TEXT: 1
  
  THE ABCs OF SPACE OPERA VOLUME 1:
  ASTROGRAPHY TO LANDING CRAFT
  BY
  ROB GARITTA & RAYMOND MCVAY
  TABLE OF CONTENTS:
  FORWARD.............................................4
  ASTROGRAPHY 101................................8
  BEAM WEAPONS: A BRIEF HISTORY........20
  CAFETERIAS IN THE SPACE FLEET...........25
  DEFENSIVE SYSTEMS............................33
  ELDER GODS........................................41
  FELINOIDS...........................................52
  THE GENOME WAR................................58
  HYBRIDS.............................................64
  IN SITU RESOURCE UTILIZATION...........70
  JUVENILE TAURANS...............................79
  THE K-DRIVE........................................87
  LANDING CRAFT....................................92
  OPEN GAME LICENCE.............................97
  2
  
  Rob: 
  “This book is dedicated to the woman in my life, my wife Renee.  Thanks for lighting the fire under me to 
  finish something and put it out there.”
  Ray: 
  “To my Bright Eyes:  You keep me in balance, you make it worth getting up in the morning, and you'll even  
  edit hundreds of pages of copy after work.  What would I do without you, my wife, Debra?”
  3
  
  I've been a fan of the original Star Trek, ironically, since The Next Generation premiered when I was 
  in middle school.  It was a show that not only stimulated my young fanboy's sensibilities for action and 
  "cool stuff" like phasers and spaceships; it also planted a seed of optimism for a future among the stars 
  that has managed to stay with me through two space shuttle disasters, NASA budget cuts, and the cynical 
  trends of grit and "edginess" that permeates modern science fiction.
  My parents noticed. So one birthday in 1990 I opened a present that revealed the Star Trek: Role-
  Playing Game by Fasa. I was ecstatic.  By the end of the week I had read every booklet in the box set. By 
  the end of the month when school started again after Christmas Break I had practically memorized them. 
   So I was more than ready to run a session of my favorite TV shows official RPG at the earliest opportunity.
  It was then I discovered what happens when you unleash a typical group of gamers on a universe like 
  Star Trek.
  The Final Frontier of Roddenberry's vision is populated by officers from the elite peacekeepers and 
  scholars of every planet in the Federation - they are the best of the best of the best.  The typical group of 
  teenage gamers are to put it delicately a rabid pack of murder hobos that are barely housebroken and unfit 
  for a typical pirate crew to say nothing of the bridge of the Enterprise. 
  I tried playing Trek games again in college. While my more mature gaming group did a fairly good
  job of imitating the style and personality of Starfleet officers the game still had a major problem.  It was
  boring.  Whatever made Star Trek so much fun to watch apparently didn't translate to gaming in a way I
  could figure out.  So, a little wistfully, I retired from the 23rd century once again and didn't think about
  4
  
  doing anything with such an elusive universe again.
  Until, that is, I discovered that a little company called Goblinoid Games was releasing a second 
  edition to the 1978 classic, Starships & Spacemen.
  I was excited, I admit, when I got hold of S&S 2e.  The rules were simple, the characters could 
  command a starships at first level, and perhaps best of all there was no decades of TV and film canon 
  restraining the game.
  Even then I didn't want to actually play the game, per se. I was just interested in making starships 
  and deckplans.  I blue-skied some ideas for awhile, went ahead and got permission from the visionary 
  Daniel Proctor of Goblinoid Games to produce compatible material, and then...didn't do anything much.  It 
  wasn't until months later, when I visited a Google+ community dedicated to the game, that inspiration 
  finally struck, in the form of this book's author, Rob Garitta. 
  Rob posts short fiction pieces based on the game on his blog Twilight of the GM.  They are true to the 
  game, true to OSR gaming in general, and best of all, a true homage to Trek.  But they also have that 
  elusive quality that I've never been able to manage on my own in this type of game and but was delighted 
  to find a long last.  
  The stuff is funny.
  Rob's characters are rude. They are sarcastic  They are more than happy to resort to force and use 
  explosives.  They fight dirty.  Yet they manage to work as a team, are loyal to each other, and manage to 
  stay on the side of right if only just. In short, they act like a group a gamers.
  5
  
