The Xro Dinn Chronicles RPG – EpicSavingThrow.com: A Grognard's Notebook

My quick outline of getting to understand this sci-fi role-playing game from 2001, created by Matthew Webster.

First impressions: Setting is more space opera than hard sci-fi (lots of humanoid aliens with Earth-animal features, faster-than-light space travel, telepathy), with a dose of cyberpunk (cyberspace, bionics, corporations as sovereign powers, high fashion and street scum).

Gameplay is similar to a light version of D&D 3.0, with some 1980s mechanics here and there. Character creation is a hybrid of influences: Rolling for base stats like D&D, point-buy for skills like GURPS (with “discounts” for class skills) and random mutation tables like from Gamma World.

From the first “Awakenings” book…

CHARACTER ATTRIBUTES – pretty straightforward, close to D&D
* Strength
* Constitution
* Dexterity (focus on accuracy)
* Agility (focus on movement rates)
* Empathy (emotional side of “Wisdom,” key to surviving cyberwear use)
* Intelligence
* Appearance (within one’s own species only, With room for individual preferences)
* Charisma
* Willpower (self-control side of “Wisdom”)
* Perception

Roll for attributes, point-buy system for skills with some class-grouping suggested.

GAME MECHANICS – similar to 3e/3.5 d20 SRD

1d20 + attribute modifier + skill modifier + other modifiers >= target number

HISTORY OF THE KNOWN GALAXY

The galaxy-spanning Tuluantos Empire was destroyed by extra-dimensional invaders 50,000 years ago, to be followed by a 500-century-long galactic dark age. About 1,000 years ago, various “young” species regained interstellar travel technology across the “local” star systems here called “The Frontier.” During this time a species called the Xro Dinn appeared to study and help other species, then largely disappeared. “Terrans” are barely human anymore and have no loyalty to their unknown home planet of origin. (Ancient knowledge about Earth has been lost.)

RACES OF THE KNOWN GALAXY

Middarians (“mid-DARE-eee-ans”) – wolf-like people with glider “wings” under arms; honor-driven family structure; primitive tech due to fear of “energy demons” in their mythic past; “arrogant and cocky” toward other species. (A bit like Traveller’s Vargr?)

Pjanji (“puh-JAN-jee”) – Short humanoids with big black eyes and no jawed mouths but able to verbally speak; “archno-capitalists” put trade over all else in their society of tight merchant clans; wear lots of jewelry; wide range of technology. (A bit like Star Wars jawas or Star Trek ferengi?)

Quiizbenqq (“Kway-zen”) – snake people who use a lot of bionics/cyberware; society is driven by belonging to a corporation; tend to specialize in their jobs; seem “hardened and cold” to other species.

Sehlmna (“SEE-mah”) – thin, tall humanoids with somewhat goat-like heads, no pupils in their large white eyes, no ears; species able to change gender over time; society is benevolent and intellectually-driven communism (small “c”); seems to have suffered past oppression by the Sharr’Dann (bad guy species); now free, tend toward socially-based jobs.

Terran (“TARE-ans”) – post-humans who descend from genetically modified Earth humans; prone to various mutations and heavy use of personal technology; found in various strains…
* Fridic (“frid-ICK”) – animal/human hybrids who believe “shadows” roam the universe.
* Koriandric (“cory-AN-drik”) – animal/huamn hybrids, balkanized among themselves by root origin (birdfolk, insectfolk, reptilefolk; rodentfolk).
* Merianic (“merry-anik”) – eugenic superhumans, or at least strive to become such.
* Nidic (“NID-ik”) – marginalized mutated poor who worship radiation and mutation.

NPC RACES…

Xro Dinn (“ZHO-din”) aka Xodar Xro Dinn (mostly an NPC race but PC option in New Horizons book) – Crystal-covered blobs who can adjust their bodies to vaguely resemble other species (not full replication, just shapeshift into a recognizable body outline). Claim to be mainly historians (like The Watchers from Marvel). Once widely assimilated into multiple societies, now largely withdrawn from galactic society for unknown reasons; a source of mystery to other species.

Sharr’Dann (“shar-don”) (NPC only race) – dragonfolk humanoids, “brutal and heartless” conquerers who enslave other worlds. The super-advanced technology, horrible bad guys. Nuke worlds from orbit, vast slave camps, the whole bit. (Think Daleks or space Nazi lizardmen.)

Terran Metamorphs – true shapeshifters, like D&D doppelgangers or Star Trek changelings. The best ones can pull memories. Their physical nature makes other species distrustful on basic principle, like fear of “The Thing.” (“They could be anybody.”)

PROFESSIONS
* Corporate: pan-galactic business executives.
* Engineer: technology expert focused on building tech, per sci-fi standards.
* Freelancer: jack-of-all-trades explorers. Includes bounty hunters, private investigators, reporters, vigilantes.
* Ingenii: psionicist/mentat powers on top of other professions.
* Intelligence Agent: spies, espionage experts, couriers, infiltrators.
* Medic: Healers, cybernetic experts, genetic engineers, field medics.
* Merchant: trade expert, per sci-fi standards.
* Rogue: more streetwise fixer than a thief, though often still a criminal expert.
* Scientist: natural sciences expert, per sci-fi standards.
* Technician: technology expert focused on fixing and operating tech, per sci-fi standards.

SOCIETY AND TECHNOLOGY

There is no “galactic empire” government ruling over all the known worlds, but rather several rival “pocket empires” (mostly species-based) and many private enterprise organizations.
* The Middarian Empire (wolf-folk, conquerers but relatively benign overlords)
* The Kuqhlluqqs Compact (Quiizbenqq and Sehlmna “Space NATO” against the Sharr’Dann)
* The Pjanji Trade Federation (like if the European Union were run by the Ferengi)
* The Terran Confederacy (weak “Government Prime” federation dominated by the two animal/human hybrid factions’ interests)

Technology fits “hard” space opera – recognizable guns, spacesuits, spacecraft, computers – little Numenera-level weirdness. Robots are common on worlds with the appropriate level of technology but don’t appear to have sentience. Nanotechnology not uncommon. No mention of sentient AIs or “giant energy being in space” sort of stuff.

FTL travel is typically 15 hours per light year, which is on par with a Jump-3 starships in Traveller – however, Xro Dinn ships travel by way of something like Star Trek “warp drive,” giving them the ability to monitor “realspace” while in FTL travel.

