Slaying Goliath

Current plans for dealing with the incoming Battleship as follows, in order of preference and attempt: Let Sebastien ply the diplomatic virtues of his Warrant, and solve the issue of how to save the system later, under the cover of the scout ship Reveal the suicidal nature of the Battleship’s Mission, and exploit it to either convince the Captain to Stand Down, Defect to Bowman, or cause a Mutiny that will result in one of either Trigger the suicide conditions on board the Battleship in advance, softening if not outright destroying the target Activate the artifact and expose the Battleship crew, and buy lots of time Activate the artifact and use any pullers that are left somehow to destroy the Battleship with Meteoroids Fight epic space battle in which we will surely die Leave Bowman to die by allowing the Psi Corps bitch to induce a jump, which will almost certainly result in us being killed in an inferno of laser fire upon entry to the new system anyway, and in which she will probably never be held accountable for what she’s done Some key questions: What size of Battleship are we up against? What size of Battleship is usually sent to wipe out a system like Bowman? What size of Battleship is usually sent on a suicide mission of this scale? Is the Battleship we’re facing of that size? To what extent do the Captain and Crew of the Battleship know they were sent on a suicide mission? What is the best way to leverage that? What is the most likely way in which a Battleship of this size would be sabotaged? Can we convince or con them into finding that sabotage, and use that to put them on our side? Can we trigger that early somehow? Any other ideas on how to beat this thing?

Should definitely let diplomacy and/or fast talk win the day if we can. The scout ship down on the moon gives us the option of doing both 6 and 7. Or maybe 6 without the "in which we will surely die", and only the first two words of 7; "Leave Bowman" . Not sure why we'd die in a hail of laser fire when entering a new system. What's the thinking there? The battleship crew may not exactly be on a "suicide mission". If they know what they're going into they'd probably be kitted out with Psi Shields like we are. Would be weird for them not to know what they're going into seeing that they're acting on orders. This would also make them as immune to the crystal as we are.  The fact that they've announced with plenty of warning that they're going to execute us all probably means that they're just trying to scatter the survivors like 'roaches so that they can "purge" the pullers that remain. Otherwise they probably would have simply moved through the system quietly destroying everything. As it is, plenty of ships elsewhere in the system should be able to get away... unless there are more battleships out there. Even then ...  For us it doesn't matter. The Ares can't jump yet. For the Ares standing and fighting seems like the only option. And if it comes down to that a good first strike may let us have a little bit of hope. If we can damage them first we can get a head start. I think we'll need every edge we can get. The most powerful weapons on the Ares are all super long range weapons that are no good at close range. Particle accelerators and missiles. Pretty sure it's still very far away, and it's unlikely that it has us on our sensors yet. Unless our transponder is on ...  So if I have it figured right, up to 8 of us could make it out on the scout ship. The Ares could stay and fight, buying the others some more time to leave. I'm guessing that at least one person needs to be on the Ares, but truth is that it has a powerful enough computer to run the crazy amount of software purchased for it. According to the company docs the ship can pretty much fly and fight by herself performing most tasks with a skill level of 2.  The smallest gas giants are about 50,000 kms in diameter. So 100 diameters out is 5,000,000kms away. If it's a big gas giant like Jupiter or Saturn then the 100 diameters out is more like 15,000,000kms. The furthest range band in space combat is "Distant" - 50,000 kms + At Distant range sensors aren't picking up much.  But if I've guessed the ranges right then even if the ISS battleship is amazingly fast she is going to take a few hours to reach us. According to the chart in the book at 6Gs it takes about 2 hours to cover 1,000,000 kms. 7.2 hours to cover 10,000,000 kms Fun fact ( of no relevance to this conversation ) - if we fire a laser at a target 1,000,000kms away, the beam will reach the target about 3.3 seconds after we fire! A radar/lidar ping showing you where your target is only shows you where it was about 7 seconds ago (ping has to reach the target then return to you). So if the target is moving, you have to lead your shot by how far the craft can travel in about 9 seconds. If the target is moving only one space combat square (1250km) per combat round, then that means you have to lead your shot by about 30kms!  Sorry. Just nerding out. 

Oh and in Traveller the word "Battleship" is a bit like the word "Cruiser". It can mean pretty much anything. Usually battleships are defined as a jump capable, armed and armoured warship. In the Imperial Navy it's a term used to differentiate them from "Riders" which a warships that have no jump drive of their own.  But this think isn't Imperial Navy (?) It's ISS. 