  Inspired by his fiction, I urged Rob to turn the stories into a book.  He did me one better, suggesting 
  we collaborate on a supplement for the game that combined his stories, our art, and some new rules and 
  new ways to play.
  This book is not the S&S version of Unearthed Arcana - we did not try to re-invent the wheel here. 
   This book expands on some of the rules, provides some ideas for adventures, and even gives some 
  background on some of the game's future technology.  Another thing this book does is provide what is 
  essentially a campaign setting – not in the sense of providing a bunch of new rules and NPCs and maps, 
  but in the sense of providing a unique theme and tone for the game.  But in my opinion, the most 
  important thing this book does is show how a typical group of gamers can make a go of boldly going.  It's 
  supposed to make you want to game.
  I hope you find it as inspirational as I have.
  Raymond McVay
  Troy, Alabama
  Sept. 1st, 2015
  6
  
  7
  
  By Lt. Tivk, Fabrication Specialist, GCS Nikola Tesla
  The major point in any understanding of astrography is that our galaxy is made up of bubbles of 
  clear space surrounded by nebulae. Each bubble marks the death of a massive star. In the case of the 
  bubble containing our Confederation it was likely a series of novae in the Hyades, a region still dangerous 
  to travel. Humans refer to this as the Local Bubble, which is the imagination you expect of a race that 
  refers to its homeworld by synonyms for dirt and soil. We Taurans refer to it as the Tauran Bubble and the 
  Hykkot refer to it as the Hykkot Bubble … you get the idea. We Taurans take precedence. We were out 
  there first, though that doesn’t seem to concern the humans or Hykot.
  The nebulae bounding the Local Bubble and other bubbles are important to galactic civilization. 
  Within a bubble, there is relatively clear space and ships can move at high speeds safely. Try that in a 
  nebula, and you’re asking for a one way trip unless you have good shields, good sensors, a good navigator 
  or all three. In a day of travel a ship will encounter a couple of kilograms of interstellar material in clear 
  space moving at very high speeds or ten times as much in a nebula, forcing most ships to slow down and 
  making the interior of a bubble easier to defend. Invaders moving through nebulae have to slow down, 
  and that lets you mass your forces in front of an attacker. 
  8
  
  In  the Local Bubble, the clear volume is shaped more like an hourglass than a sphere. There is a 
  Northern Lobe and a Southern Lobe. The homeworlds of the Confederation races are in the Northern Lobe. 
  Sol itself is embedded in a group of clouds called the Local Fluff. Today, navigation buoys and comm relays 
  make navigation in the Local Fluff easy, but it caused many problems for humans attempting early FTL 
  flight.
  In the top of the Northern Lobe there is also a series of nebulae that the Taurans and Hykkot hail 
  from. These clouds form streamers 50 to 100 light years long with 25-50 light years between them. These 
  races colonized the clear areas between the gas clouds but managed to remain hidden from the Terrans 
  and the Zangid until relatively recently. 
  The Taurans and Hykkot kept their explorations close to home using FTL drives when you humans 
  thought using steam engines to dig potatoes was bleeding-edge technology. This is because we could 
  content ourselves with the resources of dozens of habitable worlds and several thousand prime mining 
  sites, but when were Terrans or Zangids ever content?
  The ‘skin’ of the Local Bubble is some tens of light years thick and has any number of imperfections 
  and channels of relatively clear passage. These are choke points and usually heavily guarded by starbases 
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  and destroyer flotillas. Channels sometimes shift and close over time. New channels are discovered or 
  open up as well, and these are coveted by smugglers and pirates who prefer not to pass too closely to 
  starbases or destroyer flotillas. In addition, star systems are not stationary and they pass through many 
  bubbles and nebulae in their existence. Some lost planets of Forerunner races are thought to lie in sectors 
  now unsafe for travel. 
  Within a bubble, races have to find a way to coexist since they can mount quick attacks on each 
  other with little warning. The Zangid and Videni coexist in an uneasy truce today. The Fleet has begun 
  exploring other bubbles, the Arcturus Loop in particular. A series of relatively safe passages into the 
  Arcturus Loop exist called the Lupus Tunnels making transit fairly safe. Some expeditions to the other 
  bubbles have returned with news of new races and new dangers.
  Some bubbles have dead worlds marking races that couldn’t live in peace. Some bubbles are armed 
  camps as each species tries to defend itself behind starbases, attack drone fields and fortress worlds. The 
  Zangid employ many such defenses and are on a constant war footing due to their paranoia. Of course, 
  since they are close to the Videni, the question must be asked are they paranoid enough? In the Northern 
  Lobe, a number of species have achieved accord and alliance as the Galactic Confederation of Planets (or 
  the Polity). In the Southern Lobe, the methods of coexistence range from mind control to simple slavery, 
  with the alternative to occupy a display case in some museum.
  10
  
