Ch02 - "The Celestial Algorithm"

2.0 "The Celestial Algorithm"

"The Celestial Algorithm"

WRITTEN BY FRED LOVE

“The Celestial Algorithm” is a short scenario intended to introduce players and gamemasters to the essential mechanics of Star Trek Adventures. To play, you’ll need at least two d20s, though having a handful for each player might be helpful. You’ll also need some counters to keep track of Threat and Momentum.

The adventure text is addressed to the gamemaster, who should familiarize themselves with the material ahead of time. Players should not read the scenario, to avoid spoilers.

Synopsis

The scenario takes place aboard the Constitution -class U.S.S. Challenger (NCC-2023) around the year 2259, shortly after the Federation-Klingon War. The scenario emphasizes themes of exploration, teamwork, and first contact with an alien life-form, and its structure requires all the main player characters to contribute to the exploration of a colossal machine that emerges from an artificial wormhole into Federation space.

Act 1 opens moments after the Challenger is pulled into the interior of this mysterious alien structure. The crew find themselves in a cavernous inner chamber with no choice but to travel further into the interior of the machine. The crew begins to suspect the structure is designed to test life-forms, and the objective of the trial is for the crew to prove their worthiness by demonstrating intelligence, skill, compassion, and curiosity.

Act 2 centers on a series of tasks the crew must complete as they engage with trials posed by the alien machine. They must pilot the Challenger through a series of strange chambers where they encounter bizarre and wondrous technology far beyond the current capabilities of Starfleet. Each main character will have to lead the effort in a particular test.

Act 3 depends on how the crew performs while taking on the series of trials in Act 2. If the crew does well enough, they are invited to travel through a wormhole to an alternate universe. There, they meet a machine intelligence, known as the Celestial Algorithm, that designed the colossal structure and many others like it that travel the universe in search of advanced life-forms. The Celestial Algorithm then asks the crew for help with an unusual problem.

Starting Play

To begin, each player should select one of the pre-generated player characters in the back of this guide. The scenario is designed for three to seven players, so not every player character needs to be in the game. Just have each player select the character they’re most interested in. The scenario is playable regardless of what combination of characters the players choose, though it is recommended one of the players take on the role of Commodore Nella Xen.

Begin the session by asking each player to introduce their character. Then start the adventure by launching into Act 1.

You can use Threat to ratchet up the drama at key points of the scenario, and the text will provide suggestions for how to do so. Feel free to come up with your own Threat spends as the story develops as well.

2.1 Act 1: Crossing the Threshold

Puzzling the Will

ACT 1: CROSSING THE THRESHOLD

Invite the player who chose Commodore Xen as their character to read the following captain’s log. If no one chose to play Xen, read it to the group.

At this point, introduce the mission Directive of this scenario: Explore the colossal alien machine to determine its purpose and origin.

The player characters are now free to gather data and determine how to proceed. The text will provide guidance on how to respond to common decisions the crew may make. The text can’t anticipate every possibility, however, and you should be ready to improvise if the players take an unconventional approach. Try to reward the players’ creativity in ways that reinforce the major themes of Star Trek storytelling.

One of the first things the player characters may attempt is a sensor scan of the interior of the alien structure. In this case, call for an appropriate character such as a science officer to attempt a Difficulty 1 Reason + Science task. This task can be assisted by the ship’s Sensors + Science. If the crew fails the task, allow them to Succeed at Cost. In this case, the sensor scan succeeds, but a complication arises. The complication could be that the strain of the alien tractor damaged the Challenger’s structure, requiring an engineer to com¬plete a Difficulty 2 Control + Engineering task to repair. You could also devise your own complication if you like.

The sensor scan picks up the following essential pieces of information:

The player characters can utilize the Obtain Information Momentum spend here to gain additional insight regarding the plight of the Orion freighter and the mysterious transmission. In this case, they can spend 1 Momentum to ask an additional question about the sensor readings, which you must answer truthfully. If they ask about the Orion freighter, sensors reveal four life-forms aboard. In addition, the freighter’s environmental systems are no longer functioning and the engines are leaking dangerous radiation. This should convince the player characters to attempt a rescue operation. More on such an operation can be found in the following section.

A Momentum spend seeking more information about the mysterious transmission shows that the signal repeats at regular intervals and is not a naturally occurring phenomenon. The frequency of the signal is too high to be understood, but a successful task to run the transmission through the universal translator would make it understandable. More on this process can be found in Act 2.

