What if you don't want to be the jackboot of the Interstellar Regime? The Plucky Rebellion needs all the ships it can muster, to fight back against the Regime's pervasive imperial repression. Join the war for liberation, and become a hero - or, at least, a martyr.
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| by Ralph McQuarrie |
A heavily armed guard is transporting the last cases of vintage Sargassian Brandy from the caverns of Sargas VII to a luxury distribution warehouse. Secure as much of the brandy as you can before the Regime does, and deprive them of the rest. While it's a luxury resource with no strategic purpose, the Resourceful Renunciate of the Plucky Rebellion's Fractious Council knows that Sargassian Brandy is a vice of certain Regime bureaucrats, and so could make for an excellent bribe.
An Anxious Envoy from the border-world of Thuban III has been waylaid by pirates on their way to enter voluntary annexation talks with the Interstellar Regime. Save them before the Eager Admiral's rapid response fleet can, explain to the Anxious Envoy the mistake they're making, and make sure they get to their summit so they can withdraw their annexation request without further incident.
The Interstellar Regime has been getting complacent. Assassinate one of their bureaucrats, so they know that they're never safe. You get to pick the target; the better-defended, the better. The Fractious Council has submitted three potential targets for your consideration: the Extravagant Executive at his penthouse on Tianguan Station, the Pompous Admiral in his fortified dreadnought at the Front Lines of the war, and the Shrewd Administrator, building her own power base in the newly-conquered Okab Cluster.
The Revolutionary Reverend has blessed and sanctified a load of weapons and rations for the crusader-guerillas in the Pollux IV ecumenopolis. Run the latest blockade in the Regime core to get the supplies to an embattled platoon on the ground. The blessings are time-sensitive, so you'll have to rely on speed rather than stealth - they'll need to be reconsecrated before the next local holy day (just under a standard week from now). The guerillas are also in the middle of an active warzone, so you'll need to slip in under the anti-starship cannons and brave an air battle to reach their positions.
An Imperiled Defector from the Regime Starfleet has demanded extraction. It's worth the risk - the Defector is an entire new-model starship - but it's also currently deployed to the Front Lines against the Empyrean Bureaucracy (who the Regime refers to only as the Rival Power.) The Imperiled Defector recently took heavy battle damage in an ambush, and needs rescue sooner rather than later. Get to the Front Lines, dodge two twitchy battlefleets, and escort the Defector back to the Hidden Base without being followed.
The starship graveyard in the Uklun system is full of ships that could be made spaceworthy again with a little tender loving care. Protect the Plucky Rebellion's salvage crews from the graveyard's myriad hazards as they restore scuttled warships to active service. Between pirates, scavengers, Regime patrols, and allovorous exofauna, you've got your work cut out for you.
Betrayal! The Craven Councillor, one of the many members of the Plucky Rebellion's Fractious Council, is on the run. They're defecting to the Regime's Interplanetary Intelligence Service, with the location of the Hidden Base to buy their safety and goodwill. Intercept and silence the Craven Councillor, by any means necessary. The IIS knows about the handoff, and will send their own ships to ensure it goes smoothly.
The Cunning Conspirator is leading a faction of the Fractious Council to build a superweapon of their own, codenamed DAWNSTAR, using stolen DARK EPOCH plans. They need more anti-neutronium from the Monocerotis black hole mine to finish it, but the facility is defended by the DARK EPOCH battlestation itself, orbiting just beyond the black hole's event horizon. Can you get a shipment of anti-neutronium out from under the Regime's nose? Is building a planet-killer a morally justifiable act in the service of liberation?
The Church of the Holy Stardrive and its Corporate Cardinal have placed an immense bounty on the Resourceful Renunciate, declaring them an apostate for their open support of the Plucky Rebellion. The Church is nominally neutral in the war, hence the bounty - if the Cardinal was unmasked and lost the shield of plausible deniability, opinion may sway towards the Rebellion. Protect the Renunciate from the galaxy's most notorious bounty hunters, and figure out some way to get the Cardinal to change their tune.
Sentimental Environmentalists have leaked the horrifying existence of project SYMBIOTE FACTOR. A particular species of exofauna is far more intelligent than expected, and the Naval Contract Corporation has started cybernetically modifying them at NavCon Green to act as meat shields and surprise attackers for the Regime. Stop the project at any cost, and free the starship-sized space jellyfish from their technological bondage.