  A side effect of the novas that create the bubbles is the formation of super elements and exotic 
  matter. Most of this winds up inside the bubbles which delays the progress of species in the nebula areas. 
  For example, ionite is required for any practical FTL travel, and even in relatively rich areas, it is hard to 
  find. Ionite is rare to begin with. It is so dense, it usually sinks to the core of any planets forming, but you 
  need it to have starships. Starships are good for defending your planets and other things, so races tend to 
  expand once they learn about this element. While gold, iron, and uranium exist in plenty anywhere there 
  are asteroid belts, Ionite is more tricky to acquire, and it is what fuels exploration.
  In the case of the Taurans and Hykot, our exploration was cautious, and we gave more thought to 
  managing our worlds than seeking to conquer other worlds. Development of the local bubble follows a 
  pattern: Ionite strike, mining boom, commercialization, colonization. First, ships will discover Ionite in a 
  sector. This begins a mining operation. Then, as the operation expands, other materials are mined nearby 
  and used to manufacture equipment to support the operation, that being easier than transporting 
  manufactured goods in bulk. Finally, a wave of merchants and settlers arrive to sell food, goods, luxury 
  items and whatever they can to a bunch of suddenly rich miners. In the polity, it is the Terrans who now 
  do the bulk of the exploration, both to satisfy their curiosity and find "shinier" stuff all the time. Again I 
  ask, when did you ever see a Terran satisfied?
  11
  
  12
  
  Humans were derived from endurance predators; their preferred method was pursuing prey till the 
  prey collapsed or just died of aggravation. (Humans try to aggravate Taurans to death all the time, and 
  sometimes they do come close.) They are well suited to long range surveys or lengthy prospecting runs, 
  and therefore there is an inordinate human presence in space.  
  ...You humans also breed like rabbits and have the largest population in the Confederation. There’s an old 
  Zangid saying, “Once there were two humans. Now …”
  As I mentioned earlier, the shape of the Local Bubble is like an hourglass. The bubble constricts in 
  the middle due to a number of gravity wells in the area and clumps of dark matter. This makes space 
  travel more hazardous in the region. It also forms a natural defensive barrier. The safest and fastest path 
  through the Neck is known as the Rubicon. It is heavily guarded. In the First Zangid War, the Terrans used 
  them to delay the Zangid advance into the Northern Lobe for two years. The Confederation has expanded 
  into the region both before and after the Second Zangid War. This is where we find the Rigel Annex and 
  the Treaty Zone.
  The Rigel are the descendants of a slower than light colony ship the Terrans sent out at the 
  beginning of their Genome War. This ship, the UES Rigel, encountered a wormhole that sent it to the Neck. 
  Miraculously, the crew found a habitable planet there before the Rigel was destroyed by a gravity well. The 
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  crew set up a colony, which was founded just in time to be conquered by the Zangid Empire. The Rigel 
  (who are now mostly Human/Zangid hybrids) were liberated during the Zangid War and their sector of 
  space was added to the Polity as part of the negotiations that created the Treaty Zone.  The Treaty Zone is 
  relatively new. It’s an area of mining outposts and small colonies near the Rubicon that was negotiated 
  with the Zangid after the last war left their kingdoms in bad shape. The Rigel hire out as mercenaries 
  throughout the Region. There is also the Kentaurus Freehold, a hive of vice and brutality. 
  As I said before, a number of homeworlds, such as the Hykkot, Tauran and Daelan core systems, lie 
  behind streams of nebulae. Sol itself lies in a small patch of gas clouds called the Local Fluff by the ever-
  imaginative Terrans. Though the Confederation maintains navigation buoys and charts clear paths through 
  all of these features, the nebulae aided Terran defense during the Zangid wars. The Zangid and Videni 
  have huge fleets but no defensive features and must commit more of their resources to their defense. 
  When the Local Bubble was formed by a nova in the Southern Lobe it scattered precious ionite 
  throughout the volume. The gas clouds in the Northern Lobe ‘caught’ more of the mineral than the clear 
  Southern Lobe, piling it before Sol and the Local Fluff. The Northern Lobe is richer in ionite than the 
  volumes of Zangid and Videni Space. Both these powers want the ionite riches the Confederation enjoys.
  Though the Galactic Confederation of Planets has huge mining cartels supplying both the Fleet and 
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  civil projects, there are many small, independent miners and prospectors looking for that big Ionite strike 
  to retire on and they contribute a fair share. Naturally, this draws both pirates and the Fleet. Besides 
  prospecting, there are independent archaeologists as well, all seeking ancient artifacts. Personally, I 
  believe that playing with alien artifacts makes handing a blaster to a Terran monkey sound like a good 
   idea ...
   