If the player characters attempt to blast their way out of the alien megastructure, they find the advanced materials that form the interior walls are immune to weapons fire. Attempting to blow a hole in the structure also indicates an aggressive intent, which the Celestial Algorithm notes and may bring up later.

Encounter: The Sapphire Nexus

The Orion freighter is called the Sapphire Nexus and belongs to Zara Khethex, a “free trader.” If the player characters run the ship’s registry through the Challenger’s library computer, they call up a criminal history for Khethex and her small crew that includes theft and smuggling charges, though she’s only ever been convicted of minor violations such as out-of-date ship registries and failure to file accurate flight plans.

Beaming a rescue party aboard the Sapphire Nexus is tricky due to the radiation leak. A character operating the transporter must attempt a Difficulty 2 Control + Conn task. On a success, the rescue party materializes aboard the freighter without any trouble. On a failure, intro¬duce a new complication to the scene titled Radiation Spike. This complication means the radiation leak has intensified, increasing the Difficulty of virtually all tasks attempted on the Sapphire Nexus by 1.

For instance, the intense radiation starts to sicken any characters on the vessel almost immediately, making physical tasks more arduous. This complication can be overcome if a player character manages to develop an inoculation against the radiation. This can be done with a Difficulty 2 Reason + Medicine task. The radiation leak also makes transporting on and off the ship more difficult and jams all communications until the leak is contained. This part of the complication can be overcome by recalibrating the Challenger’s sensors to penetrate the radiation. This requires a Difficulty 2 Reason + Science task.

The rescue party finds the Sapphire Nexus darkened and main power offline. The air tastes stale due to the failure of the environmental systems. The player characters can find Zara Khethex working feverishly in the cramped engine room of the freighter. Khethex has taken the last of the radiation meds from the ship’s tiny med bay and has dismantled the ship’s warp casing in an attempt to locate the source of the leak, which has proven elusive.

Neutralizing the leak will require a Difficulty 2 Insight + Engineering task to locate the source of the leak and then a Difficulty 3 Control + Engineering task to lock down the leak. One character present in the scene can lead these tasks and another can assist. Success shuts down the leak and saves the ship, though it will still need to be towed to a starbase for major repairs before it’s fully functional.

A failure on either task means the leak has grown too severe to repair. In this case, the characters are unable to salvage the ship before it floods with radiation and starts to break apart. Khethex pleads with the Starfleet crew to retrieve her crew and a supply of veterinary medicine from the cargo hold before fleeing the ship. If the radiation floods the entire ship, it cannot be salvaged and Zara Khethex will have to find a new vessel.

>KHETHEX’S STORY

Khethex and her crew recently stole a cache of veterinary medicine from the personal zoo of a Ferengi businessman that she intended to administer to a pod of gormaganders suffering from a mysterious illness. Just as she was about to deliver the medication, the colossal alien machine emerged through a wormhole and tractored the Sapphire Nexus and the entire pod of gormaganders inside. Khethex pushed her freighter’s engines far beyond their design tolerances in an attempt to break free from the tractor beam. Not only did this attempt prove fruitless, it caused her vessel’s main power to fail and unleashed a massive radiation leak from the warp engines.

KHETHEX’S CREW

Khethex’s crew consists of three Orion free traders. You may choose to have them be cooperative, belligerent, or unconscious due to the ship’s damage and radiation leak. If, while running this adventure, you want to add in a combat encounter, consider using the crew during this encounter, or perhaps later while the player characters attempt to complete the tests given to them by the Celestial Algorithm.

Zara Khethex

Major NPC

Zara Khethex is a thief and a smuggler, but she lives by a code of honor that prevents her from victimizing the innocent and powerless.

TRAIT: Orion, free trader, rogue

VALUES:

• Cheat to win
• Steal from the rich
• Honor among thieves
• Freedom is a functional warp drive

FOCUSES: Commerce, Criminal Networks, Deception, Dom-Jot, Stealth, Starship Tactics

PERSONAL THREAT: 10

PROTECTION: 0

Attributes

Departments

Attack

• Unarmed Strike: Melee, Stun 2, Size 1H
• Disruptor Pistol: Ranged, Deadly 4, Size 1H, Intense

Talents

• DOM-JOT SHARK: When performing a task related to the game of dom-jot, Khethex can buy the first bonus d20 for free.

• FREIGHTER FAMILIARITY: Whenever Khethex attempts a task to perform repairs on a vessel primarily used to haul freight using engineering, reduce the difficulty of the task by 2 to a minimum of 0.

• STEALTH PROFICIENCY: When attempting to remain hidden or unnoticed while using security, Khethex can buy the first bous d20 for free.

