Star Trek - Starborn

[Agent Sorchus]

I intend to continue this as either a work of fanfiction or as the prompt for a RPG. If anyone is interested in it as an RPG please post, or just post if you want a cameo as one of the crew. This is supposed to be sometime in the late 2390's or a little later.

This is fanfiction, all characters and universes used are not my own. Star Trek is owned by Paramount.


Acting second in Command's log Stardate: ...File corruption exists...

I am senior Lieutenant Jared Black of the USS Starborn.

This is my first log entry since I took up the role of Second in Command a week ago. I have also had the fun task of covering for the personal manager. With all these duties piling up I have not had time to fill in the log. I suppose now is as good a time to do so as any even if the sleep meds are scattering my thoughts.

Eight days ago the crew started falling sick. (My crew? I suppose I should get used to that for now.) The medical logs will say when my predecessor was relived of duty thanks to the illness. The second day of being second in command saw my first important decision. The captain wanted to continue the patrol while the Doc and I dissented and had the ship diverted to the nearest border station for relief. The next day the Captain agreed with us privately when we had to close K deck and quarantine sections of H deck.

It's been hell. Besides the captain I'm outranked by the good doctor and the Chief Engineer. I only got the job because the doc's too busy and the chief has a mild case and is on half time light duty only.

We've just completed a high speed run on minimum crew. The Warp drives are cooling down before we complete the trip to Station LM4. The Emergency wards are doing a patient check after the run also, in case some of them have fallen for the worse while everyone was busy on deck. Our Serval class runabouts are scheduled to leave very soon to bring our Head Nurse and several of the worst cases to the station so that they can be prepared. Good thing the Serval's have a max speed similar to our own, thanks to this hand off the worst cases are getting full treatment a lot sooner. If I remain Second in Command long enough I fully intend to write up a glowing report of those prototypes.

The captain is preparing to brief the station and is drafting a plan for the Starborn to continue, I'm going to try and get a peek of it when I wake and before we dock.

Lt. Black out.

[HMS Sophia]

I'm into roleplaying (how come so many ST options are coming up all of a sudden).
What sort of thing are you thinking?

[Agent Sorchus]

I'm into roleplaying (how come so many ST options are coming up all of a sudden).
What sort of thing are you thinking?

I have no easy access to any specific Star Trek roleplaying rules, so I'd either go with a simple action post style like Scramming Up, if you remember it, or we can do a very simple IRC dice based system. Or even a some combination. Of course it would have to be by what most players request, but that wouldn't be much of a problem. (I'm kinda partial to a mixed approach, where we post actions in the Story thread when we have down time and when we have combat or fast action of all types hit IRC.)

The system I am thinking of has no levels. There are a set number of powers that each player selects a small number from and there are attk dice rolls and defensive rolls for each of ranged melee and special. (It is a system that has had a fair amount of play in my rpg group.)

EDIT: I will take suggestions from anyone who wants to play though, but we would need a couple of them to get this started.

[HMS Sophia]

I really cant stand playing through chat. Also, I just can't do it at the moment, I don't have the time. Add in that I'm normally in a different time zone to everyone, and it falls through
However, post play is perfectly good

In terms of types of play I'm perfectly happy with diceless, or descriptive with diced combat.
For rule sets, I don't have a specifically ST set (though I could acquire one) but I do have a mod set for both traveller and the cortex system, if you know either of them. The traveller one includes lots of races and such, I don't know how extensive the cortex one, but it wouldn't be hard to flesh out.

I would like to hear more about your system though. It sounds interesting.

[Eternal_Freedom]

I'm up for it. I don't really mind how it's done as long as it's explained clearly, although something a little more structured than Scramming Up would be nice.

[HMS Sophia]

I'm gonna echo the above. Scramming up seemed to lack direction. This needs goals, and someone to kick it along (we need GM posts ). It can be done if you give us a set mission, we could probably muddle ourselves along, but direction can be a big boon

[HMS Sophia]

Sorry, I wasn't thinking of scramming up, I was thinking about that space station over apocalyptic earth one. Scramming up suffered from being far too insane for people to understand

[Eternal_Freedom]

Oh, you mean that Shattered Earth one Doomy did? Yeah it got kinda weird, then died. Oh well, last thing I remember was something about a cat.

[Agent Sorchus]

There will be goals, seeing as this would be based on the idea I had for the plot of a fanfic it is going to have a fair amount of direction to it. Descriptive play by post will work fine. I'd still want to get more people into this but that is okay. I'll get a Document together with the limited rule-set and start the introductory post as a more thorough start to the game.

It'll be a day or two till then. If you have any ideas about characters (ie background and little things) you can pm them to me or post them here. The main thing that is delaying the rules will be getting good star trek powers together.

[HMS Sophia]

Hmm... I'm having idea's

What are these powers? I mean how does it work?
(Also, I'm around to PM about powers and such whenever is needed. I'm online for 12 hour stretches at the moment)

[Eternal_Freedom]

Same here, I'm on for at least 6 hours a day right now. I'm thinking I'll re-use my character fromt he Shattered Earth LP, John Ravensburg (he was a Lt. Commander in SE, but he can be whatever rank you see fit.)

[HMS Sophia]

I think I'll use Monique Rousseau... She's in another ST PBP, as an ex-starfleet character. Lets see what she did during her time in starfleet?
Any rank, and I'd like to know what we're doing before thinking deeper

[Agent Sorchus]

Ok, I'll get started with the briefing that is mentioned in the log up top now, and let the rules be a secondary concern, like they should be when having fun.

ed: PM's sent to both of you.

[Alyeska]

Moved per change in thread status and request by Sorchus.