RayEagle is an Imperial Naval vessel assigned to District 268's Subsector Navy. Sebastien is completely confident that he can protect Ares, her crew and her passengers, but you're going to have to trust him.  This is going to be complicated, but we could actually turn this whole mess into a huge coup for Artemis Group. I'll post more details later on.

Plus there is the fact that Galen is essentially a Darrian Diplomant (Packrat may have to confirm this). I don't know that this will carry much weight with the Capitan of the inbound Imperial vessel.  He (?) might be willing to finish off all of us as ... collateral damage.

Dave S. said: Plus there is the fact that Galen is essentially a Darrian Diplomant (Packrat may have to confirm this). I don't know that this will carry much weight with the Capitan of the inbound Imperial vessel.  He (?) might be willing to finish off all of us as ... collateral damage. But that could create an "incident" that affects Darrian/Imperial relations. Galen's Diplomat status may not win the day by itself but it's definately a card in our hand. 

The “suicide mission” presumption is predicated on the assumption or deliberate distribution of misinformation by local Imperium powers-that-be that this is some mysterious space-plague which “must be stopped at all costs ...”, which it sure as hell looks like; which would include outright destroying anything that has jumped in from Bowman. Maybe they’re assuming it’s a worst-case scenario, or maybe they’re deliberately misinforming ship crews so as to cover their tracks... either way, killing off the Battleship too is the safest play, and given how scary this stuff is, we should keep in mind that people who want to feel safe real bad will approve just about anything. The subtle distinction between what is actually going on and what things look like is obviously going to be lost on whoever is making the big decisions, given how little information on what is going on is available, unless they knew in advance , and are thus complicit in the whole thing , in which case, deliberately distributing misinformation to cover their tracks. The chances of people out-of-system having gathered more information as the situation developed than those of us who have been on-site with unfettered access to just about everything are just about squat; these guys entered on orders based on either assumptions or deliberate misinformation; either way, that’s bad .

So there's the stark and obvious choice, Artemis group; and you can no longer sit on the sidelines and hope for the best. You can either accept Charoux's assessment of the situation and declare war on the Imperium by attacking an Imperial naval battleship or attempt to escape it and become wanted fugitives, or allow Sebastien, Galen, Qithka and Artemis Group's own reputation to win the day diplomatically and make you heroes.  Choose.

Charoux isn’t forcing a choice here; he’s willing to explore other options. But letting Bowman get blown to hell doesn’t sit well with him, and there doesn’t seem to be much alternative in getting the Battleship to stand down through official channels. If we can correctly point out to the ship’s Captain that they’ve been sent here to die, and they weren’t told that up-front, they may be willing to look things over and decide for themselves. At which point, Bowman is saved, no one has to die, and an investigation into these sketchy orders will likely cause a scandal for whoever ordered them. Charoux is not without Diplomatic credit himself, either.

Yeah I think we need to explore our more aggressive options only after all the diplomatic ones have been exhausted.  To me it didn't sound much like they were open to negotiation though.  Also worth keeping in mind that broadcasting communications is likely to reveal our location. It takes hiding and surprise attacks off our plate of options.  EDIT: Also, turning up and slaughtering a system's civilian population doesn't really fall in with the standard Imperial way of doing things. It would be reasonable for us to assume that whatever is going on here would be denied by the Imperium if it were ever brought up. Maybe that would greatly reduce the probability of us becoming "fugitives"? At least officially.  

