Episode 1

The planet Aerris is located near the edge of Guildspace, close to both the Combine (a pirate state which has caused no small trouble for the Guild in the past) and the Demilitarised Zone separating Guild and Empire. A Guild military base is also in the region, the home of the Fourth Fleet.

The planet has been carrying on a civil war between two factions of scientists - the Realists (who believe that the science they do actually describes the real world) and the Operationalists (who believe that the science they do is a convenient way of thinking about the world, but does not actually describe it, the world being essentially inexplicable). The planet has resources that the Guild would like to exploit, but the war is preventing further colonisation. The planet has a population of several thousand. Each faction has been hiring mercenary groups to fight the war, which has been carried on in small guerrilla operations. There have been a few ceace-fires and even a couple of treaties, but they have not lasted. Each faction possesses two destroyer-class warships (The Paradroid could be destroyer-class, but it is configured as a civilian ship and has lighter armour and armament).

Recently a team of three Guild negotiators was sent to the planet to try to arrange a lasting peace between the two factions. They were captured and are being held hostage by the Realist faction. There was a suggestion made without confirmation that the hostages were taken by a small radical group within the Realists, and the action may not be supported by the Realist high command. Team Fugazi was assigned by Dha to extract the hostages. A location and a low-resolution map was provided to the team. The team has a mandate to use deadly force in the direct application of the mission, but not to extend the war beyond these bounds. Tok was not pleased by this restriction.

Team Fugazi came up with a plan. They would pose as arms dealers and attempt to sell a high-tech perimeter defence system to the Realists, then reprogram the system to recognise the guards as 'foe' and the hostages and the extraction team as 'friend'. During the chaos they would extract the hostages and transport them to the Paradroid, waiting in orbit. The perimeter defence system was provided by Dha, along with cases of arms and equipment that would work for demonstration purposes but were fundamentally flawed and would not provide a lasting benefit for the hostage-takers. Installation of the perimeter defence system and training for the Realist technicians would be provided by the Paradroid's crew.

The Paradroid was transported via wormhole to the area, and performed a short hyperspace jump to arrive along an appropriate vector. Upon entering orbit they were challenged by one of the Operationalist destroyers, who did not appear interested in purchasing arms and invited the ship to leave the vicinity or suffer attack. A Realist vessel also responded, but were more interested in the weapons and a minor battle of wills occurred, with the Operationalist vessel retreating and the Realists offering to buy the equipment.

An officer of the ship transported aboard the Paradroid to inspect the equipment and negotiate a deal. His rank was given as Major, but Treesh was able to determine that this was a lie.

While the inspection was being carried out, TK on the Bridge received a communication from the planet's surface. The message was broken up with static, but the decipherable parts of it were as follows:

"... Unidentified vessel ... do not ... ship ... weapon ... Imperial ..."

TK called Captain Kerns to the bridge while Sharris handled the negotiations, and the Captain (with a very good roll) was able to clear the interference and produce the following complete message:

"Unidentified vessel, do not trust the Realists. A ship was found in the vicinity and a powerful weapon was recovered from it. The vessel has been identified as being of Imperial origin... (different voice) Hey you, what are you doing? Get away from that!...."

It is likely that the message originated from the target zone.

The Captain of the Realist vessel was invited to the Paradroid for dinner, and he duly arrived accompanied by the 'Major' and four bodyguards. Over dinner it emerged that the Combine had invaded and taken posession of Fort Chaffee, a planet previously contested by Combine and the Fourth Fleet. It is known that they achieved this with the use of new Imperial equipment and ships. The perimeter defence system is intended to improve security at a POW camp, and Realist Intelligence has suggested that the Operationalists appear to believe that the war will soon be over.

As dinner finished, so did the session. The next step for Team Fugazi will be to transport the equipment to the planet's surface and install it at the 'POW camp'. The system has been preprogrammed by Sharris and should be ready to go. However, the question of the Imperial ship and the 'powerful weapon' recovered from it is still unresolved. It is likely that Fugazi will be forced to intervene beyond their mandate.

Episode 2

Team Fugazi delivered the H5 Perimeter Defense System in the Paradroid's shuttle. The Shuttle was returned to orbit by another member of the crew.