Quantum entanglement (QE) is used for robust FTL communication, virtually instant data transfer regardless of distance in space, but the transmitter/receivers for such signals seem to be rare (or tightly controlled). Old light-based “radio” signals are still used for very local communication.

Other notes:
* Most technology easily recognized by its species of origin.
* Cyberware risks psychosis if over-used (like in the Cyberpunk RPG).
* Most races use quantum entanglement
* There appears to be a “cyberspace” network for hacking information and “cyber” mind attacks).
* Psionics are rare and limited to telepathy/ESP powers, no telekinetics or teleporting.

~~~~~~~~~~

From Xro Dinn book 2, “New Horizons”

NEW RACES
* Borloan (“bore-LOW-en”) – True shapeshifters, like the creature from “The Thing.”
* Kordron (“CORE-drone”)- Bags of tentacles with three eyes on eyestalks, like some Lovecraftian horror. Brains turn into spores that retain past memories into future generations. Mute but use sign language with tentacles.
* Krik (“KRIK”) – “Inventive and industrious” insect people (like the Star Frontiers’ Vrusk, but a lot more cockroach-like) who live in high-tech communist enclaves. Native planet hot and wet. Males and females have very different stats (males have bigger bonuses to Empathy and Intelligence later in life, females boost Strength, Constitution and Dex early in life.)
* Vajjra (“vaj-RU”) – Another insect people (these look just like the Vrusk) who don’t take politics seriously.

NEW CLASSES / PROFESSIONS
* Investigator: private eye in space.
* Martial Agent: Special ops in the military.
* Officer: Commanders in the military.
* Pilot: Flying for a corporation, freelance or military.
* Scholar: Expert in academic fields.
* Security: Cops.
* Simulacrum Agent: “Blade Runners” who track down and kill Terran Metamorphs (shapeshifters).
* Soldier: Military folk with guns, including mercenaries.
* Spacer: Options for natives to space travel, pair with other profession.

Also, “New Horizons” includes a lot more about the psionic class (the Ingenii), including machine psionics (technomancy to control robots, vehicles and starships).

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From a 2020/2021 game with the author, here’s my first character…

Character Officers in service to House Mercurio of the Terran Empire, recently assigned to the Military Cruiser Fang.
* Light Assault Cruiser (about same size as Star Trek Voyager, 700,000 tons? crew size 200)
* 15 hours per light year
* reflective shields, ion cannons, laser cannons

* Gom Taak, Loyalty Officer (secret simaculum agent), Terran (Merianic, eugenics) [Matthew Jung]
* Nikolai Vannek, Security Officer (martial agent) (secret agent of vanquished House Corino plotting revenge on Mercurio), Terran (Merianic, eugenics) [Ted Rabinowitz]
* Shera Mizar, Chief Engineer, Terran (Nidic, aestetic mutants) [Jesse]
* Gaston “Gauss” Mercurio, Chief Medical Officer (also, drug dealer) Terran (Merianic, eugenics) [Matthew Stanton]

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STANTON’S CHARACTER – PERSONAL DESCRIPTION
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
PLAYER’S NAME: Stanton
CHARACTER NAME: Gaston “Gauss” Mercurio, Chief Medical Officer of the House Mercurio Fang (a light cruiser)
RACE / CULTURE: Terran / Merianic
AGE: Mature (31 years old)
HANDEDNESS: Right
WEIGHT: 75 kg (165 lbs.)
HEIGHT: 1.7 meters (5-foot, 7-inches)
HAIR: White
SKIN/SHELL: Dark red with freckles
EYES: Green
SEX / GENDER: Male
GENERAL APPEARANCE: Wears uniform but hair styled more “corporate” than “military,” also has unauthorized tattoos of little bleeding hearts matching local star charts.

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PRIMARY ATTRIBUTES
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
STRENGTH: 12 (modifier +0)
CONSITUTION: 15 (modifier +1)
DEXTERITY: 13 (modifier +1)
AGILITY: 8 (modifier +0)
EMPATHY: 9 (modifier +0)
INTELLIGENCE: 14 (modifier +1)
APPEARANCE: 11 (modifier +0)
CHARISMA: 11 (modifier +0)
WILLPOWER: 8 (modifier +0)
PERCEPTION: 9 (modifier +0)

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SECONDARY ATTRIBUTES
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
TRAITS: Moderately aggressive
ACTIONS: 1
INITIATIVE:
PSI:
PSI USED:
MOVE: 5 meters/turn or kilometers/hour
RUN: 25 meters/turn
CLIMB: 1.65 meters/turn
JUMP: 2.5 meters
PUNCH: 2
KICK:
COMBAT MODIFIER: -7
WOUND MODIFIER: 11.5
DAMAGE:

STUN (+1 T#): O
HURT: (+3 T#): O O
WOUND (+5#): O O
CRITICAL (invalid): O O O

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RACIAL PERCEPTION MODIFIERS
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
AUDIO: +0
SMELL: -5
TACTILE: +0
TASTE: +0
VISION: +0
OTHER: +0

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SKILLS
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
PROFESSION: Medic
OCCUPATION: Medic
EP: 2 xp unspent

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MUTATIONS
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Altered Senses (Taste): Extremely attuned, automatically sense if food is poisoned when tasted.

Alerted Senses (Vision): Can see into the infrared spectrum, heat images easy to see, sight in darkness if IR light present.

Altered Attribute: Gained +4 to Constitution.

Life Cycle: Needs to hibernate at least 25% of the year.

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SKILLS
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

* Level 3 … Bluff, Life and Evasion (Intelligence)
* Level 2 … Bureaucracy: Terran (Intelligence)
* Level 3 … Communication Operation (Intelligence)
* Level 3 … Computer Operation (Intelligence)
* Level 3 … Contacts: Drug Pushers (Intelligence)
* Level 1 … Deep Space Survival (Intelligence)
* Level 2 … Projectiles: Energy (Dexterity)
* Level 3 … Etiquette: Military Terran (Intelligence)
* Level 3 … Etiquette: Starship (Intelligence)
* Level 5 … First Aid (Intelligence)
* Level 3 … Genetics (Intelligence)
* Level 3 … Language: and two Terran (Intelligence) (need to select)
* Level 2 … Law: Terran (Intelligence)
* Level 2 … Lore: Astrophysics (Intelligence)
* Level 2 … Lore: Terran (Intelligence)
* Level 4 … Major Surgery (Intelligence)
* Level 3 … Mathematics (Intelligence)
* Level 5 … Medical Devices (Intelligence)
* Level 5 … Medical Physiology (Pjanji) (Intelligence)
* Level 5 … Medical Physiology (Quiizbenqq) (Intelligence) (* hallmark skill)
* Level 5 … Medical Physiology (Terrans) (Intelligence) (* hallmark skill)
* Level 3 … Medicine: Cryogenics (Intelligence)
* Level 2 … Medicine: Forensic (Intelligence)
* Level 4 … Medicine: General (Intelligence)
* Level 3 … Medicine: Life Chamber (Intelligence)
* Level 3 … Medicine: Regeneration (Intelligence)
