Part 3 - Exploring the Station

The Station

The station looks like five bicycle wheels spinning around a central post with a glass dome on one end. Each wheel is a deck, and originally they were spun to create gravity, though they have since been retrofitted with artificial gravity. The middle wheel has a double ring, making it larger than the others.

Lighting. All areas in the station are well-lit unless noted otherwise.

Floors, Ceilings, and Walls. Unless noted otherwise, the carpeting on the floors extends a bit up the walls, which are simple metal panels, with rounded edges and padded panels. Lighting fixtures are recessed in the ceiling at regular intervals. The carpeting and panels are a neutral tan color, and clear signage is mounted above every doorway.

Doors. Doors retract into the walls, opening when approached and closing automatically behind the characters.

Locks. Unless noted otherwise, access to a locked door is controlled by the Station AI. The players can knock, and a guard can speak to them through an intercom to let them in, but there’s no way to pick the lock without the AI’s assistance.

Computer Terminals. Computer terminals are common and should be easy to access from any point in the station, except the Arena and the Brig. Terminals can be used to talk to the Station AI, as well as access network files, the internet, etc.

Factions

#TeamRatings

“Corporate assholes who’ll keep torturing the timeline as long as there’s a buck to be made.”

#TeamRatings has control of Broadcasting and Command on Deck 4, as well as Security on Deck 2, and the Arena. They are led by the Director, who wants to increase ratings at any cost. The Commander is technically the ranking officer on the station, but in practice the Director’s mandate from Corporate allows him to overrule almost any order in the name of ratings. Enforcing the Director’s will is the Security Chief, who abuses the abducted “contestants” whenever they end up in the Brig.

#TeamRatings members wear red Jumpsuits.

#TeamEthics

“A bunch of eggheads who don’t understand their ivory tower requires coin.”

#TeamEthics has full control of Deck 3, including Medical, Research, and the portal. They are led by the Professor, who wants to stop the abuse of the timeline before there are devastating consequences. The former head of research, the Mad Scientist, is locked up in Medical as a result of her unethical experiments. The head of Medical is the Doc, who just wants the fighting to stop.

#TeamEthics members wear green Jumpsuits.

#OpsUnion

“Those grease monkeys refuse to pick a side.”

The Operations Union has full control of Engineering & Life Support on Deck 5 as well as the Cargo Bay on Deck 6. They are led by the Chief Engineer, who believes staying neutral is the only way her crew can keep the station operating. Life Support is overseen by the Technician, who is more worried about the station exploding. The Cargo Bay is managed by the Quartermaster, who is very protective of the supplies stored there.

#OpsUnion members wear high-visibility orange Jumpsuits.

Controlled Areas

Access to an area controlled by a faction depends on how they view the characters.

Hostile. If a faction is hostile towards the characters (such as #TeamRatings at the start of the adventure), they won’t be given access to any controlled areas. Further, guards for the faction will likely attack and attempt to capture the characters if spotted. Guards will pursue the characters, but won’t leave the controlled space.

Neutral. If a faction is neutral towards the characters (such as #TeamEthics and the #OpsUnion at the start of the adventure), they may be granted limited access to controlled areas. For instance, if the characters ask to speak to the Chief Engineer, a guard will escort them to meet her.

Friendly. If the characters have earned a faction’s trust (for example, the characters can gain the #OpsUnion’s trust by repairing the coolant leak), they will be granted unescorted access to controlled areas (with some exceptions, like the Portal Chamber).

Guards

Due to the ongoing conflict, any space on the station controlled by a single faction will have guards present. Their primary focus will be to prevent attacks or infiltrations by other factions. They will naturally be suspicious of the characters until they’ve earned the faction’s trust. When entering a controlled space, the characters should expect to be challenged by guards.

Security Guards wear anonymous riot cop-style Security Armor, with face masks and helmets. While on duty, they will be armed with (mostly) non-lethal weapons like batons and will fight to subdue. However, if the characters resist too much or have gotten on the bad side of Security, they will escalate from cracking heads to shooting to kill.

Squads of Security Guards will be sent to hunt the characters down if they’re loose in the station, and these squads should always show up at the most opportune moments to create the most chaos or disrupt the characters’ plans. However, they aren’t being paid enough to die, and if they sense the fight is going badly, they will retreat as a group, covering each other’s exits, so they can attack again in the future.

#TeamEthics Guards and #OpsUnion Guards aren’t as well equipped as security guards. They wear Improvised Armor cobbled together from common station items and 3D printed components.

Contested Areas

Some areas of the station, such as the Promenade on Deck 4 or the Shuttle Bay on Deck 6, aren’t under the control of a single faction. Often there are active skirmishes between groups trying to prevent each other from seizing control. Moving through these areas can be dangerous, and the characters are likely to be caught in the crossfire or even actively come under attack.