  The original industry standard for star mapping in science fiction games was 2d hex maps. There's been 
  some attempt to palm this off as the hyperspatial relationship between stars that is equivalent to the flat surface of a 
  three dimensional sphere rotated into hyper-dimensional rooba-rooba-rooba. It's easy to map.
  One of the problems with flat maps was that unconsciously they remind you of a planetary map. Planetary 
  maps of course have borders which are often based on geographic features that are defensible. But there are no 
  features in space that will make a multi-light year stretch easier to defend. So the idea of borders is a 
  misconception. Forces can move fairly freely through space and hit you where you live unless you have enough 
  ships to patrol light-years. Space is huge- you can't guard all of it.
  15
  
  Winchell Chung, of the definitive Atomic Rockets website, shows another way to represent a space empire: 
  the node map. There are problems with this too. Real space being what it is and paper being flat you can only 
  produce distance relationships between a star and its closer neighbors. You have to hit a few stars to get anywhere. 
  There are no "express" routes on a node map - you have to take a local. 
  Let's look at S&S warp drive: something to make you go so fast the stars in your way want to jump up on chairs 
  and get the heck out of your way (though that would imply sentient stars in your setting and lead to all kinds of 
  adventures.) 
  The Milky Way galaxy is a hundred thousand light years across and measly 1000 light years thick in our 
  locale. Our galaxy is indeed flat on a large enough scale. If you had warp drives that could pull warp factor 1000 or 
  so (1000 light years a day) you’d not be far off mapping galactic sectors as flat.
  Moving that way doesn't say much for borders and no borders means no interstellar states. If you can't 
  defend your people, they aren't going to send you taxes.
  16
  
  But look at a more local region (200 light years radius or so):
  First, this section of the Orion Arm is about 1000 
  light years thick. The Local Bubble is about 800 
  light years top to bottom (North to South). So the 
  third dimension is a little more than four times the 
  width of the paper. Earth is located towards the 
  North pole of the Northern Lobe of the Local 
  Bubble. The Galaxy is a series of bubbles that are 
  each remnants of the death of a mighty star (in the 
  case of the Local Group that was in the Southern Lobe.) These supernovae push interstellar gas and dust away, 
  forming shells of nebulae bounding clear space.
  How a warp drive will react to flying through this stuff is anyone's guess. Since it’s ultimately your game, you 
  can make up your own answer. Flying too fast through a nebula could have a variety of effects to make your 
  navigator wish he'd chosen the security branch. It could simply make warp travel cost more EU (double or triple 
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  per hex per day), increase the chance of a space encounter, or both. The Starships & Spacemen: Second Edition 
  Rulebook has extensive lists of space phenomena. Nebula travel could be considered  automatically traveling 
  through a gas or dust cloud with all the inherent dangers (see S&S page 31). Maybe you'll hit a grazing space 
  amoeba. Needless to say, you can still encounter the other types of clouds in addition to your automatic cloud 
  encounter.
  Clear channels into and out of a galactic bubble exist and will be charted and guarded. The Confederation 
  has space bases at all the major channels into the Northern Lobe. New channels are always being discovered or 
  opening and some long-lasting channels eventually close up, making static defenses tricky.
  18
  