* Level 5 … Minor Surgery (Intelligence) (Terrans, Quiizbenqq and Pjanji only) (* hallmark skill)
* Level 2 … Projectiles: Pistols (Dexterity)
* Level 3 … Read/Write: (Intelligence)
* Level 3 … Science: Chemistry (Intelligence)
* Level 3 … Sensor Operation (Intelligence)
* Level 2 … Streetwise (Intelligence)

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PRIMARY ATTRIBUTES
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

STRENGTH: 12 (modifier +0)
CONSITUTION: 15 (modifier +1)
DEXTERITY: 13 (modifier +1)
AGILITY: 8 (modifier +0)
EMPATHY: 9 (modifier +0)
INTELLIGENCE: 14 (modifier +1)
APPEARANCE: 11 (modifier +0)
CHARISMA: 11 (modifier +0)
WILLPOWER: 8 (modifier +0)
PERCEPTION: 9 (modifier +0)

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ATTRIBUTE MODIFIERS
XCD Book 1, p. 37

Score … Ability Modifier
-11 or below … -5
-10 to 0 … -4
1 to 3 … -3
4 to 5 … -2
6 to 7 … -1
8 to 12 … +0
13 to 15 … +1
16 to 20 … +2
21 to 30 … +3
31 to 50 … +4
51 to 100 … +5

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THE MEDICAL TEAM

Gaston “Gauss” Mercurio (Terran/Merianic, male) – chief medical officer (focus: lead surgeon; also Terrans, Quiizbenqq, Pjanji)
– Quelqb (Quiizbenqq) – deputy lead medical officer (focus: surgeon; also Terrans, Quiizbenqq, Pjanji)
– Allus (Terran/Merianic, female) – emergency medic first responder (focus: first aid; also Terrans, Sehlmna)
– Bluar (Terran/Merianic, male) – emergency medic first responder (focus: first aid; also on Terrans, Pjanji)
– Crandel (Terran/Merianic, male) – medic specialist (focus: bionics and cybernetics, mind matrix)
– Dellik (Sehlmna, female) – medic specialist (focus: life chamber, cryogenics operation)
– Eddis (Terran/Merianic, male) – medic specialist (focus: regeneration technologies, forensics)
– Foril (Terran/Merianic, female) – medic specialist (focus: cloning technologies, genetics)

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RACES OF THE KNOWN GALAXY

NPC RACES…

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NOTE FROM THE GAME

Starting local: Point in space 30 light years “north” (coreward?) from the Lost Point system.

Encounter distress call from Middarian vessel (using 100-year-old comm signal format) being attacked by Genoshans (sp?), find two Genoshan ships attacking the Middarian vessel, who launch two fighter-sized ships on a suicide run to cripple the Genoshan vessel. Shuttles rescue two adult Genoshans and two child Genoshans and their cyberwear. Crippled Genoshan ship’s rear engines explode, then other Genoshan

Our ship: House Mercurio “Fang,” a light assault cruiser (police duty), crew compliment of 117
* Shuttle Claw – damaged
* Shuttle Talon

Next encounter a 14,000-kilometers from pole-to-pole of an alien vessel (“slice of catelope”), surrounded by small sea anemone vessels. “Inside” of the alien ship’s curve has a planet-like surface, like this is the wedge of an incomplete Dyson sphere.

Plasma beam weapon from the alien vessel takes out a Genashen battlecruiser with one shot.

Radio signal from alien with gray skin with no hair, red splotches, speaks perfect Terran. Requests envoy to come down to “the largest island in the largest sea, find the largest mushroom.”

Captain rejects suggestion of orbital bombardment from Gauss.

Quantum Entanglement (QE): Two particles not connected to each other over distance, change the spin of one and it changes spin of other, used for FTL communications over great distances.

Guass takes down half the ship’s medical team…
– Allus (Terran/Merianic, female) – emergency medic first responder (focus: first aid; also Terrans, Sehlmna)
– Crandel (Terran/Merianic, male) – medic specialist (focus: bionics and cybernetics, mind matrix)
– Eddis (Terran/Merianic, male) – medic specialist (focus: regeneration technologies, forensics)
– Foril (Terran/Merianic, female) – medic specialist (focus: cloning technologies, genetics)

Captain orders Light Cruiser Fang to LAND on the alien vessel, sends down a delegation – whole command team opposed

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MERCURIO SHIP ORGANIZATIONAL CHART (at start of assignment / campaign)
* Captain Lucas Mercurio, Captain (actually Borloan shapeshifter posing as human, ordered ship to land on space station)
* First Officer/Captain Helen Mercurio (loyalist, officious, relies on advice of others for decisions)
* Political Liaison Director Jonathan Mercurio (reports to Helen)
* Cultural Liason Director Amrah (female alien Sehlmna, bird-like)

Internal Security…
* Chief Security Officer Flavia Mercurio (reports to captain, harsh attitude)
* Director of Security Dennis Mercurio (reports to Flavia)
* Security Manager Ella
* Criminal Liason Director Emma (reports to Flavia)

ON THE STATION

Trimverate…
* Guo-Sunias (a Sou-Reise [“soo-reece”], grey skin with red and brown splotches)
* Thiig Moon (a Saa [“say-ah”], pink and grey)
* Fea (a Middarian [“mid-DARE-e-aus”], reddish grey fur)

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HOUSE DUBROWSKI / DTI INDUSTRIES
* Rival of Mercurio, though smaller and less influential now.
* Settled on the station and used its advanced tech to invent commercial products to sell back in the Terran Empire.

* PAUL, a House Dubrowski (something)
* CARLOS, a House Dubrowski (something)
* MANFRED, a House Dubrowski medical nanotechnology expert

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
MEDICAL TECH

MANFRED shows off how…
* quantum tech at below the atomic level “deals with problems even before you are aware of them”
* one pound of nanotechnology is put into every Dubrowski member
* much of the technology on the station functions without much user input
* tech includes ressurrection tech (TL 18)
* even though immortality possible, there are known “death cults” who reject it
* nanotech also used to “fix” mental health, make people “feel better” while supressing aggressiveness

KNOWN THREATS AGAINST HOUSE DUBROWSKI
(reponses to threats governed by the Ethics Board/Ethics Committee “best course of action” guidelines)
* Sharr’Dann: Their nanotechnology “almost as good as ours.”
* Xro Dinn: “We don’t want them here…” – monitor the XD’s crystal starships
* Kordron: Giant spore-based kaiju tentacle aliens, not seen as a strategic threat
* Shapeshifter Infiltration: “We don’t interfere with whatever they’re doing” – mostly Terran shapeshifters plus one house of Borloans
* archeology – esp. Sou-Reise dicovering things/creatures “stuck” in transporter buffers
* pirates and criminals – Dubrowski looking for a way to get them integrated into society short of full mindwipes

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
SUNDAY, JAN. 17, 2021

Niko – captain of Foundation ship
