Kallendeva Sunrise
Kallendeva
located in the Triangle is the primary battleground in the Mantiev Colonial
Association’s civil war. Both factions have the bulk of their gunboat and
cutter forces in system as well as extensive surface batteries. The latest
Chaniviev assault drove deep before getting bogged down and then got cut off.
Freighters running the gauntlet to the encircled forces were keeping them
supplied and from being over run. During one of the resupply runs, one of the
freighters sustained a direct hit from a ground battery and spun in. The
helmsman managed to put the freighter down mainly in one piece. However, he
could not reach the Chaniviev enclave and was immediately surrounded by Mantiev
forces. In addition to the critically needed supplies, the event that has
caused the frantic call for assistance is a foolish Chan officer, against
orders, carried a full copy of the upcoming Chan offensive to relieve the
surrounded force. If the Loyalists get their hands on the plans, the Chan
forces will be decimated.
The
critically needed supplies preclude orbital bombardment to prevent the capture
of the vital documents. The Chans managed, with heavy damage to the gunboats
that made the attempt, to beam in 36 additional soldiers to supplement the
surviving 3 crew and 23 soldiers trapped behind lines to help them hold off the
Mantiev forces. Going by the frantic Chan response, the Loyalists know that
they have something important in their midst and have a full nine ship squadron
of P3 Type 3 cutters guarding the wreck site. The downing of the freighter has
got the spaces forces of both sides locked in heavy fighting, thus making it
impossible for the Chans to mount a rescue attempt of their own.
The
commander of the Chan forces, on the advice of his Klingon observer has asked
the 486th Attack Flotilla to come to his direct support. The newly
arrived Subjugator is the closest ship to Kellendeva. This intervention is a
major escalation in the long running conflict and will provoke the Romulans to
respond if the assistance to too heavy handed. Because of the already delicate
position, the PCs have it clearly explained to them that they are not to engage
the Mantiev gunboats. If fired on, they have to use the minimum force necessary
to accomplish the mission. Ground forces can be directly engaged by Klingon
ground forces, but not with orbital fire. The main mission of the PCs is rescue
the Chan forces, plus recover the critical supplies and the plans trapped
behind the lines and to deliver them to the surrounded Chan forces.
A
Small Unit Tactics roll will come up with a successful plan to recover the
supplies and men at the crash site. The Mantiev forces have staged several
armored personal carriers for the final push to capture the downed freighter.
The
idea is to use these assets against the attackers.
The
Marines will be beamed directly into the site the Mantiev vehicles are parked
prior to their attack. The Marines will come under fire as soon as they
materialize. They will have to endure 2-5 rounds of fire to reach the eight
APCs. However, the defenders will take 1D3 rounds before being able to respond
to the new attack. To keep bookkeeping to a minimum, assume a generic skill of
30% for the defenders with a hit killing 2D3 Marines and a graze killing 1D3.
The attack on the vehicles is a complete surprise and each APC is only manned
with the three-man crew instead of the usual additional eight man infantry
squads the APCs normally carry. Consisting of a Driver, a Gunner, and a
Commander. Use the above rules for if the Gunner uses the main gun of the APCs
on the Marines outside the APC. It will take the surprised crews 1D4+1 rounds
to start their vehicle and get all the hatches closed. The Marines will only
have 1D10+10 rounds to capture the dozen vehicles before the Loyalist infantry
counter attacks. The Marines will have to make a single DEX roll to board an
APC if they reach it before it closes it’s hatches with no more than three
Marines able to board due to the cramped space. If they arrive the same round
as the hatches are closing, the Marine will have to make a second DEX roll to
board and only one Marine gets a chance. Once the vehicles are captured, it is
only a 50meter drive to the crippled freighter. It will take no less than
10+2D10 minutes to manually load the cargo from the freighter to the APCs. The
heavy phasers on the APCs will assist in holding off the attack the Mantiev
launch to stop the surrounded troops from escaping. Each APC loaded with cargo
cannot be used to carry troops, except those riding on the outside of the
vehicle (figure each APC can carry ten troops externally).
If
anyone call roll Small Unit Tactics or Starship Strategy/Tactics –40%, the
downed freighter can be used as a weapon to force the Mantiev forces back. A
Starship Astronautics will rig the ship’s impulse engines to explode. A simple
Starship Communications roll will make this announcement in the clear. Given
the explosion will be in the low megaton range, the Mantiev forces will have to
pull back to avoid the blast. This trick reduces the number of Loyalist forces
between the freighter and the Chan enclave by 50%.
