpost from an intrusion by members of the IRW Perutix.

In the end the Romulans fled at the end of turn 6, but did manage to secure 3 padds full of vital data, and steal the study sample of Ketracel White. The Artemis crew was able to retain 3 PADDS, and otherwise survive the encounter with no significant injuries.

Dominion intelligence reports indicated that a group of commandos from the Gorn Hegemony were launching a raid on a Tal Shi’ar shuttle that recently landed at a Romulan colony near the Chintaka System.

A Jem’Hadar assault squad was dispatched immediately to intercept the data. Take the data first, or take it from the Gorn corpses, the Vorta field agent didnt really care.

(3 player game, sorta. Mostly just a two player with 3rd player running a small group of Romulans meant to be more of an annoyance than an actual opponent. Hack data from the romulan shuttle, and get it back to your shuttle)

Reviewing the After Action reports, the Vorta’s initial relief at reading that the Gorn were vegetarians, was quickly erased upon hearing that they regarded the Jem’hadar as a “particularly stubborn fruit.”

Desperation makes for odd-bedfellows.
Admiral Rush looked over the Mission Profile in disgust. The Klingon-Cardassian War had already strained the Federations relationship with the Empire to the breaking point, one misstep and fragile peace would more than just crack.

Admiral Rush signed the Orders, dispatching an elite team from the USS Hermes, and tossed the padd on his desk.  He turned to look at the scrolling reports coming across the Main Display in his office. His mood colder than the hell hole that he just sent his men and women to. How had it come to this? Startfleet breaking into Rura Penthe to liberate members of the Obsidian Order?

Unfortunately I lost the photos of the actual game after set-up.

The Basic Scenario was that the Fedies had to get the 3 Cardassians out of the out of the cells, and escape. Optionally, reaching and hacking the comms station in the control center to get reinforcements in our next game (Hard Task), and or optionally hacking the engineering console (Regular Task) to prevent him from getting reinforcements in the next game.

In the end, the speed and ferocity of Klingon Jackal Mastiffs proved to be the real bane of the Federation Operatives. Though the Starfleet Away Team managed to escape with their lives, they did so empty handed. The Klingons preferring to kill the Cardassians over letting them fall into the hands of the Federation.

The Prime Directive
The material, rules, and scenarios presented in this guidebook are wholly unofficial, unendorsed, and unlikely to please all players. If you find a piece that doesn’t work for your group, then by all means change it! We have endeavored to be clear and precise in our wording, but if you are unsure of exactly what we meant, apply common sense, and make a ruling that is fair and works for your group. The key to this campaign guide is to have fun playing with our tiny plastic dolls while arguing about the minutiae of Trek, not arguing about game rules.

You will need a copy of Galactic Heroes by Wiley Games to make use of this campaign guide.

En route to the colony on New Bajor, Vedek Marel’s shuttle suffered a severe malfunction, sending him wildly off course, and into the Covid Nebula. He was able to make to make planet fall on a moon in System C19, his Automated Distress Beacon alerting local Away Teams to his location. In addition to being a Spiritual Leader, Marel is wanted by several governments for questioning regarding his involvement in multiple Maquis
attacks. His intelligence would be considered invaluable, while his compatriots in the Maquis would be most grateful for his safe return.

Mission Directives
Terrain – Place a crashed shuttle in the center of the table. The table should contain a mixture of dense trees, rocky outcroppings, ruins or other terrain that blocks line of sight and limits movement.

Deployment – Place the Vedek at the rear of the Shuttle. A small objective marker or token should be placed at the front of the shuttle to denote the craft’s commuter core.

3+1d6 Borg Drones are placed randomly, at least 8” away from the Vedek, and at least 8” away from any Deployment Zone.

Away Teams deploy within 6” of one of the four
corners.

Special Rules
The Vedek is very disoriented and will follow any Model that comes into base to base contact with him and spends one action to gain his attention. The Vedek will follow a maximum of 5” per turn, and moves with the model that has his focus. He is not capable of any other actions.

The Computer Core of the shuttle contains details on Maquis operations in the Gamma Quadrant, this information can be downloaded by Performing a Regular Task.

Turn Limit – There is turn limit for this Away Mission

Victory – An Away Team must exit the table from their Deployment Zone with the Vedek.
If the Vedek is turned over to a government, the Away Team gains +3 Intelligence Asset Points. If they choose to return the Vedek to the Maquis they gain +3 Materiel Asset Points. Each Away Team that downloaded the data in the Computer Core gains +1 Intelligence Asset Points

Former Ferengi Scrap Yard, now overrun with disconnected Borg drones becomes the accidental crash site of a wanted Maquis terrorist. The House of KosQ, seeing the capture of the Vedek as a way to gain favor with the High Council dispatches a taskforce to recover the target. Apon their arrival at the crash site, they spot the disoriented Vedek, but find that Prak-Tarr Heavy Industries – the Quandrant’s Premiere Preemptive Salvage Experts(tm), have already begun a recovery operation of their own.

While the Klingons had an early lead, the Ferengi, supported by a hired Gorn Sharpshooter, and that damned-able Orion Pirate were able to turn the tide and snatch the Vedek… no doubt to be ransomed, I mean returned to the Maquis for a handsome finders fee.

It’s been just over a year since the first disastrous encounter with The Dominion’s Jem’hadar warriors, and the tragic loss of the USS Odyssey.

Admiral Rush has assigned the Artemis to Task-force Thermopylae, along with the Ares and the Hermes. We have been patrolling Alpha-Colonized systems around the Gamma Quadrant side of the Bajoran Wormhole for several months now. Two days ago, the long range sensors aboard the Hermes detected an unusual Fluidic/Subspace Convergence Anomaly inside the Covid Nebula.

The ionized trillium particles of the Nebula already make navigation challenging and sensor readings unreliable at best, add to that this Anomaly, and the Task-force was all but blind heading into the Nebula. Early survey reports show the Nebula to be unusually populated with planets and planetoids, including several Class L and Class M bodies.

None of us could have anticipated what we found at System C19. A Borg Cube.
Well, half of a Borg Cube to be precise. Initial scans show that large portions of the other half have impacted on one of the moons of C19-VI, but scanning anything in this nebula is like reading a book through peanut-butter.

Between the Nebula and the Anomaly the Transporters are all but useless, we’re prepping shuttles now to send Away Teams down to the surface. The Hermes’ Engineers and Astro-meteorologists are working on re-configuring transport pattern-enhancers to work in this forsaken mud cloud.

I’ve read the Logs of the Odyssey countless times since we entered the Gamma Quadrant. I’ve scoured over the reports, sensor readings, and the intelligence briefings. I dont mind saying that the idea of the Jem’hadar getting their hands on Borg Technology keeps me awake at night.

I would be lying if I didn’t admit that I am nervous about what the Away Teams will find down there, but as I look out the the window of my Ready-Room though the haze at the silent carcass of the Borg Cube, I can’t help but wonder, who else, or what else, is out there in this merciless cloud.

Captain Quinn Alexander
USS Artemis