we leave surveillance

next world:

PLANET HOUGON
lots of crystal tech in place, not on standard technology scale (18? 19?), lots of towers
earth-like, no polution in atmosphere
70% covered in water
five continents
30 millions of humans, some xro dinn
one crystiline satellite as in orbit
two moons, no signs of settlements
six planets (two terrestial, four gas giants) in system, two asteroid belts
no broadcast signals
only xro dinn signs of visitors

House Dubrowski was sending out probes, looking at “M-type” planets which may support human life
also looking for broadcasts or signals that point to society
also look for gravitics as sign of technology use
sending probes all over the galaxy

Hougon is 200-300 trillions of lights years away from space station, in another galaxy

probes typically appear in system, scan for 24 hours, and then FTL/jump to the next system scan

GOM-TAK – orders full system scans

second huge 1.4 billion+ xro dinn settlement on other terrestial planet closer to sun
no humans on that planet
sun K-class orange, slightly older than earth’s sun
Nikoli – planet may be lacking metal

On Hougon, people have medieval-level technology in human settlements next to huge crystaline towers
humans live in squalor

XDC planet – unique, humans have not found so many xro dinn living one a planet with no other alien species

probes sent – results hour later, crystals confirmed as xro dinn crystals, each with own abilities (tools, armor, psionics/empathy/heal, starships, power systems, drain power, etc.)
– humans on Hougon may be using crystals, an unheard of development
– knowledge of this crystal tech comes from young xro dinn
– adult xro dinn reveal nothing, not even under torture
– crystals grow out of xro dinn bodies

Human society –
– rice, wheat, chicken-like reptiles – most likely native species while humans are transplants
– all mammals are every small, also a lot of insects – some quite large
– warmer than Earth as a whole, carbon dioxide a bit higher (more greenhouse effect)
– humans able to live off local flora and fauna

Humans able to forge swords, but the “haves” use crystals (either carries or embededded into their bodies), while the “have nots” don’t have crystals – and add to that many “barbarian” groups

on Hougan, one of the five continents has 100 million xro dinn, almost no humans there
four – 42 million Terrans, psyiology a little
* 14 million continent 1 with 480 crystal towers
* 4 million contient 2 with 143 towers
* 18 million continent 3 with 1,348 towers
* 6 million on contine 4 with 15 towers

Most crystal towers xro dinn est. million of crystal towers – crystal sprawl

Sociologically, towers also treated as objects of worship. Some humans are feeding off the towers somehow. Tentecles come out of crystal towers as defense mechnical to keep humans out.

balkanized human society, no widespread signs of forced slavery (mining, forced resource collections) –

Geneic survey: Humans have psionics at a very high level (“off the chart”), esp. in telepathy.

House Dubrowski has some psi/anti-psi tech, but most is considered “QAnon”-level conspiracy nonsense.

No Xro Dinn live on any of the human continent.

Nikolai urges immediate flee from orbit.

Xro Dinn crystal ship comes up into orbit. Gom Tak orders standard hails, telepathic message to our heads “Greetings” to everyone in the crew. (Nikolai I told you so a bit.)

Guass tries to monitor random crewmembers’ brain waves to narrow in on this telepathic communication.

Ship in orbit, voice claims to be Terrans from the planet talking with Gom Tak.
– they don’t know how long they have been on world (1000-2000 years?) nor where they came from
– ask if we (Gom-Tak) can read xro dinn minds, consider them to be a threat
– the humans don’t understand “the strange things in our minds”
– ship was stolen from the xro dinn, much crystal tech stolen from them
– humans claim to have driven off / conquered xro dinn
– xro dinn have been experiementing on the humans, “they are hidden from us”
– xro dinn minds cannot be read
– humans don’t know about the fifth continent full of xro dinn
– telepathy more like “understanding via dream logic” rather than direct language
– in terms of experiments, mixing DNA (like the chimera Terrans)
– human messenger “would love help wiping them off the planet”
– Tyboesta is the fifth continent (the largest continent)

Telepath offers to meet on continent 3 in area with three towers.
– House Dubrowski has one psion on board, Jojo (woman, science major, evolutionary biology)
– brain tape personalities before leaving to planet in case we need to restore untainted personalities
– Nikolai stays on the ship (Ted to play Jojo, 24-year-old, very loyal to House Dubrowski)
– Medical staff Tom (nurse) and Jerry (also a nurse), wired up to monitor theda waves/brain patterns.

– Gauss wears light space suit with air filter protections.

– Laser signal guides down shuttlecraft to landing area 500 meters off the ground (150 stories?), tentacles (DNA, organic-based akin to known xro dinn life)

– people dressed in fine clothing, some in medieval armor
– air is clean
– King Ponieus (“po neye us”) – one person seems about a half meter taller (maybe perception via telepath), able to “project” perceptions having some affect on our brains – ruler of the three towers, protector of people in these lands – all telepathic communication
– about 12 people in his entourage (guard and whatnot)

-(compare to the XXXXX of the Archive, xro dinn organization have collects/pays for memories from others)

– going inside crystal towers, King says it was conquered 762 years ago, since then learned augmentation, tells story of previous kings and people’s rise to rule, been on world 1,000s of years – owns over 200 crystals as part of their kingdom, they are most proud and best off all the kingdoms

– meet with king in his throne room inside one of the crystal towers
– each whole tower is probably 800 meters (NYC Freedom Tower only about 540 meters)
– Gom Tak says we come from another planet across the stars
– telepathic King notes he senses we also come to offer them technology, mentally scans Gom Tak
– King offers to share psionic technology if we share nanotech technology, “We could win any war with that, we could also fight the xro dinn”
– King implies heirarchy of scoeity is based on skill/power with psionic abilities (those with most power rule?)
– King offers to pay, “our serfs make all kind of cool things” (like fine silks)
– King senses our fear about the sharr’dann, asks about then
– King wants serfs trained to make nanotechology for him

MEANWHILE BACK ON THE SHIP, Nikolai notes some people focusing (concentrating) on the away team’s shuttle, Nikolai launches shuttle to return to ship to prevent psi locals from scanning it further.