  The map on the left is an example of a node map for an 
  area near a channel into the Northern Lobe (a border region, 
  in other words). In the example, the nodes with the ragged 
  borders indicate the fringe of a nebula. Ships traveling to and 
  from these nodes must make an additional check for a cloud 
  encounter each day. Traveling between two such nodes 
  means three checks per day. The "Smugglers’ Haven" Node 
  has an automatic dust cloud encounter every day. Each node 
  is connected to one or more by the safest route charted with 
  the distance labeled.
  19
  
  By The Chief (CPO, Marine contingent) GCS Nikola Tesla
  Beam weapons are a science fiction staple, having been introduced in  'Edison's Conquest of Mars" published in 
  1898. Jeff Prucher's Brave New Words: The Oxford Dictionary of Science Fiction lists the first use of a 'blastor' as 1925 in 
  N. Dyalhis' 'When a Green Star Wanes' (Weird Tales 6/2). That blastor and Edison's ray weapons fired disintegrator beams 
  that could give our Fleet-issued gear a run for its money. The first true beam weapons worked basically like old-style 
  firearms. They would wound or kill on a good shot. The switch to beam weapons came about when batteries became light 
  enough to allow a beam weapon to fire more shots than a projectile weapon.
  Today, an energy weapon for most purposes does not run out of power in a fight or three - which is a good thing, 
  considering what your average Marine gets put through. It’s your rate of fire that causes problems. Even with enough 
  power to hold off your average primitive horde, shedding built -up heat and charging your capacitor requires some time. 
  When the capacitor runs down, the rate of fire will drop. Overpowered shots will make things even worse. Old-style 
  projectile weapons disposed of a lot of heat by ejecting the spent cartridges. Energy weapons do not have that luxury and 
  most have radiator fins on the barrel.
  It’s a very good thing to keep track of your weapon’s rate of cycle in combat and not overdo it. The Fleet installs 
  safeties to restrict maximum fire. In practice, we all override the damned things because hello, combat!
  We Marines operate in overlapping fire-teams, one team covering another while their weapons cool down.  It works 
  well if everyone does it right. The Zangid and Rigel are a tad...unrestrained and they issue spring rifles to some of their 
  soldiers to maintain fire while their beam weapon-equipped soldiers wait for their rifles to cycle. They also like drawing 
  swords and energy blades and charging after melting their gun barrels.
  20
  
  The Videni keep firing their rifles after they overheat hoping they blow themselves and their opponents into itty 
  bitties. 'Course, I never fought against them, so that's just hearsay.  All things being equal, a rifle will dump heat and cycle 
  faster than a pistol, unless it’s a crappy rifle. 
  In any case, you do not want to grab a weapon by its radiator fins.
  21
  
  22
  
  Weapons have heat ratings to represent the amount of rapid firing they can perform without shutting down. 
  Standard beam pistols do 2d6 points of damage. Each die that comes up ‘1’ generates two points of heat. 
  Each die that comes up ‘2’ generates a single point of heat. A pistol can function with up to three points of heat and 
  shuts down when it has four or more. A beam pistol dissipates one point of heat each turn it is not fired.
  Beam Rifles fire 3d6 points of damage and can function with up to five points of heat. They also dissipate one 
  point of heat per turn.
  Shoddy weapons will generate more heat (a single point on a ‘3’ as well) or shut down sooner (when they 
  have three or even two points of heat). 
  Exceptional weapons might only generate one point of heat on a roll of ‘1’ and not generate any heat on a 
  roll of ‘2’. They may be able to function with more heat than a normal weapon (perhaps four or five points). These 
  are the sort of weapons players should acquire from beings they overcome - beings who will certainly be using the 
  weapons to dissuade the players.
  Note that you have to roll for damage and calculate heat even if you miss. The Laws of Thermodynamics do 
  not pity your lousy aim.
  23
  