If you have not yet read  the full Imperial Warrant that Sebastien has just served upon Artemis Group, you should do so. Otherwise, the following post may not really make sense. According to Crow's tactical sense of the situation, it would require somewhere on the order of a month for the battleship to patrol the entire system. Considering the facts that there are multiple bases and both official and unofficial settlements in the asteroid fields, and that the RayEagle has already announced her presence and intentions, there is no way that this thing is going to be fully covered up. If the Captain of the RayEagle isn't already of this situation, Sebastien can make it quite clear to him/her.  These factors also mean that it is extremely unlikely that RayEagle's mission is a suicide mission. The higher-ups would have known that there would be no way for anything less than a full battle group to contain and besiege an entire star system. Therefor, it's an inescapable fact that people will be getting away from the system. Some have almost certainly already jumped, and more are on their way out to 100 diameters right now. So destroying a battleship or even just killing her crew would be pointless. Word will get out. Now, RayEagle and her superiors will almost certainly be trying to keep the IISS's and Imperium's part in sparking the disaster quiet, and they may be aware of and looking for the Ark. And, of course, I'm sure they're really going to want to contain the Puller Syndrome.  Taking all of that into account, and remembering that Ares /Artemis are essentially untouchable, RayEagle will have no choice but to work with us, rather than at crossed-purposes with us. Sebastien has a much more detailed plan, but I want to check in with Pakkrat before we discuss much more, since I don't know how much time we will have between the end of the last session and the start of the next one. Just generally, I think that getting RayEagle to come to us and take aboard a diplomatic party of Sebastien, Charoux (if he wants), Galen, and Qithka (if she's well enough) should be our first step.

Pakkrat just confirmed to me that we can take as much as 24 to 36 hours to plan our response. I suggest that once Sebsatien serves the Warrant upon Artemis/ Ares and places the ship and its inhabitants under his protective custody, and deals with the expected protests and recriminations, that he transmit a copy (with the parts about Maarg and Psi-corps redacted) to the Captain of RayEagle . That makes you guys safe from the "pogrom."  Then we suggest that RayEagle herself rendezvous with us at her best speed. It shouldn't be too hard to convince her Captain that he needs our research to complete his mission, not to mention our two Psi-corps "guests." I recommend that we not reveal that we have the Ark, and we may even want to consider hiding it somewhere as our ace in the hole. It is also likely that RayEagle will be aware of the dig on Epsilon, and will actually head toward the moon first. While I'd just as soon get them to come to us first, this should all work out either way. Once they realize that the Ark isn't there, they will realize that should have listened to us in first place. Once RayEagle comes in range we either take a cutter or shuttle, or have her send a ship over to take our "diplomatic corps" to meet with the Captain. There, we can present tantalizing bits of our research on the Puller Syndrome, particularly some of Dr. Simone's notes on how to diagnose Pullers and observations on the physiological effects of the syndrome. Once aboard RayEagle , we can show off our diplomatic credentials and political clout to reinforce Artemis Group's position.  In the meantime, I suggest that we secure the repair docks at the IISS base and land Ares. The sooner we complete repairs, the better. That also gives some of us to potential make a run for it in the Scout ship down there (if needed), which we should also probably keep under our hats for as long as we can. Once we have begun negotiations with RayEagle in earnest, we may or may not want to try to get assistance on our repairs. I doubt that the RayEagle's JAG and/or Diplomatic officers will have the authority to discuss the fee for our assistance in this matter, but we can magnanimously let that wait until after the crisis is under control. The scout ship may be a nice start on our payment. The Jump Drive we can either just "loot" unofficially, or Sebastien can commandeer it as required for the completion his Warrant. I also think that it might behoove us to offer our scientific assistance in identifying the remaining Pullers, but once Ares is up and about, if needed, offer to help in tracking them down and containing them. In either case, we should be able to use our leverage and resources to both make sure that Pullers are taken care of, and that the uninfected inhabitants of the system are not harmed any more than absolutely necessary.  To that end, we may also want to get our in-house media machine rolling both documenting the clean up and show-casing our part in once again saving Bowman. Obviously, there are any number of problems and complications that can throw this plan sideways, but I think it's a pretty good starting strategy, and offers not only a safe way out but the possibility for some big rewards. The biggest complication is going to be the Ark, of course. I think it's almost certain that they will be aware of it, or completely certain that they will learn about it in short order. That's a debate that we've just started thinking about internally, and clearly it's going to be an issue. Sebastien naturally will want to turn it over to the Imperium, though probably not  directly to Psi-corps. If we decide not to turn it over RayEagle , we'll have a very hard time either smuggling it out of the system or claiming official jurisdiction over it. We might be able to do that, with the proviso that we're transporting it to Lunion to hand it over to the Duke. Obviously, that would also involve a reward, and significantly improve our exposure and cred with the nobles. That, in hand, will make it easier for Sebastien to protect the group from any negative fallout from the Colonel's death (pun intended) and the Warrant. It also keeps the Ark out of Maarg's hands and it gives us (well, our "sponsoring" nobles) one more check to make sure that Duke Norris doesn't try to protect Maarg. Another complication, but potentially a good one, will be LSP. It won't be long before they will be here, and probably in some force. I expect that Sebastien should be able to turn that to our advantage, and we should also be able to negotiate Salvage rights and/or a direct reward for our saving and protection of their interests here. They might also be another potential "customer" for the Ark, but even Sebastien would rather not give them something that dangerous. Finally, the last major complication that I foresee is going to be confidentiality and spin control. Think of it as a not-so-dry run for Artemis Group's fledgling Marketing and PR departments. We already know that there are going to be several powerful parties seeking to cover their assets in this mess. By reaching out to all of the parties, including RayEagle , Garrison Station, and even the belters, as quickly as possible, we should determine how to serve everybody's best interests. We're going to need to see how that's going to look, but, we can expect that nobody is going to want the existence of the Ark and its role at the center of this mess to become public knowledge. Likewise, the IISS, LSP and Psi-corps are all going to want to avoid exposure of their roles in this debacle. We'll also probably need to avoid making the ruins themselves become any more public than they already are. Serving all of these parties' best interests may cause pangs in the consciences of some of us, but I don't see any real good from blowing the whistle and a whole lotta pain for us if we do. On the other hand, if we can show all of these parties, just as we have in Darrian space, that we can navigate the stickiest thickets with tact and confidentiality, we'll be cementing Artemis Group's reputation as a high echelon trouble-solving organization, with tact and reliability. Who'd'a thunk it?