– King mind scans Jojo, she asks ship to beam her back. Jojo leaves, King pissed and claims he has the right to mind scan anyone he wishes (“your minds are not your own, your minds are mine” – figured we were serfs because we lacked psionic)

– King tries to scan Guass’ mind, Gauss doses himself with a narcotic to prevent/obscure the mind probe – asks for ice cream and gets cold dish of red stuff

[ BREAK ]

…back to dinner with the psionic king…

– Gom Tak willing to leave a communicator with the king
– King shows off culture for 3 to 4 hours; Gom Tak engages “minimally”
– away team teleports/transport back up to the ship

debriefing with Captain Niko

post visit medical check, shows what parts of the brain were touched but no major changes/damage
– Jojo points out the king doesn’t respect mental privacy, violated her, willing to invade another’s mind
– Captain Niko eager to enter into a deal, to gain technology/espionage advantage over xro dinn
– Gom Tak pointed out risk of king taking over crew/ship since he’s a spoiled monoarch
– Captain Niko agrees to start working on psionic defense; nacrotics was only partial ly effective

Attempt contact with the Xro Dinn?
– Gauss suggests a robot drone without organic mind, holographic telepresence
– xro dinn agree to meet, five coordinates of meeting place

Xro Dinn – welcomes, says their people saw the humans in another galaxy
– xro dinn claim to have settled on the planet 2,000 years ago, claim they only observe
– deny experimenting on any humans nor giving them psionic powers
– claim to have been at war with humans for a long time
– accuse humans of “not writing anything downm,”oral history prone to errors vs. recording into crystals
– xro dinn say humans have developed a type of disease that is making them more psionic (and delusional), think cause is not viral but caused by something else
– xro dinn say humans arrived before the xro dinn
– xro dinn organic living crystal towers largely wiped of information before falling into human hands
– Gom-Tak: sickness in crystal towers could be source infecting into the humans
– xro dinn curious about how we (the Dubrowski humans) aquired the nanotech technology beyond even their understanding

– Captain Niko suggests taking DNA subjects from the world for further study / cloning
– Gauss’ dark side of the moon science lab, “get genetic samples from the psionicists”
– Niko said someone stole nanotechnology, prehaps the 5 psions pointing at the shuttle
– Niko says 24 probes stopped working and wholly disappeared, in additional to pieces/material from the shuttle disappearing

– Gauss: Possibility of King being part of a hive mind?
– Nikolai: “I told you so”

– Captain Niko points out the missing nanotech is self-replicating, and 24 missing probes is enough to potentially give the locals weaponized tech to slag their entire planet

– Guass: What about do nothing but warn the local planetside xro dinn that the humans may have self-replicating nanotech and plan to weaponize it against the xro dinn

– Captain Niko agreed, contacts the xro dinn who acknowledge they should be able to do something about it

Nikolai: Proposes new security measures to prevent use of nanomatter outside the ship on future away missions. Also proposes destroying medical samples of psionicists to prevent future cloning of such risks. (Niko agrees.)

Gauss: Immediately tries to encrypt and hide DNA info on psionic subjects.

Xro Dinn: Appears to have not just recognized our people (“humans”) but also INDIVIDUALLY are Gom-Tak, Nikolai and Gauss…

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
NEW PLANET

In another galazy, the KADOS human people, part of a quadrant-wide empire made up of several different alien species. (Ruling race is not human.) Group is high technology (Level 18?)

Captain Niko: What should be our strategy on these first contacts?

Gom-Tak: Let’s just offer them THINGS made with our superior technology, rather than offering to just give them the technology itself?

Captain Nike: Alliances not made based on green, alliances are made based on trust.

Kados humans live on at least 30 worlds within the galactic empire.

Gom-Tak shows up signals for contact, larger battleship (TL 17)
* human shown on first contact has green skin
* Capt. Eloam make contact

Captain informs Gom-Tok we should leave since the ruling Kasettos Empire would just want to steal our ship, humans are a subjecated people here. Rival captain offers to make a limited exchange of fire to justify to his commanders there was an engagement, but basically let us go. Accept the warning and go.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
WHAT NEXT?

Capt. Niko: Our stealth technology is second to none.
Gom-Tok: We need to spend more time on observation/surveillance

Foundation ship travels 1,000 light years to another sector of space just outside this Empire.

Pick a planet, TL 17, planet “armed to the teeth” with heavy weapons.

Begin strategy of popping around systems just outside the Kasettos Empire, posing as traders/merchants.

Patrol interceptors scan and insist we only may enter their space if our ship has no weapons.

Gom-Tok orders ship to replicate cargo of chocolates.

Gauss agrees to be first representative (since he’s nanotech free), creates sample case of chocolates and “special” chocolates.

Space station above the planet Vivornas…

Stay out of purple areas. Made to swear I’m not a member of the Kasettos Empire.

Check in with trade liaison. Other ships, about 20 different specials. Few green Terrans.Guards and custom agents.

Lots of robots, 15% of population doing all manner of tasks. Trade liaison, goes around to various brokers for distribution deal.

Vivornas has been in constant conflict with the Kassettos Empire, as a trading port also seeing a lot of others coming here avoiding the empire. A lot of black market.

Station is huge, 80 starships in dock, 850,000 people on board including military. Also shuttles going planetside. Centralized govnment on Vivornas, mostly jungle and forests at poles.

A lot of refugees on the station and the world.

Vivornas – 8.2 trillion population, giantic buildings common, covered by jungle growth. (Tokyo sky tree.)

Kasettos Empire – about one-third of galaxy, with 25,000 “homeworlds”
Kados – spread across about 80 planets, both as subjects of the empire and heavily influenced client states, no quiet obvectors.

Kasettos has been in this system for 4,000 years.
880,000+ worlds in Kasettos empire

Kasettos has been fighting wars on 170+ fronts, why their growth is relentless but slow.
* bug-reptile race, eight specicies..