  Another option (with more of a d20 feel to it) is to have weapons do a set number of dice worth of damage 
  (2dX works well). All weapons generate heat on a roll of one or two but the more powerful weapons use larger dice 
  reducing the chance of heat. A pistol does 2d6 and tends to pick up a point a turn. Weapons shut down after 
  generating four points of heat and dissipate one point a turn. A rifle rolls 2d8 for damage, and the ABC gun rolls 
  2d12, making them nasty customers. 
  The fun part comes from detailing special attacks like double tapping or continuous beams that build up heat 
  very fast.  The rate of heat build-up could be double, triple or more in exchange for a better chance to hit or more 
  damage. Does the player risk having an inoperative weapon for a turn or more to toast the monstrous alien beast 
  charging him? What about a miss? Maybe it would be a good idea to pack a spring rifle like the Zangid.  They're in 
  the core book.
  If a player wants to deal more damage they announce it before rolling to hit. They roll an extra die for 
  damage with an increased chance of heat and shutting down. Likewise they can roll a single die to avoid heat build 
  up. Do you really need 2d6 damage to blast a space rat? In any case modifying your damage roll is declared before 
  you roll to hit. This can also be useful when you've built some heat up and want the bad guys to keep their heads 
  down while your pals’ weapons recharge. A 1d6 beam looks just like a 3d6 beam, after all.
  Players, being players, will keep firing till their gun barrels glow and risk their weapons shutting down. Cover
  in a fight becomes much more important when you’re blowing on your beam pistol and waiting for it to reset.
  24
  
  Cover should provide a character with a minus to hit. Keep in mind that complete invisibility confers a -4 so a 
  minus -2 or -3 is generous for cover.
  Transcript #32049 from Main Commissary, GCS Nikola Tesla 
  Chief Medical Officer: Good morning new crew! Welcome to the Tesla. I’ll be handling your orientation 
  today. How are you this fine day?
  Mukh: My quarters are too dry. This entire ship is far drier than I was led to believe.
  C.M.O: Right. I’ll see what can be done for you. It’s rough when you do part of your breathing through 
  your skin. Maybe we can modify your uniform further.
  Tivk: Can you be more specific in your question doctor? Are you enquiring as to my physical, mental or 
  professional well being?
  C.M.O: Not really. It was a social protocol to ask a rhetorical question.
  Tivk: That seems rather aloof for a physician. You let Mukh talk about his physiological shortcomings. Are 
  you feigning interest?
  C.M.O.: Very well, How are your vital signs? Does the atmosphere mix sit well with you?
  Tivk: If it did not I would have appeared at sick call.
  C.M.O.: Right. Moving right along - good grief, what were you doing under that desk?!
  25
  Erik Talvola (order #7990444)
  
  Nok: I was resting. There’s too much light on this ship. We don’t all hail from a type G star system. I like to 
  take my goggles off on occasion.
  Mukh: What did you expect doctor? His species is evolved from pouncer stock. Sit and wait. They like to sit 
  and wait. And snoop. 
  Nok: Fair enough, mud dweller.
  C.M.O.: Clamp it! Now you are all newly arrived from serving on your own local navies. The Fleet, as you 
  may have noticed, is mostly staffed with humans.
  Tivk: The Fleet is 78% human staff.This ship is now 92% human -well above average.
  C.M.O. Anyway, we’re trying hard to make you comfortable and keep you healthy.
  Nok: Install some lighting that I do not need sun block to endure.
  Mukh: Up the humidity to something bearable. 
  C.M.O.: I. WIll. Work. On. It. ... Anyway, the Fleet Commissary Branch has made some new rations they 
  wanted feedback on. The idea is that this meal will provide basic sustenance for all of you and Terrans as 
  well for at least a day. The ration comes with condiment packs that contain flavorings you will find 
  palatable - 
  Nok: Bets?
  26
  