Provide the Empyrean Bureaucracy's Bureau of Information with solid intel on when the next phase of the Interstellar Regime's military campaign into the Border States will begin, in exchange for an arms shipment that can upgrade half the Rebellion's fleet. Make sure the Empyrean isn't implicated, because their Unforgiving Spymaster lives up to her title.
The Regime Starfleet is bombarding our base on the world of Schedir V. We've prepped an evacuation, but can't get our transports out under the bombardment. However, they're overconfident, and are vulnerable to a guerilla strike from behind. Hit them hard enough to distract them, interrupt the bombardment, and give our transports time to escape. Make sure you escape with the transports - you've got no hope of winning against the full might of the Regime's navy.
The Fractious Council has gotten wind of project FALCONER SPINE, run by the famed shipwrights of Chaopraya I. They're developing a new generation of starfighter that can go toe-to-toe with capitol ships. The Naval Contract Corporation desperately wants the project files - enough to hire ships of unknown provenance to bring in a sample fighter to study. Go undercover as mercenaries, acquire one of these new fightercraft, and bring it to the Rebellion instead of the Corporation.
The Naval Contract Corporation is building a new observation post in the Azmidi Frontier. It's a civilian research station, but its sensors will be powerful enough to detect our nearby Hidden Base, and we can't risk being discovered. Ensure that outpost is never completed, without drawing attention to our presence in the sector.
The Interstellar Regime is cutting the ribbon on a brand new stargate route that they claim will bring prosperity to the distant Triangulum Nebula beyond the Celestial Exclusion Zone. In truth, it'll only bring more economic and political subjugation. Disrupt the ceremony to humiliate the Regime and ensure that the trade route never opens. Be warned: the bigwigs who've organized the ceremony know it's a priority target, and have hired their own personal guard from the enigmatic forces beyond the gate.
The Impulsive Insurgent on the Fractious Council has decided to go it alone, and strike at High Command on the Regime's core world of Sirius III. It's a daring but suicidal assault. The extent of your participation in this foolhardy endeavour is up to you - go with them and risk certain death, intercept them and prevent this waste of Rebellion resources, or marshal allies to back them up when they call for aid.
Cultists of the Celestial Intelligences have decided to throw in with the Plucky Rebellion after hearing how the Regime brutally murdered the Zealous Transcendent. Before they fully commit, however, the cult needs you to break the Luminescent Evangel, their AI-god, out of the Regime's AI-prison on Nervia IX. The prison itself would be a pushover, but the cells aren't physical. In order to extract the Luminescent Evangel from the Regime's torture-servers, you'll need to project into the nonEuclidean simulation space of strange loops and intrusion countermeasures and seek out the Evangel's Celestial source code.
The Grim Warlord and her pirate fleet are the second-greatest thorn in the Regime's side, after the Plucky Rebellion, but she has no patience for idealistic lost causes like yours. Join her pirate fleet and show them what you're made of to prove your cause worthy - but don't let them hurt innocents, and don't be swayed from the Rebellion by the promise of all the loot you can salvage.
Zaurac II, a neutral planet in the Border States, is days from declaring for the Plucky Rebellion. Unfortunately, word got out, and the Regime has sent a fleet to interdict the planet, blocking all traffic and communications. You've been sent to break the Regime's blockade as quickly as possible - but be careful. If you cause too much collateral damage to Zaurac II's orbital infrastructure, the neutral world might withdraw its pledge and return to its isolationist ways.
The Sly Baronet has made a fortune double-dealing; selling weapons, starships, and fuel to both the Regime and the Rebellion. Their latest shipment, of highly volatile ammunition, has been delayed for over a month. You have its last known coordinates, deep in the treacherous Tarazed Nebula. Investigate the shipment's delay, and if it's been taken, get it back. The Fractious Council agrees on one thing: you can't trust the Baronet.
I feel like the ideal campaign of working for the Plucky Rebellion would wind up with firing the DAWNSTAR directly on the Regime's capital planet, a ruthless crackdown on any Regime sympathisers, and having a number of families fleeing into the night to set up a base, safe from the newly formed Brutal Republic...
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