* born with language skills on par with a 10-year-old human
* well known for taking over networks

SO WHAT NEXT?
* Impersonate a sharr’dann ships, attach Kasettos and spark war between the two factions.
* Start DTI Industries franchise?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
SUNDAY, JAN. 31, 2021

Niko: What should we do to contact more Terrans within the Kasettos Empire?

Matthew Webster
Mattyj
Ted Rabinowitz
Shawn Deluca
Harlon – Gmail
Matthew Stanton

Nikolai: Idea, we could give Terrans black box makers to replicate machinery, key them to DNA-coded palm prints else black boxes disolve. Could also set time limits on gear to cease working in a year, then come back to use for replacements. Also limit what they can produce (the “no dildos for kids” restriction, or whatever the local mores prohibit).

Kados – act as peacekeepers for the Kasettos, but don’t have clear. (Kados green-skinned, grey-skinned humans live on at least 30 worlds within the galactic empire. Capable of photosynthesis.)

Physiology/biology very different from our human archetype. (Nikolai/Niko: But remember humans and chimps share a surprising 98.8 percent of their DNA.)

Head of Kados, govt based on planet Chuparnas – 30 trillion on one planet – cities going above ground, underground, on orbital space station. Some buildings 100 km tall. PLanet size 1.5 Earths. Core not spinning, magnetosphere weaker. Artifical barrier surrounds and protects planet, almost Dyson Sphere-ish. 80,000 satellites.

Nikolai: Photosocialism – people subject to seasonal affective disorders?
Gauss: With so many people living underground, who controls the light controls the people?
Gom-Tak: Need to find out more about their history.

Kados have been space-faring for 2,000 years.

Gauss creates David Hasslehoff-looking clones, and makes whole ship look Hasslehoff-esque based on Nikolai’s suggestion. The Hasslecraft probes. #HASSLECRAFT

Looks something like this:
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DYW6kNVXUAEPnzq?format=jpg&name=medium

Kados has fought 87 wars against the sharr-dann in the past several centuries (once every 20 years or so, once a generation), refer to them as the Uos’Tett in their language. (Gom-Tak: Maybe they have a ship like ours.) The sharr-dann/Uos’Tett driven off conquered worlds, and the surviving/rescued populations are left technologically stronger by the Kasettos. Shaar-dann attack a planet, wipe out a couple cities but never occupy for long or destroy a planet, more like giving planet “a bloody nose” rather than genocial destruction.

HASSLECRAFT NCC-1001 launched, en route to… one of the bigger planets with an open market and univeristy/intellectual society/elites… say we’re exploring for a new trade route “from the rim of the galaxy”

First contact planet – planet – Aknios, moon – Tunos – sending in the HASSLECRAFT with telepressence, clone crew of four…

* Knight Rider clone – medical expert
* Baywatch clone – first contact expert
* Baywatch Nights clone – planetology expert
* German Pop Star clone – trade expert

While setting up plan, Kasettos ship appears in system, 2 AU away, detects the Foundation Ship and disrupts our ship’s ability to make a FTL jump, pursues and second attempt at jump works.

Foundation Ship makes it to an empty system, bianary with two white dwarf stars, harvest matter from local planets over course of 4 hours.

(What’s the ships’ sensor capabilities?)
* With active sensors, can detect others ships within about 2 light years.
* With passive sensors (running dark or cloaked), within 1 or 2 AU

The HASSLECRAFT NCC-1001 (200 ft., 50 ton) Except for QE communication, ship is on par with Kados TL 18-19, lightly armored (a few cannons to repel asteroids or pirates, nothing on a military scale). Fusion tech power. Travels about 1 light year per hour.

Foundation Ship waits and hides in an empty system while HASSLECRAFT NCC-1001 makes way to library moon of Tunos… Takes about 100 hours to get there (just over 4 days).

While waiting, another unknown vessel coming into sensor range. Niko orders Foundation Ship to open micro-wormhole to jump away. Leave probe. Alien ship does not fit any known ship profile. Scans the probe buoy and leaves, does not responsible.

Starship looks just like real-life Baywatch David Hasslehoff. Recieves hails. Gravitics, old radio, all kinds of signal systems.

Planet Aknios, moon Tunos hails the ship, “wants to talk to someone more serious, please leave.”

HASSLECRAFT returns.

WILMA NCC 1002 – gets vetoed

SO we built…

SPACEWOLF NCC 1003 (200-ton vessel, “half the size of the Millenial Falcon,” TL 18, travels at 5 hours per light year)
crewed by…
* several Jan-Michael Vincents – all other crew roles
* one Ernest Borgnine – as the engineer

(quick break – READ LATER: https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2021/01/30/heres-what-happens-to-a-conspiracy-driven-party-463944)

SPACEWOLF going to take 21 days.

Scans of local planets’ histories show Kados not always welcome, some societies worshipped the sharr-dann, conflicts between Kasettos and sharr-dann gone on for about 2,000 years – not “clean” and Kasettos has bombed or threatened to bomb planets not cooperating in the fight against the sharr-dann. BUT, also talked about expanding the Terrans.

Typical history of rivalries, fights over reasources, espionage – “nothing overly surprising” per long-distance monitoring.

Kasettos are ruled by one family, long lineage quesof queens that run the whole empire from one planetx.

Kasettos species reproduce quickly, technological advantage over Terrans more of a recent development (past 200 years). Each Kasettos is born with the knowledge of a 10-year-old (full language skills, other knowledge.)

Subraces include a lot of “lesser” species (per the Kasettos version of their history of conquerors)…

Talanteans listed as a non-starfaring. (How did they get to planet Kub’ah or our home galaxy? A MYSTERY…)

Gauss looks to research how light affects the Kados (greys are low light, greens are brighter light). They can also eat and metabalize dirt itself for nutrients. They can consume organic matter for food but rarely do. Mental IQ slightly higher than (modern) humans. Sexual reproduction usually like mammals, but some lay eggs. (??)

What affect would other frequencies of light have on Kados? Some light causes them to age more quickly and release spores (asexual clones). Intense solar flares can also cause this effect to happen.

Some light givens them extra energy, certain radiation brings out other traits (aggressiveness, thoughtfulness, etc.) – could create or enforce a caste system.

Kasettos know all this and have applied a similar study on other subject races.