  C.M.O.: - as well as vitamin and mineral supplements to maintain your energy levels. Here, each of you 
  take one.
  Tivk: I find it both disconcerting and misleading that these condiments are labeled with the names of our 
  species.
  Nok: The Terrans ran around tasting us.
  Mukh: Maybe that’s why they always are kissing each other? You can’t trust omnivores. They’ll eat 
  anything.
  C.M.O.: Guys, work with me here. Open the containers and check them out at least.
  Mukh: Hey! Moistened towelettes! Good call. Give me a couple more! Ahhhh! Can I have yours, Tivk?
  Tivk: No.
  Nok: Hey, the ration comes with a movie! These little cards, see - Ah! They’re too bright.
  Tivk: I saw this movie.
  C.M.O.: The ration consists of carbohydrates in various tubular configurations to aid in even cooking and 
  topped with a tangy protein and lipid rich sauce made from vegetable oils. It's designed to resemble dairy 
  products.
  Mukh: You mammals. It’s all about milk with you. 
  27
  
  Nok: Watch it, froggy.
  Tivk: This is macaroni and cheese. Albeit with a B movie.
  C.M.O.: It’s more than that I assure you. What do you know about mac and cheese anyway?
  Tivk: I read a lot. This stuff is a cult with you Terrans. This and that poisonous coffee you constantly swill.
  C.M.O.: We don’t constantly swill it.
  Tivk: In the last war the Fleet on the front lines was cut off from resupply and went without coffee for two 
  weeks. Human crew efficiency dropped 40%. But you won over 20% more engagements. You get mean.
  Nok: Why don’t they just keep coffee away from the humans and win more battles?
  C.M.O.: Are you out of your mind?! Oh! Uh, yes Professor?
  Mukh: My macaronis are shaped like bugs. How thoughtful. It looks...interesting but...my kind prefers our 
  meals to be moving. That way you know it’s fresh. 
  Nok: Oh for - let me.
  (shaking sounds recorded)
  Mukh: Hey thanks!
  28
  
  (loud and unhygienic sounds of eating recorded)
  C.M.O. Good grief!
  Mukh: Hey, you gotta eat your food fast or it might get away. Or counter-attack!
  Tivik: You could replace the microwave heater in Mr. Mukh’s ration pack with an agitator to move the 
  macaroni around. Or just have someone shake it.
  C.M.O.: Riiiight. Excuse me, gentlemen. I’m taking a short break to ehhhh get some coffee. Yeah, right...
  Tivk: Go right ahead. You’re losing efficiency fast. (It’s the only thing that lets humans keep up with the 
  rest of us, you know.)
  29
  
  30
  
  A Mocha Time
  The ship is out of coffee. More must be found in time before the humans in the crew go crazy.
  The Poison Pie
  A diplomatic conference held aboard the ship ends in tragedy. Don’t let anyone tell you food poisoning isn’t a 
  tragedy, either! But was it a mistake or was someone trying to kill the human ambassador?
  Spectre of the Bun
  Chef is out of his fancy fixings (or cinnamon at least) for baking and wants some patsies to get some more for him 
  in exchange for all kinds of goodies. Enter the PCs who must negotiate, wheedle or steal what is needed from 
  wherever they can. What are these ingredients worth? Whatever the owners can get for them.
  The Wizard of Sauce
  A delicious condiment an alien diplomat brings aboard temporarily awakens psionic potential in the crew. Hilarity 
  ensues.
  A Pizza the Action
  The crew is witness to a couple of goons running a protection racket as they beat on a pizza delivery ‘bot. But is 
  there more to it than it seems?
  31
  
  Crepe Runner
  The crew gets to test out the latest multi-species ration idea: printable crepes with customized fillings (anything you 
  want provided it tastes like blueberries.) If they survive the tasting and fill out a survey the Commissary Branch 
  promises to get them some real food. Unfortunately, they only require a few crew to participate and everyone wants 
  in on a possible feast.  For even more fun, the Captain arranges a set of "contests" to determine who gets to test the 
  crepes.  The nature of these contests is up to the Star Master.
  32
  
