D&D Vandeventures ❯ The Future Hates You! ❯ 1.0
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Deck 5: Engineering

Deck 5 consists of two areas, Engineering and Life Support, both controlled by #OpsUnion. Engineering is a hive of activity, full of engineers bustling around the three reactors that power the station, while the Chief Engineer tries to deal with damage caused by the fighting. Life Support is a confusing tangle of pipes and ducting, where the Technician is dealing with a serious coolant leak that could lead to the station exploding.

Map of Deck 5

Engineering

Controlled by #OpsUnion

Engineering is a large space, bustling with activity. Bright lights illuminate the space from the tall ceilings. The air smells of ozone and grease. The entire space has been optimized for maximum productivity by a crew of engineers. Work areas and monitoring stations are separated by clearly marked walkways. Safety gear and first-aid kits in clearly marked cubbies. Caution stripes and flashing lights are omnipresent.

One crew member is inside a large Mechanical Exoskeleton, which enables her to move a piece of equipment far larger than a single person could move unassisted.

A pair of #OpsUnion Guards man a checkpoint near the Elevator and to one side of the reactors is an Airlock hatch. At either end of the semicircular space are large open hatches to the adjoining Life Support section, which are unguarded.

This large space is dominated by three huge pieces of machinery, clearly labeled as Reactors One, Two, and Three. In front of each is a monitoring station, staffed by frazzled-looking engineers. Despite your lack of knowledge, it seems like every meter and gauge you see is in the red.

Around the monitoring stations, engineers move with purpose, replacing parts, adjusting knobs, and tightening connections. You see one engineer strapped into some sort of mechanical exoskeleton carrying an incredibly heavy bit of machinery across the room.

As you look around, the Chief Engineer, a female dwarf carrying a huge wrench, with braided hair and beard, and greasy coveralls stands in the center of the room and hollers to get everyone’s attention:

“Keep it moving, people! I know you’re tired, but this whole place is going to shit. We’ve got a fire in the cargo tunnels, a coolant leak in the primary reactor, and we’re venting atmo in 3 places.”

Reactors

The reactors are large, complex machines that the characters have no hope of understanding. Despite that, it should seem clear to them that things aren’t operating well at the moment. Everything about the reactors and the crew working on them should give the impression of a system stressed to its limits.

Offices

Running along the inner hull is a series of offices. These all look like auto mechanic shop offices, with half-height windows granting a clear view of the surrounding area. Most seem to be crowded with clutter, spare parts, and printed diagrams that you can’t make sense of.

Chief Engineer’s Office

One office is designated for the Chief Engineer. Inside is a large worktable covered in binders, tablets, and rolled-up blueprints. A sleeping bag and pillow are piled on the couch, and a semicircle of folding chairs makes it clear that the Chief Engineer often meets here with her department heads.

The Chief Engineer

Lawful Good Dwarf Artificer

The Chief Engineer is always moving. Any conversation had with her takes place as she walks from station to station, and is constantly interrupted by crew asking her questions, or her shouting an order to someone as she passes. If the characters manage to engage her for more than a minute or two, she may bring them to her office so she can focus on what they’re saying.

She is well-regarded by her crew and takes pride in the safety rating they maintained until combat started. Now her only concern is keeping the station intact. She finds the politics of the situation incredibly boring, and certainly irrelevant while the station is trying to tear itself apart.

By maintaining a neutral position, her crew has mostly been able to access the parts of the station they need to solve problems, but it’s been difficult, and things are getting worse as the fighting intensifies and her crew gets more and more exhausted.

If asked for access to the Cargo Bay (or airlocks, or any other facility under #OpsUnion control), the Chief Engineer gives a brusque “No,” explaining those areas are under lockdown to protect the station. However, she says she’d grant access if the characters help out with an urgent problem. If they agree, she refers them to the Technician in Life Support.

If the characters succeed at fixing the coolant leak for the Technician, the Chief Engineer will call them back to make an offer. As she sees it, the time portal is the cause of all the fighting, and therefore it’s putting the station at risk. If they can destroy the portal, she promises to get them off the station and down to the surface. They wouldn’t be able to return to their time, but at least they’d be free.

Life Support

Controlled by #OpsUnion

This enormous well-lit space is filled with a veritable maze of pipes of various sizes, twisting around each other and connecting oversized machinery. Some are painted and labeled, some have spinning fans, and others are clear and full of water. Catwalks and ladders permit access to pipes near the ceiling and monitoring stations bristling with knobs, dials, and readouts.

As you watch, a merman swims past you down a water pipe in the direction of an alarm squawking from the far side of the room. You hear muffled squeaks and clicks from the pipe as he passes, which are translated into Common by the station AI and heard through the nearest monitoring station.

“Shit, shit, shit, I gotta find someone who can get outside or we’re all gonna die!”

On either side of the semicircular room are large, open hatches labeled “Engineering,” which are unguarded. In the middle of the inner hull are two further exits. The door to the Elevator has been completely blocked by a stack of large cargo containers. Through the hatch to the Cargo Tunnel, you can see a squad of #OpsUnion Guards manning a barricade constructed to stop anyone from coming down the Tunnel to Life Support, or past it to the Cargo Bay.

Offices

Running along the inner hull is a series of offices. These all look like auto mechanic shop offices, with half-height windows granting a clear view of the surrounding area. Each has been taken over as a relatively private sleeping area by exhausted #OpsUnion personnel, who are sleeping in office chairs or under desks.

The Technician

Lawful Neutral Merfolk Artificer

The Technician is a fluid mechanics specialist who lives in the water tanks and pipes on the Life Support deck. He knows there is a leak in the coolant system for the reactors, but can’t fix it from here, and the clock is ticking. He’s reported the problem to the Chief Engineer, but he’s worried that other more urgent problems may leave this until it’s too late.

If the characters volunteer to help, he is overwhelmingly grateful. He authorizes them to each get a Vacsuit from the Cargo Bay, and tries to give them clear instructions for using an Airlock, finding the access panel outside, and fixing the leak.

If the players listen to his instructions, they can find the correct panel with a successful DC 10 Intelligence (Investigation) check, and fix the leak with a successful DC 12 Dexterity (Sleight of Hand) check. If they don’t listen, the difficulty to find the panel rises to DC 15, and DC 18 to fix the leak.