As
it is, the APCs face dozens of Loyalist troops with several heavy weapons at
their disposal. The enclave will stage an attack to distract the Loyalists in
order to aid the Marines reach their position. Regardless of the reductions
from previous actions, each APC will have to run a gauntlet of heavy fire. Each
will be fired on by 2D3 anti-armor weapons with each attempt has a 35% chance
of hitting. Each hit has a 20% chance of destroying the APC outright (DEX roll
to escape). Once clear of the wrecked vehicle, the hijackers will have to roll
LUC to see if they are close enough to reach one of the other APCs, if they can
a DEX roll is needed to board the vehicle. If PC/NPC fails, they have to
proceed to the Chan enclave on foot. If the APC is not destroyed outright, each
person on that APC must roll DEX to avoid injury. Roll a D6 to see how many D10
of damage suffered. Everyone on the vehicle also has to make a LUC roll. If the
majority of the passengers make it, then the APC is still mobile, if the
majority fail, the vehicle is disabled and the passengers have to proceed on
foot. Again assume 2-5 rounds of fire to reach the Chan lines with the above
30% for the defenders with a hit killing 2D3 Marines and a graze killing 1D3.
The
battle plans are on a PADD that was carried by an officer killed in the crash.
The bridge was severely damaged and will require an INT or Starship Astronautics
roll to find a breech in the hull large enough to crawl through. Two DEX rolls
are needed to reach the bridge. If either roll fails, then that character has
reached a blockage they cannot negotiate. If the detonate the impulse engine
choice is used, then the recovery of the PADD is not critical.
To
avoid the penalties of failure, the ship has several options to assist the
ground forces in their mission. The ship’s shuttles are armed for close air
support. Each shuttle in the CAS role reduces the Mantiev chances of hitting
the APCs by a cumulative 3%. However, each shuttle will draw ground fire and
has a base of 10% per turn of being damaged. (1D10 1-2 Destroyed; 3-4 Severe
Damage and crash land; 3-6 Moderate Damage, but able to return to ship; 7-10
Light Damage, able to continue support).
Entering
orbit of Kellendeva will require a Starship Navigation and a Starship Helm
Operations roll to steer extremely close to the planet’s atmosphere. If the
Navigation roll fails, the Helm roll is at –20%. On a success the shields take
1D4 points of damage per phase, on a fail, the damaged caused by friction goes
up to 1D6 per phase.
In
order to drop a single shield while at full impulse will require the
Weapons/Defense Officer to make a Starship Shield Operation roll. If he fails,
all Transporteers will have a –20% penalty to all Transporter Operations rolls.
The
Weapons/Defense Officer will need to make a Starship Shields roll to angle the
shields to reduce friction damage a success halves the friction damage, a
failure adds +2 to the damage rolls per phase, thus if both the Helm and Shield
rolls fail, the ship sustains 1D6+2 per phase. The ship must raise shields to
all sides and will spend all three phases in the atmosphere, thus power allocation
to shielding is extremely critical.
Although
the ship cannot fire directly on the Mantiev forces, they do not know this and
the “strafing run” will draw the Loyalist forces away from the ground battle
precluding them from providing support.
A
Starship Weapons roll will target an airburst photon torpedo that will scramble
Loyalist sensors enough that they have to roll a 1-3 on a D6 to even get a
target lock on the ship or ground forces. A blind fire attack will be against a
skill of 30% just as if their sensors were damaged.
A
Starship Weapons roll per disruptor will target a near miss on
the Loyalist forces and will reduce their targeting on the APCs by 2% per
success. A failure actually hits Mantiev forces and reduces targeting by 5%,
but has a cumulative 10% per hit of being reported to the Romulans. This
percentage is also the chance the Romulans increase their support to the
Loyalists.
A
Starship Communications –20% roll will jam the local frequencies and force the
Loyalist commander to have a –10% penalty to his Small Unit Tactic rolls.
A
Starship Sensors –20% roll will flood the area with static and also yield a
–10% penalty on the Loyalist commander’s Small Unit Tactic rolls.
A
Starship Astronautics roll will allow the Subjugator to feed additional power
to the Structural Integrity Field and dive into the atmosphere of Kellendeva.
This increases the damage to the shields to 1D6 per phase (2D4 if the Helm
Operations roll to enter atmosphere failed), but gives the Starship Weapons
rolls for the disruptors a +10% to hit.
At
least five APCs have to make it to the enclave for the mission to be a success.
This will be a major coup for the Klingon Advisor Corps. The already cowed Chan
leadership gives the Klingons even more leeway to run the war effort.
If
three to four make it, then the enclave can hold out for another two days,
requiring another freighter to make an emergency supply run. The Chan are
willing to sacrifice another freighter to save their troops, but the brutal
battle to get the freighter on target will be costly. The Chan leadership will
gain back more autonomy from the Klingon Advisor Corps and the Klingons suffer
a major loss of face. The PCs are assigned to patrol a backwater section for
six months.
If
two or fewer make it, the next Loyalist attack will over run the Chan position
within 5-8 hours. The Chan demand and the Klingons have to agree to direct
confrontation with Loyalist forces in order to bring in emergency supplies and
this is an even larger loss of face for the Klingon Advisor Corps. The flotilla
admiral will have no choice but to demote the PCs to command of a ship more
suited to their capabilities. The choice of ship is up to the GM, but figure on
one half the tonnage and firepower with the added characteristic of being a
complete rust bucket with the dregs of the fleet as a crew.