[copied from Murder Most Foul topic] (( Well, if their mission is "jump into the system and murder everyone in a semi orderly fashion", it's probably a black op - which could mean an Imperial Warrant means little to them. They may deem the execution of every living thing in this system as being more important than an almost important murder investigation. They may even be the sort who wouuld be on Maarg's side. Gosh we know Psi Ops people are in town- The Ray Eagle could even have been sent by him. He may even be on it! Still a lot of unknown factors in this show. ))

Wolfen, you are right in that a single Battleship probably would take that long to clear out the entire system... however, the problem of people getting out would rather easily be solved by an order to “fire on all ships jumping in from Bowman”; additionally, if the Imperial Navy was determined to exterminate all life in Bowman, as appears to be the case, why send just one ship to do it? Unless you wanted to minimize how many expendable units you were destroying, or wanted plausible deniability about what was done, you wouldn’t . I’m not saying you don’t make some excellent points, you certainly do... but if the intent was to allow for survivors, they wouldn’t be taking the tone they are currently taking. Additionally, a Warrant isn’t going to keep us safe if they’re under orders to exterminate everyone ; if no one’s going to know we were here anyway, it doesn’t matter if we died here. And the Captain doesn’t need our research in order to exterminate everyone; they’ll just start firing and not stop until all targets are destroyed. With regards to the most effective ship to destroy Bowman, it is interesting that they sent a Battleship instead of, say, a fighter/bomber Carrier, which would more rapidly sweep the entire system for the sort of poorly organized and poorly equipped hostiles present here... It’s also important to remember that Pakkrat is not necessarily a strategic or tactical genius, and that occasionally his explanations for things lack the sufficient foundation in realism required for reason to be applied to understanding them... On the delivery of the Warrant... The initial redacted warrant should be redacted in such a way as to disguise whether or not Duke Norris is one of the signers; and if we can’t get away with that due to name ordering or number of characters issues, we shouldn’t try. References to Wypoc, Maarg, and Psi Ops programs should also be removed. The full Warrant should be delivered on neutral ground with sufficient time for our Cutter to get back before the Battleship is within firing range of the Ares; presumably at a location that is also not within firing range of either the Ares or the Battleship, which would mean it would have to happen soon. It has to be a location at which we can build a reasonably defensive position in a hurry if things go badly... which it probably will. Charoux will be arranging for Artemis to have a private laser comms channel with Garrison through the LSP station, that way any necessary “subversive chatter” won’t be tied directly to us, at least for the time being.