The team were introduced to those in charge of the 'POW camp'. First was Force Commander Barbara Grufas, who was the mercenary leader in charge of military operations in the camp. Next was Professor-Commander Joe Colbert, who is the scientist who had administrative authority, and Allison Taylor, who was his assistant.

The camp was well-defended, in a natural cul-de-sac deep in the jungle, with only one approach. There were three turrets with Pulse Laser Cannon guarding this approach, each manned 24 hours by armoured mercenaries on shifts. There was one main headquarters building and several smaller outbuildings, acting as storage sheds and trooper barracks.

Grufas provided information on the mercenary company and their organisation. There were 30 mercenaries organised into 3 squads. Each squad had an 8-hour shift. 3 mercs manned the laser turrets, 2 stood guard at the entrance to the HQ building while the other 5 performed random patrols of the camp.

After discussing the details of setting up the system, the team was invited to dinner with Colbert, Grufas and Taylor. Drake managed to seduce Taylor and spent the night with her, gathering information.

The second day was spent erecting and programming the defence system, while Karla and Treesh scouted the camp for signs of the hostages. Treesh's sharp hearing located an underground area at one corner of the HQ building, but could not determine for certain that this was where the hostages were.

During the night after the second day, Sharris noticed another company of mercenaries arriving with a large crate, which was locked in a shed and guarded. Whatever it was, it was important enough to be accompanied by another whole company of mercs.

The third day was spent in training the mercenary squad leaders on the operation of the H5. When this was complete, in the evening, Team Fugazi called a meeting with the three authorities of the camp Colbert, Grufas and Taylor. They flicked the switch on the H5, causing it to attack the mercenaries, and took the three prisoner. Grufas was immediately rendered unconscious by Sharris, while Colbert and Taylor were threatened into revealing where the hostages were.

Karla, Sharris and Treesh retrieved the hostages, who were indeed underground, and immediately transported back to the Paradroid. Tok and Drake were holding off the mercenaries, who had largely disabled the H5's weapon units. Drake attempted to use P-C Colbert as a human shield, but the mercenaries were just as eager to fire at him as at Drake.

Drake and Tok fought their way to the crate in the shed and transported themselves, Colbert, and the crate up to the Paradroid.

In orbit, the team opened the crate and found the weapon inside. Essentially it was a large box with a barrel out the front, a bluish crystalline panel on one side and a locked hatch on the top. Most of the team returned to the Bridge to argue about what they should do with it, Tok stayed below to inspect the weapon. Meanwhile, Jacob Xu (one of the hostages) disappeared and was found in the cargo hold threatening Tok with a laser pistol. He said that he had to deactivate the weapon or everyone would die. Tok was not impressed.

Meanwhile, Taylor, who had been left on the planet, contacted the Realist destroyers in orbit and they started to move on the Paradroid.

Xu was eventually persuaded to give up the pistol and explain himself. He said that the Positivists wanted to end the war by using the weapon, which was a short-ranged mind control device, on the Realist and Operationalist high command.

Drake contacted Dha Prime and asked their advice. Dha was in favour of ending the war if it could be done quickly and peacefully. Karla got more information from Xu by stabbing him in the foot with a knife. It was decided to test the weapon on Xu.

The key to the top panel was obtained from Colbert. It was opened, pointed at Xu, and activated. A Sorce field, visible only to Karla, was emitted to the weapon and started expanding beyond the confines of the ship. Xu, who was caught in the field, immediately fell into a gibbering heap, foaming at the mouth. Almost as quickly an Imperial strike force consisting of three Lancers (heavy cruiser class) and four Gunships (destroyer class) arrived by wormhole.

Episiode 3

The Paradroid received a transmission from the incoming Imperial fleet, which Kerns ordered onto the main view screen: 'Heave to and prepare to be boarded!' The sender of the message was an Anthropos female, who looked very familiar, but Capt. Kerns could not place her before the line was cut from the other side. He began tapping the Imperial communications to find out whether there was any complicity on the part of the Realists or Operationalists already in the system.