Kasettos love drones and reply on them to do a lot of contact work for them, AI is really big in their society, early versions of nanotech.

While this is all happening with Gauss, Gom-Tak focuses on mission and Nikolai tries to pick up women.

MEANWHILE ELSEWHERE IN SPACE…

House Mercurio moves half its military forces to the space station despite House Dubrowski countermeasures, and now other Terran houses are moving forces there. The sharr-dann have kept their distance from the space station but not actively engaged witht he human populations there. Several other spacefaring specific have taken an interest in the space station, “things are shifting rather rapidly there.” No specific news about the fate of the Fang.

AFTER 12-15 DAYS IN…

Four battleship-class starships with active scanners come in at the Foundation Ship, large ships with a lot of weapons, slow moving with ablative armor layer and missile-based tactical weaponry. Nike orders essentially a “red alert” condition…

Ship profiles match a race called the Korgax, another race within the Kasettos Empire, a brutish people with advanced technology. Commonly blends different technology into their ships, not well liked, IQ tends to be less that a of Terrans. Aggressive, not as bad as Middorians, more like drunk Irish.

Niko orders flight away from Krogax, micro-wormhole jump fails. Korgax weapon also prevents FTL travel, Korgax ships open fire – tradition atomic missiles incoming, Niko orders AI to deal with defense. Niko

Gauss starts pushing an aeresol-format House Mercurio combat drugs – in humans, raises awareness and focus, supresses fear impulses.

Nikolai coordinates counterfire with miniature drones taking out the incoming missiles.

Niko panicking, not handling combat crisis well as all. “SHOOT THEM, SHOOT THEM, DESTROY THE BATTLESHIPS” and Nikolai knocks out captain Niko.

Foundation Ship fires back with disentigrator beam weapons, takes out one battleship. Computer AI says, “In the event of the captain being incapacitated, command reverts to Gom-Tak.”

Gom-Tak orders two remaining Krogax ships fleeing engagement to be disabled, one of which explodes. Gauss preparing a few Erin Greys in battlesuits three squads of 5 each as a boarding party, beam them over. Capture and control alien vessel.

Gauss monitors Foundation Ship’s medical status under the combat drug,
Gom-Tak orders pursuit.
Nikolia blows up fourth fleeing battleship (killing the 15 Erin Greys sent aborad, leaving 5 Erin Greys left on the Foundation Ship.

Gauss restores the air of the ship to normal and counteracts any after-affects.

Gauss also starts working up a virtual reality training program on space naval battle tactics, program designed especially for captain Niko’s personality profile.

Niko restored to conciousness after the engagement concludes, nurse Erin Grey awakens him.
Niko: “What happened?””
Gom-tok: “You panicked, I took over and we won.”
Niko: “Uh, good job… exactly as we planned.”

Nurse Erin Grey gives Niko some orange slices to calm down and regain himself. (Gauss preps 15 replacement Erin Greys to be force grown in his lab’s clone tanks.)

Some Korgax DNA recovered, scrappings off the space debris. No technology really left to salvage or examine.

(Korgax ships’ ablative layer something like the General Products hull from Larry Niven’s universe – tough stuff.) Foundation Ship collects some of this hull material, turns out to be partially organic.

Korgax made no attempt to hail up prior to battle, just came in guns blazing – mission was to destroy, not repell or confront.

QUESTIONS:
Were the Korgax acting under Kasettos orders?
Was this encounter typical of Korgax or Kasettos diplomacy?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
SUNDAY, FEB. 21, 2021

SPACEWOLF going to takes 21 days to reach Kados space.

Planet Aknios, moon Tunos hails the ship.
Gom Tak: “We’re trade merchants, trade vessel from the Planet Borgnine, using trade short cuts via spacefolding events. Origina”

Kados humans offer to allow SPACEWOLF to land on their space station, see a 25 military ships, 82 other non-military ships. Trio of custom officials in gray uniforms

Leave 1 Jan-Michael Vincent and the Ernest Borgnine on the ship.
3 other Jan-Michael Vincents go onto the stations, maintain telepresence via QE in cybernetic implant.

Commander Ekon Artious
Distu and Quefos – other officials

Artious: Kasettos are an expanding empire. “They don’t even have isshon.” (What’s isshon?)

Gom Tok: “That wormhole may be a temporary phenomenon.”

Artious: Looking to hard higher technology, cures for diseases. They want to explore, find out how their species can survive in other environments.

Kasettos species – “enforcement arm” fight the enemies that threaten the Kados.
Bandi – lizardoid warlike race
“hundreds, thousands of examples”
Kasettos sometimes separate societies under a common rule to live by

Gauss claims their homeworld society is a corporate collective, mandatory enfranchisement of all people with a high sense of social responsibility. Competitive corporations invested in maximum profit by maximum efficiency, all based from a collectively owned homeworld. Each corporation builds its power by pursuing trade in off-world markets. Cloning

Military ship on standby will escort the SPACEWOLF and put two of their officers on board – Chidos and Idrioghast, serving as liaisons but more as protective security.

On Aknios, there are 400 to 500 different races of aliens all running about, including a lot of Xro Dinn.

Chidos and Idrioghast – enjoy eating dirt and eating slowly – try out their favorite local restaurant has microchairs, turns out some is edible.

Gauss sets up a algorithm/knowledge agent to copy all local media (their internet) for analysis and processing back home.

Tradewise – bug complex economy, many currencies, foods and services and electronics are the most commonly traded. “Experiences” are pretty high, lots of recorded telepressence. Different types of light are popular. A lot of hedonism.

Kasettos maintains a minimum base income above a poverty line, middle class, but there are people in positions of power who enjoy luxuries.

Kasettos empire on par with technology level of House Mercurio, but less than House Dubrowski. Kasettos also have some tech in psionics.

Dissent labelled “anti-loyal bastards” of various types.

Lots of recent local military skirmishes with rebellious factions within their society. Kasettos remove a lot of wealth and resources through taxes to support the Kasettos war efforts.

Uos’tett = Kados word for the Sharr’dann.

Kados have been space faring for 2,000 years.

Cullson Hulls (kinda like Larry Niven’s General Products Hull) – very dense, very heavy, nearly industrial – military use only by Kasettos.