Tenacious Techhunter said: Wolfen, you are right in that a single Battleship probably would take that long to clear out the entire system... however, the problem of people getting out would rather easily be solved by an order to “fire on all ships jumping in from Bowman”; (( all this is "Out of Character" by the way. Just bouncing around some ideas. )) Not sure if it'd be that simple. I think I agree with Wolfen "The higher-ups would have known that there would be no way for anything less than a full battle group to contain and besiege an entire star system." A single ship simply wouldn't have the range to “fire on all ships jumping in from Bowman”. The 100 diameter circle around an Earth sized (size 8) planet is 1,200,000 kms. Considering that "Distant" range is 50,000 kms you'd need a small fleet to prevent ships from leaving a regular sized planet. In an entire solar system we're talking hundreds of millions of kilometers. No matter how awesome a single ship's sensors and weapons are, there's really no way a single ship can besiege an entire solar system.  That's why I was thinking that maybe they're just trying to "scatter the roaches". Once uninfected people have fled the system they can then purge it with nuclear fire. Surest way of eliminating the "pullers" while minimizing loss of "still sentient" life. EDIT: Oh wait, you said "Jumping in from Bowman" Well you've still got to cover hundreds of millions of kilometers to be able to engage ships coming into a system. On top of that I'm not sure if you can tell where a ship is jumping in from when they re-enter normal space. Also means covering a lot of systems. Pretty sure folks fleeing will be okay, ... unless there has been a massive naval mobilization.  On the delivery of the Warrant... The initial redacted warrant should be redacted in such a way as to disguise whether or not Duke Norris is one of the signers; and if we can’t get away with that due to name ordering or number of characters issues, we shouldn’t try. References to Wypoc, Maarg, and Psi Ops programs should also be removed. The full Warrant should be delivered on neutral ground with sufficient time for our Cutter to get back before the Battleship is within firing range of the Ares; presumably at a location that is also not within firing range of either the Ares or the Battleship, which would mean it would have to happen soon. It has to be a location at which we can build a reasonably defensive position in a hurry if things go badly... which it probably will. Would an edited version of the warrant still count as a warrant? Maybe it would but I get the feeling a chopped down version of the warrant will have even less likelihood of getting us out of trouble than the real one would.   Delivering the warrant to neutral ground with the Cutter is pretty brave. If the existence of that warrant is an obstacle for them they may just send a missile to meet that cutter rather than their Liaison officers or aides. We should send our most trusted and expendable people on that mission. * Puts on his red shirt *.  Charoux will be arranging for Artemis to have a private laser comms channel with Garrison through the LSP station, that way any necessary “subversive chatter” won’t be tied directly to us, at least for the time being. Top idea.  I know splitting us up is an unpopular idea, but I still think we need to be getting our VIPs out of here. So far the Scout ship down on the moon seems to be the only real ticket out of the system. If diplomacy fails we want them to already be on their way out. 

If they really wanted to give people an opportunity to flee, they wouldn’t be saying, “Stay right there, we’ll make it painless...”; which implies it would be pain ful if we tried anything like leaving. Additionally, if they wanted to make evacuation an option, they’d probably offer to help. :P

... yeah, or that. 

Good input guys, thanks. Charoux, I echo Alby's comment that scrambled laser comms via Prometheus is the way to get the word out. Great call. But I'm not going to waste my time trying to convince you that Crow's assessment of the tactical situation is accurate. It is. Deal with it or wallow in your paranoia while the rest of us deal with reality. This is neither a suicide mission for RayEagle nor an attempt clean up after one little Ancient oopsie by killing thousands while witnesses have already fled with word. Neither we, the Ark, nor Bowman are worth it. And every moment that passes means that more people have gotten away, and that the local authorities will be desperate for a way to deal with the situation without being exposed. Time is on our side. Moving on, yes, Sebastien can confirm the authorization and powers of his Warrant without divulging its entire contents, as he did when he first gained the support of the Darrian government and hired Artemis Group. I can also categorically state that the highest authority in the subsector does not trump Sebastien himself, let alone the authority of his Warrant. I wouldn't state these things without direct confirmation from Imperial High Law. You may have noted that the Warrant names Sebastien as Marquis of Argentill, not simply "Esquire." Or maybe you don't get that, but the better informed amongst you can inform the others that this means that Sebastien literally outranks the noble who has authority over the entire subsector. By two steps. Just keep up an united front and don't do anything stupid behind his back.  Yes, Charoux, I'm looking at you. ;)

Wolfen said: Just keep up an united front and don't do anything stupid behind his back.  Yes, Charoux, I'm looking at you. ;) I take offence at that! Why aren't you looking at my character? My character is FULLY capable of doing stupid things behind people's backs! Kayleb can make you long for the days when the worst things you had to suffer was a pair of Darrians sneaking off and falling down a well! Amatures! 