Meanwhihle, in the cargo bay, Karla Krace was able to identify that the Weapon was producing a Sorce field before she too collapsed with the same symptoms as Jacob Xu. Lord Sharris advised Tok to stop the weapon - Tok did so in the only way he knew how, and smashed it in with his fist. He was hit by a feedback from the machine and collapsed with the same symptoms as Xu and Krace. The Weapon appeared to be broken, but without the Sorce adept it was impossible to know for sure.

Sharris did a medical scan and found bizarre readings. Life levels and vital signs appeared to be fluctuating randomly. He transferred all three patients to Medbay, where Tok began to recover. Xu and Krace did not.

The Imperial ships moved into the system. The four Gunships took position - two at system zenith and two at nadir. The three Lancers and the Swordship moved to block the hyperspace vector to the 4th Fleet's base at Gefe. The Realist and Operationalist destroyers moved in to intercept, and were fired upon by the Imperials. There appeared to be no complicity there.

Tok recovered, and Sharris left Xu and Krace in the care of his medical staff. He arrived on the bridge just in time to find out that Kerns, through com-tapping, had determined the name of the commander of the Imperial fleet: Dalla DeFoure, the same person who had escaped from Icebox after trying to bomb the team, and who was implicated in the problem of the hostile aliens preying on miners on that Arthirian world.

Drake immediately realised that she might have recognised him over the com screen (thus negating his cover story of being an innocent arms dealer) and ordered the Paradroid to accelerate to hyperspace velocity. When they arrived at Aerris, Krace had preprogrammed both a primary escape to Gefe, and a secondary route to the agricultural world of Skrann. The Paradroid could perform a vector change at Skrann and return to Gefe, but it would be a three-week round trip as opposed to six days direct. The only other vector was to Fort Chaffee, a world recently taken by the Combine. The incoming Imperial fleet arrived along the Fort Chaffee vector, which suggested that the Combine was joining forces with the Empire.

Pilot Treesh Areeya determined that she could probably manage a short jump in the direction of Skrann, then dump velocity and perform an early vector-changing maneuver, placing them on the preprogrammed route to Gefe. This would effectively circumvent the Imperial blockade and allow the Paradroid to arrive at Gefe without going the full round trip. She was reasonably certain that she could pull off this highly dangerous maneuver.

Just before the Paradroid reached hyperspace velocity, the ship's transporter was activated. Before anyone could react, the Paradroid's shuttle was launched, and the ship hit hyperspace. Areeya dumped V and turned the ship around, landing neatly on the Gefe vector as planned. The Paradroid was safe.

Sharris checked the security logs for Medbay and found that somehow, Krace got up and the medical staff went down (Karla used the Sorce enhancement Life Balance to transfer her symptoms to the medical staff, who soon recovered). She transported herself and the Weapon to the shuttle bay and launched the shuttle just before the Paradroid hit hyperspace. It is not known what became of Krace, the Weapon or the shuttle after the Paradroid left the system.

Team Fugazi arrived at Gefe and transmitted the code signal indicating an Imperial invasion. The 4th fleet scrambled into action.

The team were intensively debriefed at Gefe, and the hostages were transferred into the 4th's custody before Team Fugazi was ordered to return to Dha Prime. They had not been followed from Aerris.

Upon returning to Dha Prime, the following information was provided:

The Combine has openly declared alliance withthe Empire, opening a conduit through which ships and troops can approach the Guild without going through the Demilitarised Zone. The 4th Fleet is now being strengthened, and the entire House of Defiance is on a state of high alert.

Attacks have been reported in the Dracan Holding, along the Imperial border. There has also been increased pirate activity (including Dark Allicance raids and Kurg/Skrak corsairs) throughout the Guild. Some speculate that resources are coming from the Empire.

Since the team left Gefe, an entire Imperial Subfleet arrived at Aerris and began launching attacks on Gefe itself. So far the House of Defiance has been able to hold them at bay, thanks to the early warning provided by Team Fugazi.

In addition, analysis of the Paradroid's logs and data had uncovered further information about the circumstances of her last voyage for House Hassa. The ship had been heading for Spicer VII, an industrial world in the Demilitarised Zone. If she had arrived with her cargo of hostile aliens, it would have caused chaos in the Zone, and allowed any Imperial fleets a route through the Zone to the Guild. The name of the individual who commissioned the Paradroid's final voyage was also revealed:

Dalla DeFoure.