Alliance Ascendant

When Alliance battlegroup arrives, the Neo-Browncoats are ordered to scatter. As freed loyal crew go through motions of assisting to lift, word comes down that ship is needed to clear a path for the Neo-Browncoat commander to escape. Lieutenant Colonel Jessica Taylor-Leigh and Stephen Montag order any PC that has joined the Neo-Browncoats to leave the ship and join the rebel leaders on their flagship as they have skills the “cause” needs. Being ordered to leave from the one place that they can think of as home is enough to break the fugue they’ve been in for the past weeks.

Each PC that is freed can immediately move to rescue the PCs still held in their holding cabin. A character that still has a buddy needs to roll an Average AGL + Covert to completely surprise their escort. An AGL + Unarmed Combat roll will successfully sandbag their tag-a-long as long as they roll anything but a Botch. On a Botch, the rebel gets the drop on them and will require that PC come up with an alternate means of getting free. Coupled with escaped PCs, ex-Neo-Browncoat characters help free rest of crew, but not before the ship lifts as a sacrifice under control of a set of insanely loyal Neo-Browncoats.

A total of nine Neo-Browncoats are in control of the ship, four are in the airlock to manually launch missiles, two are in the engine room, and three are on the bridge (two-pilots and an EW operator). The rebels on the bridge and in the engine room have side arms, while the four in the airlock are unarmed. All are fanatically loyal to the cause and will have to be subdued as they will not surrender.

Once gaining control of the ship, the first thing they discover when they reach the bridge, is that they are one of a half a dozen ships that were selected to make the “gallant sacrifice for the glorious cause” and blast a path for the VIP escape. The six ships are in close formation and launching missiles as fast as the deckhands can manually throw them out the airlocks. If the fight to gain control of the bridge lasted more than three rounds, the comm is screaming at them for breaking formation. An Average INT + Computer Operations roll, will detect a formation of ten Neo-Browncoat ships behind the breakthrough group and firing rapidly. The sensor sweep will also detect the Alliance forces in the area. (One frigate, four gunboats, and four ASREVs) At that moment, the initial exchange of fire destroys two of the screening ships, one of the gunboats and two of the ASERVs.

The exchange of fire is extremely intense the pilot will have to make a series of rolls to avoid being hit. The first two rolls are Formidable AGL + Piloting + ship’s AGL, the next two are Heroic, and the last one is 23 level. Each roll accounts for one minute (6 rounds) of combat. Until stopped, the rebels in the airlock will continue to launch missiles at maximum fire rate. The ship has sixteen missiles racked and can launch two per turn. If the PCs close the airlock, they can automatically prevent the Neo-Browncoats from launching any more missiles.

A Hard INT + Knowledge roll will figure that the easiest way to crush the rebellion, get even for being forced into what was essentially slave labor, and to get the Alliance off their back due to their apparent support of the rebels would be to eliminate the leadership of the Neo-Browncoats. This has the advantage of also taking them away from the thickest of the Alliance fire as well. Pivoting away from the battle and driving back through the rebel formation will require precise timing. The best time to dodge would be in place of the fourth evasion roll this bone crushing maneuver is a 23 level task and will put them on a course 180 degrees away from the Alliance fire and on the direct path with the rebel flag. The PCs are by no means required to fire on the Neo-Browncoat flagship, but if they do, they will catch them by complete surprise. If the PCs do choose to fire, they will have to subdue the rebel deckhands to do so. Closing and pressurizing the airlock, then venting it rapidly, will blow all of them out the hatch. This will require the Mechanic to make a Formidable INT + Mechanical Engineering roll to seal the inner hatch, close the outer hatch, rapidly pressurize, and then explosively decompress the airlock.

As the rebel deckhands are being dealt with, the rest of the crew can be donning vacc suits. As soon as the airlock is cleared of rebels, the PCs can take over. Each missile requires a Hard STR + Athletics roll to move single-handedly or an Average roll to do in tandem. Each missile will require an Average INT + Electronic Engineering roll to program. By the time the PCs gain control of the airlock, there will be ten missiles left. If the INT + Electronic Engineering roll is made with a 2-step penalty, the missile will not require to be manhandled to launch and a salvo of all ten missiles can be fired at once. This devastating

Time starts with Montag’s message to rebel PCs and they makes their move three rounds later. The PCs have five minutes from the point the ship lifts until they break atmo and one more minute after that before the shooting starts. Once the crew either fires or Hard Burns out of the fight, their captivity is over. However, there will be consequences for their decisions regardless of the course of action they choose.

Hard Burning out of the fight without destroying the Neo-Browncoat leadership will result in the rebel leaders escaping. The back of the rebellion is broken, but enough troops and equipment survive to keep a low intensity guerilla war going for many months on the Rim. The defeat was big enough that recruitment drops off precipitously and they remain a fringe element, not unlike the Reavers. The PCs all gain a Deadly Enemy in the form of all Neo-Browncoats, plus the ship and crew are tagged as rebel sympathizers. This is a Major Branded and will make all travel to the Core impossible as well as making the entire crew fugitives. If they turn themselves in, and stand trial, there will be enough evidence to clear them of treason, but they will spend everything they own on their defense and gain a Minor Branded as criminals with all law abiding citizens.

Destroying the Neo-Browncoat flagship and leadership breaks the back of the rebellion. The loss of Taylor-Leigh and Montag causes the personal relationships and commitments to unravel and the rapid end of all resistance and fighting. No guerilla warfare starts and the Rim returns to its normal neglected by the Alliance start of affairs. The Alliance will consider the crew heroes and will attempt to use them as political pawns. If the PCs refuse to play along, demanding to remain anonymous, and fleeing into the Black at the first chance, they can preempt most of the fall out with a Minor Branded by all Browncoats as Purplebelly sympathizers. If they allow the Alliance to fete them as heroes, the crew will gain a Good Name with all Alliance friendly businesses and organizations, but gain a Major Branded with all Browncoats.

Regardless, the crew has survived season two and when the ship lifts into the Black, the scene fades to black.