[HMS Sophia]

(Damn, this took me a while to find)

So, anyway. Are we going to be crew aboard the starborn? I want to know everything about it

[FaxModem1]

I'm in. Can I be an independent trader or a leftover Maquis or something, or do I have to be a member of the USS Starborn?

[Eternal_Freedom]

From what Sorchus said in the PM we can be Starborn crew, station crew or a third option I can't immediately recall. I'm going for Starborn crew, it's an awesome name for a starship.

[HMS Sophia]

I see. I didn't get game details, just rule details
Starborn crew for me. And it is an awesome name

[Agent Sorchus]

ET asked a little about background, so I gave him a hint. As it stands the standard three locations for immediate background are the Starborn, the Station and the other ship that arrives at the station around the same time. I am pretty lenient on letting someone with more of a trader background come from the Station, and someone with Maquis sympathy could come from any of the three though a left over would either be a older person or a son or daughter of the original Maquis. Latter on there will be more opportunities for people to join and have other backgrounds, though that isn't set in stone so don't throw it in my face latter.

If you have an idea definitely bring it up. No harm can come of you unless you say ex-borg. Then I'll give you the lame background award; and that comes with all sorts of fun things attached .

[Eternal_Freedom]

Do those fun things involve incredibly embarassing uniforms and situations?

Anyway, my guy's background/bio:

Name: John Edward Ravensburg

Age: 24

Rank: Liuetennant, J.G.

Assignment: Deputy Tactical Officer, USS Starborn

Background: Descended from many generations of military men, John naturally joined Starfleet at the earliest possible age. Amongst his ancestors he can claim the pioneering astronaut Edward Ravensburg and his son John, the ISS Commander during the Eugenics Wars.

His father was a Commander aboard the USS Melbourne at Wolf 359, and as a result John holds a fanatical hatred of the Borg, who later claimed the lives of his elder brother James and his sister-in-law at Sector 001. Left behind on Mars with his mother, John could only watch distraught as James' ship, the Lexington, was left crippled and drifting dead in space, with half the crew dead.

Upon joining Starfleet Academy, he was recognised as a high-flyer and put on the fast-track. as an Ensign, still in his final year, he was assigned to the USS Hiroshima. After a viscious assault by Orion pirates, John was left to man the tactical systems alone, but he managed to destroy the remaining pirate vessels with great skill.

That action won him his new rank and assignment. He is known to be a tough-minded officer, who when on duty is 100% focused on the safety of the ship. Off-duty however he is a remarkably friendly man, an avid holodeck role-player, and the ships foremost expert with a double-handed longsword.

But John has a darker side. He does not suffer fools gladly and cannot abide stupidity. He is naturally sympathetic, a product of his mother's English values, but he will never help someone who has brought the trouble upon themselves. This, combined with his barbed tongue and acidic wit have earnt him some measure of contempt from the crew's less-driven members.

[HMS Sophia]

Yay for extra stuff. I can't wait

---

Name: Monique Rousseau

Age: 23

Rank: Liuetennant, J.G.

Assignment: Flight controller, USS Starborn

Background: Monique came from a large family, born of immigrants who left earth for Luna city before having any of their children. Whilst the Federation refuses to accept any of its citizens could be poor, there are certainly some less fortunate groups, and Monique's family was one of them. Struggling for space, work and sustenance, the Family still managed to raise seven generally capable children. While Monique was the only one of them to join starfleet, most of her siblings managed to at least support themselves.

In the Academy, Monique's progress was somewhat speedy, but she was held back by some character traits which worked wonders when fighting for survival in Luna city, but were not quite as welcome in starfleet. She managed to get by even so, and eventually graduated from the Academy with good grades. USS Starborn is her first starship assignment, having been initially assigned to shuttle piloting on several star-bases. After one of a barrage of transfer applications she was begrudgingly moved to the Starborn.

Monique's record is not a pretty sight. She has plenty of reports in it, from senior officers who have noted her proclivity for ignoring the orders of officers she considers to be... less capable in that department. Off duty, Monique is normally found reading, though she can be found in the holodeck occasionally, spending time in her favoured programs. Her opinion of other crew members can range from grudging respect to outright disdain, and it shows when they try to bother her when she is off duty.

[FaxModem1]

Name: Charles Woods.

Age: 24

Rank: Civilian

Assignment: pilot on the Red Fox

Background: Charles Woods was born in the DMZ in 2368, a few years before the cessation of Federation territory to the Cardassians. He remembers his parents telling him that the Federation was a no good government that would sell our their own mothers if it meant aliens wouldn't attack them. They were in a group called the Maquis, and life, while a bit harsh at times, seemed wonderful. Then the 'spoonheads' joined the Dominion, and their war of independence went badly. He didn't find out until years later that they were killed in the Dominion's clearing out of the DMZ. His 'Aunt' Rachel dropped him off at a Starfleet starbase as she was taken into Federation custody. They exchanged letters during the Dominion War, as she got parole for fighting on the front lines, as most Maquis were offered. She survived, somehow. After the war, with the Dominion out of the Alpha Quadrant, and the Cardassians a joke on the interstellar stage, the DMZ was now a place for frontier colonists to establish roots. What remained of the Maquis met up again, and settled on the planets they had fought so far for. As he grew up, he made his living working on starships, and is that's been his life until now. He's currently the pilot on the Red Fox, just making ends meet and helping gather credits to help support the colony his 'family' is on.

Chuck is friendly, but has the same sort of pilot rebelliousness that most pilots have. Whether this is because of the pilot training, the civilian lifestyle, or the Maquis background is unclear, but it is who he is.

[Eternal_Freedom]

Ah, Chuck Woods returns! I thought you'd use him again fax

[FaxModem1]

I'll make sure not to have any cats around this time.

[Eternal_Freedom]

Nah, every ship needs a cat!