For everybody's peace of mind, Pakkrat, please post to let us know if I have misspoken in any way here, but I'm pretty sure that everything that I've posted comports with our private conversations. Edit: It just occured to me that anybody concerned would probably have to make rolls on Sunday to actually get that confirmation. :P

Wolfen said: For everybody's peace of mind, Pakkrat, please post to let us know if I have misspoken in any way here, but I'm pretty sure that everything that I've posted comports with our private conversations. Lol. Pakkrat has to read through all of our BS. I don't envy him. 

LOL!  Alby, your comic relief is almost certainly the main thing keeping us from spacing once another. Thanks for that!

Charoux will dryly comment, “Well, what an interesting coup d’état they planned for you...”... which will surely send Kayleb into giggles.

Sorry, TT, who planned a coup for whom? I do think that there's all kinds of potential for a number of kinds of potential here, but to which potential coup d’état are you referring?

“Well, what an interesting coup d’état they planned for you...”... which will surely send Kayleb into giggles. * snickers * .. wait ... " coup d’état "? What's that? Sounds like one of those weird human pastry dishes. 

While I'm thinking about it another really useful thing that we should think about should be having Sebastien and Charoux to work together to make sure that our separate teams can communicate securely and reliably while we try to orchestrate this whole thing.

Charoux was going by the rule of thumb that whenever a disaster and high rank coincide, it’s not merely a coincidence, and therefore, they did this to kill Sebastien the Marquis off somehow.

Charoux’s current plan is to make the LSP station a laser relay that he can target with his glasses from the ship’s observation dome, if not also the ship. We’ll communicate with Garrison about coordinating a response, as required.

Hunh, that's an interesting possibility. I'm not even going to poo-poo it and call it paranoia. It's a fair point that, especially with Psi-crops (and therefor potentially Maarg) involved, there's certainly good reason to keep an eye out for their machinations in this whole matter. Stopping us here would certainly be a good tactic for them, if they were aware of our location and operations. Pretty insanely costly, but we are talking about the same guy who nuked an entire community on allied soil to kill one man...

OK, guys, we should probably stop giving Pakkrat ideas...

Now you get where Charoux is coming from... which is not to say you should necessarily stop sticking up for a Diplomatic solution being plausible, just that we can’t really afford to discount any possibility without some basic immutable facts.

In telling a story with a conflict we have Man v. Man, Man v. Beast, Man v. Environment, Man v. Himself, Man v. God and a few others not pertinent here.  I think that our biggest conflict so far in the Return to Bowman has been Man v. Man.  We have been our biggest obstacle to ourselves.  It makes for some very interesting drama to see how each character thinks and feels.  In Man v. Beast, the Artemis Group  has had an easy but tense time dealing with the mystery of the Pullers and the so-called Puller Syndrome.  In Man v. God, we see each person coming to grips on how they feel fate is messing with them and their responses in return.  Here I example Uthka Varzeekh and how Runt bristles under her divinations.  In Man v. Environment even Adm. Galen got a taste of how dangerous a simple hole in the ground can be.  Another example is the electrified floor on Prometheus Station.  In Man v. Himself we see the need to resolve the nature of what it means to be a sophont.  Exampled by Gevaudan's discovery of Dr. Simone and her stating that there was little difference between her and Gevaudan halted Gev's interrogation and forced him to take a longer look in the mirror.  Finally, in Man v. Man, we find that each of the cast is abrading each other in a desperate hour in which survival is at serious risk.  Being trapped in Bowman system has caused tempers to flare, harsh words spoken, daring challenges and attempts and diplomacy rather than sinking to brute force unnecessarily.   Yet, the Artemis Group  seems to be working through its conflicts and making headway.  The characters may or may not see this, but we players and Referee can see our progress.  Though some conflicts can get labeled with terms such as - and I quote someone - deus ex machina;  I say this that those times when it may seem a cakewalk has occurred.  Those events were brought to fruition by actions taken by the characters.  Without their work, explorations, risks, caution and social interactions, the Referee cannot act.   There has to be a causality, a cause and effect.  There are no cakewalks.  For example, risking a sortie down to Alpha moon revealed a badly-needed K-rated Jumpdrive.  Without the characters' bravery to sally forth, there would be no such discovery.  Returning the Ark to the time-trapped Psion, Zenobia Manes, was another such risk that meant another milestone surpassed in Bowman.  Each of these milestones has seen a reward from the environment, from the Referee, from each other.  Applying 'heals' to each other when needed has kept the cast on its feet.  Taking breaks when everyone was  fatigued  was another example of such interpersonal rewards.   Deus ex machina?    I think the players are more responsible for this excellent story full of Setting, Mood, Theme, conflicts, metaplot backdrop, climax and resolution, than the Referee could ever accomplish alone.