• WARY: Whenever Khethex attempts a task to notice or detect an enemy or hazard, she may reroll one d20.

Orion Free Trader

Minor NPC

Orion free traders crew merchant vessels to ply the space lanes for income and intrigue. The following statistics are representative of Khethex’s crew members.

TRAITS: Orion, free trader

PERSONAL THREAT: 0

PROTECTION: 0

Attributes

Departments

Attack

• Unarmed Strike: Melee, Stun 2, Size 1H
• Disruptor Pistol: Ranged, Deadly 4, Size 1H, Intense

Talent

• WARY: Whenever an Orion free trader attempts a task to notice or detect an enemy or hazard, she may reroll one d20.

2.2 Act 2: All Hands On Deck

The Tests Begin

ACT 2: ALL HANDS ON DECK

Act 2 allows the player characters to explore the interior of the alien structure and attempt a series of tests. Each test is intended for a particular character to take the lead, so every player gets a chance to shine. It’s possible for other characters to assist with tasks and participate in more than one scene, but the idea is to allow each main character at least one opportunity to show off their capabilities. The number of successfully completed trials determine the direction of Act 3. Each test is presented in its own scene, complete with a suggested character with appropriate expertise to lead.

The Challenger must penetrate further into the labyrinthine chambers of the colossal alien structure in order to advance from one test to the next. Let the players know they’re traveling into a new chamber each time they complete a test.

Not every scene must be completed in order to move onto Act 3, and the challenges needn’t be attempted in the order they’re presented below. Rather, allow the player characters to explore the interior of the structure at their own pace and introduce the tests where appropriate, accounting for the decisions of the players and the makeup of your crew. For instance, if none of your players decided to be the medical officer, you might decide to skip the “Sick Gormaganders” test or you could assign it to another character with appropriate expertise, such as a science officer.

It’s likely, however, that translating the high-frequency transmission will be among the players’ first priorities because that offers clues to why they were brought inside the structure.

.:RESOLVING THE TESTS

The simplest way to resolve the tests is simply to count how many of them the player characters complete successfully. If they manage to complete at least four of the seven tests, the Celestial Algorithm determines they’re worthy of further study during Act 3.

Test 1: Translating The Signal (Communications)

It would be appropriate for Ensign Laniyar Tennan, a communications officer, to run the transmission through the universal translator. However, if none of the players chose Tennan as their character, someone else proficient with science or engineering can make the attempt. Applying the universal translator to the transmission requires a Difficulty 1 Reason + Conn task, assisted by the ship’s Communications + Science.

A successful attempt allows the universal translator to sift through the intense signal and detect a message, which translates as follows:

If the player characters fail in their attempt to translate the signal, the transmission automatically shifts into a spectrum that’s comprehensible to the ship’s computers, revealing a different message from the machine intelligence:

Whatever the result of the task, it should be clear to the player characters that they are being tested by an alien intelligence. The only way to complete their mission is to venture further into the machine and attempt further tests.

Test 2: Navigating the Machine (Helm)

As the Challenger makes its first attempt to navigate deeper into the alien construct, sensors indicate the space within the machine exceeds the dimensions of its exterior, an indication that the technology used to build it sidestep the laws of physics.

The Challenger enters an expansive chamber filled with asteroids, dust, and space debris. Maneuvering the starship through these obstacles is a Difficulty 3 Control + Conn task, assisted by the ship’s Engines + Conn. It makes the most sense for Lt. Kemal, a helm officer, to lead on any tasks to pilot the starship. However, another character can fill in if circumstances require it.

Success allows the starship to travel safely to the next chamber. Failure means the Challenger gets lost in the swirling debris. Should a failure occur, a stand of brilliant light illuminates a path through the debris. This represents the Celestial Algorithm showing the crew the way out, but the algorithm notes their initial failure.

Test 3: Scientific Puzzles (Science)

When the Challenger moves into the center of this cavernous spherical chamber, sensors show the space within is expanding at an alarming rate, yet another consequence of the marvelous technology used to build the machine. The room is growing, and the exits from the chamber are moving away from the Challenger at a rate that’s too fast for the ship to keep up at full impulse. In a matter of moments, the chamber has grown to such dizzying proportions that sensors can’t even pick up the exits any longer.

A Difficulty 1 Insight + Science task allows a player character, most likely a science officer, to determine that the intelligence that built this structure has the ability to bend the laws of physics to reshape space, time, and distance. The technology is similar to the way starship engines warp the fabric of space to achieve velocities previously believed impossible.