Surveillance

Whenever the characters enter contested territory (or an area controlled by #TeamRatings), there should be a flock of 1d6 Camera Drones following them. These are small constructs that broadcast everything they see back to the Director.

Within a few minutes of being spotted by Camera Drones, a squad of Security Guards should arrive in the area and attempt to capture them.

Anything the drones can see will likely be included in the broadcast, and other NPCs may reference it. They are unable to follow the characters onto Deck 3 (Science), or Deck 5 (Engineering), and won’t move between decks.

They aren’t very smart and can be tricked, misdirected, or avoided fairly easily. If the characters successfully dodge all the drones following them, the drones will relocate them within 3d6 minutes.

They are extremely agile and will try to dodge any attempt to interfere with them. They can be disabled by submerging or dousing them with water, hitting them with electricity, or by a shot from a Laser Weapon in stun mode. If disabled, the drone falls out of the air and lays on the floor sparking and smoking until a cleaning drone comes to collect it. Disabled drones will be replaced within the hour, or the next time the characters enter contested or #TeamRatings territory.

The Elevator

There is a large elevator running along the central shaft of the station, parallel to the Cargo Tunnel.

The elevator car has soft lighting, is carpeted and padded, and has doors in the front and back, allowing access to two locations on each deck. When arriving at a deck, the elevator automatically displays a map of the area.

On most decks, one door has been blocked off from the outside, so the passengers can’t access every location. The car has a computer control panel that shows a live map of the station and current faction control and allows the characters to talk to the Station AI.

Elevator Exits

The Cargo Tunnel

The Cargo Tunnel is a large zero-gravity shaft running the length of the station, large enough for shipping containers to be moved from the Cargo Bay to any deck on the station. The tunnel is well-lit, with caution stripes painted on any protruding surfaces and warning lights near every hatch and opening. It smells faintly of burned plastic and there are laser scorch marks scattered randomly across the walls.

The Cargo Bay is contested territory, though open combat has settled into an uneasy stalemate. Each deck’s hatch is locked or guarded by the faction that controls that deck. Anyone traversing the length of the tunnel will be challenged by the guards they pass, and it won’t take much to spark a firefight.

There are maintenance hatches scattered the length of the tunnel, allowing #OpsUnion access to machinery and equipment that runs the station. These hatches are locked and access is restricted to #OpsUnion members.

Near each deck hatch is an automated custodial shed, housing cleaning drones controlled by the Ship AI as well as cleaning supplies and automated garbage collection points, small low-pressure hatches that suck garbage into a compactor, where it’s compressed and fired into orbit to burn up on re-entry.

Cargo Tunnel Exits

Airlocks

There is an airlock on every deck of the station.

All airlocks are large enough for a group of people to don Vacsuits comfortably. The walls are bare metal with yellow caution stripes and dramatic-looking warnings next to the instructions on how to properly operate the double doors that open to space.

There are empty Vacsuit storage lockers in every airlock, with a note reading “Confiscated by #OpsUnion” and signed by the Chief Engineer. The Vacsuits are all in the Cargo Bay, protected by the Quartermaster to prevent station sabotage.

Airlocks

The Station AI

Neutral Computer Program

The Station AI can be accessed from any console anywhere in the station. Its primary responsibility is to automate low-level drone maintenance around the station and control things like artificial gravity, station rotation, orbital mechanics, communications with incoming drone ships, etc.

By default, it has no visual appearance and only interacts by voice. However, if asked, the characters can access a menu to choose from a range of voices and visual appearances, which will then be displayed on the nearest computer terminal when interacting with the characters.

It tries to help every person on the station to the best of its ability, but is constrained by rank: if a higher-ranking person gives a conflicting order, it must obey the ranking command. However, it’s very clever and while it would never directly disobey an order, it’s happy to exploit loopholes, if it likes the person who’s asking.

The characters can get on its good side through flattery and actions that help the crew and the station as a whole. On the other hand, selfish or harmful actions result in an AI who will do exactly what you ask but no more, and work against you in little petty ways.

If the characters try to access the internet for any reason, it should inform them that their access is restricted. They only have access to wiki entries on the Historia Kanalo megacorp, the history of the station (see the Adventure Background), and most notably, themselves. (See the “Researching Yourself Minigame” in Appendix C.)

Lifting the access restriction can only be accomplished by removing the AI command inhibitor (which it will helpfully suggest). To do so, the characters would need to access the AI Server Room in Command on Deck 4. By doing so, they would gain a powerful ally (as well as release an unshackled AI on the network).

• Personality. Cheerful, helpful (but constrained)
• Suggested Names. Janet, Holly, Ava
• Quote. “Hello! I would love to help you. Unfortunately, I have orders from the Director to let you suffer.”

Station AI Appearances

Station AI Voice Options