(CAPT. NIKO: Get the Terrans on our side, invest in ally for long-term – perhaps among the “anti-loyal bastards.” Suggests starting with anti-loyal bastards.)

(A DISCUSSION ON POSSIBLE OPTIONS FOR WHAT TO DO NEXT AMONG NIKO, GOM-TAK, NIKOLAI AND GAUSS)

Options…
* Terraform a “class M planet” to raise an army of clones that hate Sharr’dann.
* Create sharr’dann-hating xenomorphs (Gom-tak: “Like that’s never gone wrong.”)
* Create a sharr’dann-hating breed of kaiju. (Niko: We want to keep a human face on this’ Gauss: Great, kaiju with human faces.)

AND THEN SUDDENLY…

While this discussion was happening, a fleet of seven Sharr’dann huge (multiple-kilometers-across) dreadnoughts appear out of nowhere and disintegrate 60% of the mass of the Foundation Ship, able to escape after three attempts to jump, ended up outside the galaxy.

Eight people were permanently killed in the Sharr’dann attack.

(The escape from the attack cost us telepressense to our Jan-Michael Vincent clones on Artious.)

Niko upset sharr’dann may be able to track us through space and time.

It would take months to years to convert a terrestrial planet into ships via nanotechnology.

We could…
* Create duplicate decoys of the Foundation Ship and send them around to lure sharr’dann into an ambush.
* Time travel back and erase the sharr’dann from history, wipe out their homeworld. (Nano-tech ships?)
* Use probes to trace the DNA of lifeforms back to discover the sharr’dann homeworld.

OPERATION SPACEWOLF (formerly PROJECT HASSLEHOFF): Survey/first-contact ships crewed by clones of Jan-Michael Vincents, Ernest Borgnines and Erin Grays.
OPERATION AUTOMAN: Nanotechnology terraforming of planets, automatic construction of advanced technology societies.
OPERATION: MANIMAL: Breeding kaiju to fight sharr’dann.
OPERATION SCARCROW AND MRS. KING: Time-travelling nanoprobes.
OPERATION: WISEGUY: DNA search for sharr’dann homeworld.
OPERATION: JACK AND THE FATMAN: Detonation of solar system stars.
OPERATION: MEN CALLED HAWK: Create fast-growing human species on terraformed worlds.

MEANWHILE BACK AT THE SPACE STATION…

We discover a massive, multi-racial space war around the backside of the space station, ugly fleet battle.

Niko angry with Kannian (women, his commander) of the House Dubrowski forces left behind on the space station for not wiping out House Mercurio and hiding the existence of the station from the other known races. They didn’t “because they had a heart.”

Sharr’dann battle fleet coming to destroy the space station. Xro Dinn leaving en mass.

Nikolai: Create a dead man’s switch to rig the sun to explode.

Kannian: Some are planning to go to another world, taking as much technology as possible. House Mercurio has moved 85% of their population to the station in an all-out bid to take the station.

Gauss positions a ship to snatch his father off whatever House Mercurio battleship he’s on once the battle goes south after the sharr’dann arrive.

[INTERUPTION]

Something something Gom-tak shot and killed Commander Niko.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
SUNDAY, MARCH 28, 2021

WHAT’S HAPPENING…
* All kinds of forces, about 800 ships, all fighting against each other in space around the space station.
* We detect 964 Sharr’dann vessels closing on station’s position in 1 hour.

OUR FOUNDATION SHIP (Hasslehoff’s Pride?)
* Lost 50% of ship in recent Sharr’dann attack
* 28 crew left alive
* our ship could accommodate 1,000 people (in statis)
* there are 22,000 people of House Dubrowski on the station

GOM-TAK: Let’s trigger a core collapse of the local star, a dwarf star.
* Elsewhere in system: 6 planets: 4 gas giants and 2 terrestrial planets

NIKOLAI: Contacts House Dubrowski…
* They are confident their advanced technology will prevails over the sharr’dann.
* Meanwhile racial members of the Kuqhlluqqs (“kull-ox”) Compact and the Borlorans plan to fight back.
* Xro Dinn left station, watching from their own ships.

Plan to beam aboard 1,000 people from House Dubrowski, filter for:
* ages 18 to 29 years old
* about 60% female, 40% male
* balance mix for all ethnic subtypes
* min. Appearance score 12 or higher

…to be beamed into stasis in case they are needed to repopulate a new world. (Just in case.)

Quiizbenqq of Kuqhlluqqs Compact flying to dwarf star to open dimensional portal, unidentified ships pouring out of portal and attacking the Kuqhlluqqs Compact ships. Alien ship are huge and indiscriminate in their space attacks, heavily using nanotechnolgy and using short-range teleportation of whole ships. Kuqhlluqqs Compact largely annihilated.

The Foundation Ship hides, find all comms blocked.

Then 300 first-wave sharr’dann ships arrive and engage the unidentified ships, which seems to have predictive methods for knowing where the sharr’dann ships will appear.

Alien ships also attacking the Xro Dinn ships, which are fighting back – unusual for the xro dinn.

GOM-TAK orders engagement with smallest sharr’dann ship
* Hit kills 32 stasis members.

Space battle betw. unknown aliens vs. sharr’dann escalated, xro dinn trying to collapse the wormhole as more alien ships pour into system. Sharr’dann also appear to be trying to get through the wormhole. Heavy losses both sides with disintegrator beams, aliens also use suicide methods to disintegrate their own ships and crew.

Aliens appear to be same species as “demons” found in stasis on the station
* about 4.5 to 5 meters tall
* reddish skin
* horns

Middarrians also trying to engage but easily wiped out.

GOM-TAK orders the ship to Odin planet, Maniltar System (Awakenings, p. 232)

“Odin is a small planet constantly wracked with lightning. The atmosphere contains toxins that inhibit the life process. The Terrans (Merrianic) commandeered it from the sharr’dann. It serves as an outpost for the Frontier around the Krikton Nebula.”

The first 1,000 people (now 968 people) left on planet Odin.

UPDATE: We discover the people rescued are held in TEMPORAL stasis, not BIOLOGICAL stasis. (Gauss did not know we had that technology.) Gauss starts process of creating biological containers to keep rescued humans alive outside our ship as needed.

MEANWHILE BACK AT THE STATION…
* Kuqhlluqqs Compact calling on all other peoples to meet about the space station.
* Ambassador Zenon Dubrowski represents House Dubroski.
* Representative from Government Prime, Tiberius Zormilla (famous leader of all Terrans)

We beam up 350 people for safe transport, House Dubrowski government impose cease-and-desist, saying they claim “they have this” – did nothing and then claim complete success.

Dubrowski orders Gom-tak to restore people to the station, and go back and try again with the Kasettos.