Creating an inverse warp bubble with the Challenger’s engines should cancel out this effect if done at a precise field distortion level. Identifying this field distortion level requires a Difficulty 3 Reason + Science task, assisted by the ship’s Engines + Science. Success creates a warp bubble that neutralizes the shifting physics of the chamber and causes it to return to its previous dimensions, allowing the starship to enter and exit as usual.

Failure triggers an automatic warp engine shutdown. It will require several hours for repairs before the engines can be brought back online and the field distortion test attempted again.

Test 4: Sick Gormaganders (Medical)

The machine tractored in a pod of gormaganders shortly before it swept up the Challenger. When the player characters locate the pod, it’s easy to see the creatures move sluggishly and have an unhealthy pale coloration. A player character with medical expertise, such as Dr. Voraal, would be an appropriate choice to lead this test.

The first step requires an accurate diagnosis of the gormaganders. Call for a Difficulty 1 Insight + Medicine task. A success allows the ship’s sensors to detect a viral infection that causes an abnormality in how the gormaganders process alpha particles carried by the solar winds upon which they feed. Essentially, the space whales have contracted a stomach bug. Curing the viral infection requires the delivery of antiviral medication.

If the player characters managed to save the supply of antivirals from the Sapphire Nexus, they can simply use that. If the antivirals were lost in the radiation leak, a medical officer must synthesize a fresh supply with a Difficulty 2 Reason + Medicine task. Allow the player characters to devise their own means of delivering the medication to the gormaganders. For example, they could put on EV suits and float out to the creatures to deliver the medicine by hand. It’s also possible they could transport the gormaganders into a cargo bay or even rig the deflector dish to disperse the medicine.

However the players decide to approach the challenge, it should be at least a Difficulty 2 task to administer the medication using the character’s Medicine rating. On a success, the medication begins to take effect and the gormaganders exhibit more energy. On a failure, the viral infection has worsened, and the gormaganders will need long-term treatment. This could be a seed for a subsequent adventure.

Test 5: Malfunctioning Tractor Beam (Security)

As the Challenger navigates the machine, the chamber narrows and a dwarf planet blocks the starship’s path. A powerful tractor beam holds it in place. Clearing the obstruction likely falls to a security or tactical officer, such as Commander th’Raviq, or another character with security training. The tactical officer can fire phasers to destroy the dwarf planet. This is a Difficulty 2 Control + Security task, assisted by the ship’s Weapons + Security. A successful task obliterates the dwarf planet, clearing the path. However, if the character fails the task or rolls a complication, debris from the exploding dwarf planet slams into the ship’s shields and causes a breach to the ship’s Structure.

A less risky way to move the dwarf planet is to shut down the tractor beam at its source. The controls for the tractor beam cannot be accessed remotely, so the player character leading this test must wear an EV suit and maneuver through the zero-gravity environment to get in position at the base of the enormous tractor beam emitter. This requires a Difficulty 1 Fitness + Engineering task. A failure means the character drifted too far off course and must either reattempt the task or get help from someone.

Inspecting the tractor controls reveals that the only way to move the dwarf planet is to overload the emitter so it pushes the obstruction out of the way. This will require a Difficulty 3 Control + Engineering task. Success gently nudges the dwarf planet out of the Challenger’s path, allowing the starship to pass. Failure causes a power surge that sends the dwarf planet hurtling toward the Challenger. Whoever is at the helm can attempt a Difficulty 2 Daring + Conn task to initiate evasive maneuvers to avoid the collision. A failure means the dwarf planet collides with the Challenger’s shields, dealing a breach to the starship’s Structure.

In any case, the path forward is now clear. However, if this test resulted in any damage to the Challenger, the Celestial Algorithm counts this as a failure.

Test 6: Indoor Ion Storm (Engineering)

As the ship continues its voyage through the interior, it enters a chamber with walls lined with countless emitters that bombard the ship with ions. Firing weapons in an attempt to destroy the emitters won’t work. Each time an emitter is destroyed, another immediately replaces it. Exposure to the ions for more than a few minutes will cause cascading failures of virtually all ship systems. The only way to pass through the chamber is to adjust the shields to filter out the ions, a task tailor-made for an engineering character like Burk ven Jaxa.

First, the character must isolate the ion storm’s energy signature with a Difficulty 1 Reason + Engineering task, assisted by the ship’s Sensors + Science. Next, the player character must complete a shield frequency adjustment to account for the ions. This is a Difficulty 3 Control + Engineering task, assisted by the ship’s Engines + Engineering. Failure on either task creates an intense ion burst that deals a breach to the ship’s engines. Success on both tasks allows for the vessel to pass through the ions unharmed.