You’re forgetting “Man vs. Society”; how the Third Imperium would interpret our actions has a lot of bearing on how we’re making our decisions. Charoux is perfectly willing to say “To hell with what society thinks, let’s do the right thing !”; of course, as a spook, he’s used to thinking he can get away with that. With regards to “deus ex machina”, you may not be taking what I said literally enough; that refers to a type of Greek play in which only the power of the Gods being called upon can resolve the circumstances of the plot. Interacting with the artifact was strictly “deus ex machina”; no amount of reasoning about it or interaction with it by the characters alone would have led to a reasoned course of action on how to deal with it; it’s only through interaction with a spontaneously introduced third party of extraordinary power that we managed to do anything about it. I’m not saying we haven’t accomplished anything, we’ve accomplished a lot. I’m just saying that particular point resembles those Greek plays. Artistry-wise, it might have been better to have given us the crazy Psion, and his babbling about the crystal and the video, earlier; that way, instead of banging my head against interacting with the artifact directly, and trying to figure out why things you said about it made no sense scientifically, we would have known that there was this person and this odd object out there to go looking for.

Deus ex isn't always a bad thing. Finding a jump drive the exact size we need to get moving again was, strictly speaking, a Deus ex plot device. Plot events that the characters had no control over immobilized the ship at the beginning of the story. "Finding" a new jump drive will get us going again. We didn't randomly roll up an encounter with that K Jump drive. It was just sitting there, wrapped in plastic, as a deus ex plot device to resolve our  problem.  That's not a totally bad thing. Ideally we want our own decisions and actions to be getting us out of trouble more often than convenient plot devices. But technically almost everything that a Referee brings into a game that hasn't been randomly rolled up is a bit of "Deus Ex" - especially if it helps resolve a conflict or get you out of trouble.  The big crack that opened up between Rey and Kylo Ren in the latest starwars movie - great example of Deus Ex Machina. Is that movie still a good movie? Yeah. Even with it's Mary Sue main character It's still a pretty good flick. The Martians dying of the measles in War of the Worlds .. that's pretty much Deus Ex Machina. Still a great story.  Probably not a good idea to get frustrated when a particular problem can't be solved with our own character's skills and actions. The Crystal in this story seems like a Macguffin to me - like the Cube in the Transformers movie. The plot revolves around it but understanding object itself isn't really a major part of the story. The solutions to the challenges presented in the story are found elsewhere.  If we're in a good story our characters shouldn't indivudually be able to solve everything. We shouldn't be unable to solve anything either. So far it feels to me like we've got a good balance. 

As a Referee, and somewhat a fellow player of a character in Gevaudan, I see your point, TT.  But I have had zero control of what you, the players create in your characters.  As to interacting with the Ark being only accessible by - let's use the term Wizard - yes, it took a powerful third party to make any headway.  I put this forward though.  Had there been a Telekinetic of sufficient power in the  Artemis Group, I would have gladly let them take up the role and task set for either Zenobia Manes or her apprentice Bobvh, especially if the crew had slain either of them or allowed them to be inaccessible by some other means. The order of which we discovered the key elements we have so far collected has been purely at the behest and decision of the players and their characters.  Without any more spoilers, which some players have vehemently banned me from leaking, the system of Bowman was indeed seeded with locus sensitive elements that were not time-triggered, but discovered at their will and curiosity.  Now, I'm no spring chicken to ticking clock events.  I've pulled the trigger on players who let time run out for them.  Bowman has yet to fit the bill....so far. With love from your Referee,  Pakkrat

Oh, I’ve got no real complaints; I just figured as a character whose backstory is figuring out why random tech doodads are wreaking havoc, this would be more up my alley instead of banging-head-against-the-wall incomprehensible. Then again, Pakkrat probably bangs his head against the wall whenever I find a clever way out of his carefully planned predicaments, at which point, he’s obligated to even the scales on me...