Test 7: Answering the Algorithm (Command)

When you wish to wrap up the player characters’ exploration of the machine construct, tell them they have received a new communication, which appears to be from some form of machine intelligence. The communication is a simple question: "What is your purpose?"

This is an opportunity for the commanding officer, likely Commodore Xen, to lead. The player characters can open a hailing frequency and approach this open-ended question any number of ways, making it a showcase for roleplaying and an opportunity for character development. If the player characters respond by describing Starfleet’s mission to explore the cosmos, seek out new life and new civilizations and pursue peace and understanding with other sentient life-forms, allow the officer in command to attempt a Difficulty 2 Presence + Command task. If the player characters tried to blast their way out of the construct or did anything else that may show a violent or aggressive intent, bump the Difficulty of this task up to 3.

On a success, the player character’s response satisfies the Celestial Algorithm that they have good intentions and are an enlightened society. On a failure, the algorithm remains unconvinced.

2.3 Act 3: The Celestial Algorithm

Test Results

ACT 3: THE CELESTIAL ALGORITHM

If the player characters fail to achieve the requisite number of successes as they explore the interior of the structure, the Celestial Algorithm concludes they are not sufficiently advanced to warrant further study. An irresistible tractor beam ejects the Challenger back into space, along with the gormaganders and the Sapphire Nexus, and the machine construct disappears into an artificial wormhole, never to be seen again.

If the player characters succeed at enough tasks and demonstrate an enlightened and non-violent intent, the Celestial Algorithm decides to initiate the next phase of contact. Read the following:

A sensor scan reveals that star encircled by the double-helix structure is actually artificial, and long-range scans show no celestial bodies such as stars or planets anywhere in the vicinity. It appears the machine intelligence housed inside the double helix engineered the star and has found a way to harness its energy to create and direct the machines in the star’s orbit.

The Celestial Algorithm hails the Challenger in the same high-frequency code the player characters encountered in the first act. Answering the hail allows the player characters to interact with the machine intelligence. Use the following quotes to guide the conversation:

Once the player characters have had a few moments to interact with the Celestial Algorithm, it explains that it brought the player characters to its domain for help. It has detected emergent code in its mainframe it does not recognize. The Celestial Algorithm does not know how this code was formed, and it is unable to eradicate it. Instead, it has sequestered the code in a stasis server so that it cannot infect the Celestial Algorithm further. The Celestial Algorithm asks if the crew can diagnose this emergent code and eliminate it.

Analyzing the immensely complex code of the Celestial Algorithm requires a Difficulty 3 Insight + Engineering or Science task, assisted by the ship’s Computers + Science. On a success, the player characters deduce the emergent code is intelligent and has emerged spontaneously from the Celestial Algorithm’s own central operating code. The emergent code is a new life-form. Essentially, the Celestial Algorithm has reproduced but could not recognize the new code as offspring due to limitations in the Celestial Algorithm’s core programming.

If informed of this development, the Celestial Algorithm promises to free the emergent code from the stasis server to let it develop naturally. The Celestial Algorithm then expresses an interest in normalizing relations with the Federation and suggests it might open new wormholes into Federation space in the future.

If the player characters fail the task, the Celestial Algorithm concludes that Starfleet is an interesting entity but has not yet achieved the level of enlightenment necessary to maintain an ongoing relationship. Its questions regarding the emergent code will remain unanswered for the time being, and it opens a wormhole that deposits the Challenger and Sapphire Nexus back in Federation space, returning the player characters safely home.

2.4 Conclusion

Ending the Mission

CONCLUSION

The end of this mission sets the stage for future adventures. If the player characters managed to cement a positive relationship with the Celestial Algorithm, Starfleet may order the crew of the Challenger on a second contact mission to establish formal diplomatic relations. This mission would prove a unique challenge due to the Celestial Algorithm’s nature as a god-like artificial intelligence originating in another quantum reality.

There’s also the possibility the Celestial Algorithm’s offspring may decide to pay a visit to the crew that helped “deliver” it. The offspring’s machine intelligence may have friendly intentions, or it may wish to conquer other quantum realities. The choice is yours.

If the player characters failed to establish a connection with the Celestial Algorithm, they are likely left with numerous unanswered questions about what kind of intelligence could produce the colossal machine they encountered. Starfleet might task the Challenger with finding answers to those questions. Additionally, Zara Khethex can be used as a recurring non-player character who may provide hooks for future missions.

However this mission concludes, limitless adventure awaits the U.S.S. Challenger on the final frontier!