  By Cadet 1st Class Dell, GCS Nikola Tesla
  Starships get shot at sometimes. I understand there are a couple of films based on this premise that did fairly well. 
  Add in radiation, meteors, orbital debris and lousy piloting, and you begin to wonder how starships get anywhere at all 
  without being riddled with holes letting a whole lot of air out.
  To make matters worse, early in space exploration, ships couldn't hide. Physics spoiled that for everyone. Normally, 
  you can be seen by your body heat a hundred light seconds away (your actual body, not that tin can you're flying around in. 
   They could see that from Pluto). So basically, ships in space originally had three responses to attack.
  Dodge!
  This might be problematic if missiles are significantly faster or more maneuverable than you are, but sometimes it's 
  all you have. Contrary to popular belief, dodging can give some benefit against lasers and more advanced beam weapons. 
  Even light speed weapons will have a finite time lag in space unless you are close enough to make harsh language a viable 
  attack. Furthermore, a laser has to be held on its target long enough to do damage. If it washes over a ship moving 500 
  meters per second, that energy is being smeared over half a kilometer. When dodging, be aware that, eventually, your luck 
  is going to run out. 
  Countermeasures.
  You can kick out dust, aerosols, flares, chaff and what have you to kill or distract missiles and diffuse energy 
  weapons. The downside is that some countermeasures have ammunition limits and will eventually run out, or your defense 
  lasers will miss a projectile. Any countermeasures can be overwhelmed by sheer volume of fire.
  Suck it up!
  Build your ship really tough. Armor it; then reinforce its structure; then armor it some more. Only thing is, modern 
  33
  
  weapons are pretty brutal, and if you pile enough armor on your design, you discover the fine line between a large ship and 
  a small moon.
  Enter the defense field! The first defense fields were what we call "K-shields" now. They stop solid projectiles by 
  directing tractor fields to knock them off course. Yes, a tractor beam can knock a missile off course. Your opponent is trying 
  hard to aim a missile where you'll be. A tractor beam can pull said missile to where you are at that moment and hence off 
  course. If your culture has artificial gravity, then they ought to be able to build a tractor beam to defend their ships. If you 
  don't have artificial gravity, what kind of a space power are you anyway?
  The first K-shields were an active defense. You had to aim the tractor beams at incoming missiles to knock them off 
  course. Later, humans discovered global shielding techniques that make aiming unnecessary. The chief difference between 
  K-shields and the other kinds of shields is that K-shields are much closer to the hull -  typically only a hundred meters to a 
  kilometer thick. K-shields also slow down the projectiles they can’t completely stop (like starfighters). 
  A K-shield won’t protect against beam weapons, however. If you used gravity control to make a gravity lensing effect, 
  you could possibly make a beam spread out or bend around your vessel, but that sounds like a lot of power. In nature, only 
  galaxies or black holes bend light that much. If you can generate effects on that level, you don't need beam weapons. Just 
  cause tidal effects to rip your target to pieces. If the other guy's ship is in shreds, you're doing it right. As a personal note, 
  it'd take lasers that make Rigel look like a glow-in-the-dark cut out to make me gamble on sticking myself in an artificial 
  black hole...
  Eventually, most races discover how to tweak space warping effects with exotic matter to diffuse and even absorb 
  incoming energy of every kind and radiate it away.
  What we call "EM-shields" diffuse or absorb attacks with no black hole effects. Visible light goes through them with
  no problem too, if everyone does their job right. Some first generation shields did indeed block all radiation both ways and
  ships had to drop shields for laser cannons and sensors to operate, or even use reaction drives. Worse, the ships couldn’t
  dump their waste heat so the shields could only operate for a few minutes before their engines went critical. Yes, it could
  34
  
  cloak you like the Videni ships, briefly, but the light show afterwards would more than make up for it.
  EM-shields raise hell with sensors and computers. You can’t teleport through them. Shuttles and small craft flying 
  near a shielded ship can experience control and sensor failure. Shields must be dropped to accept docking craft.
  As a side note, some earlier vessels went for armored hulls and then used a magnetic shield to protect against 
  particle radiation. It worked, but you had to run the shields virtually all the time as particle radiation and metal hulls do not 
  mix well. Also, these ships were slow!
  There are more possible uses for shields. A good, dependable deflector can eliminate many structural elements in 
  your spacecraft's design, lightening the mass of a ship at the cost of more energy usage. Who needs a shuttle bay door? 
  Use a deflector. Ditto for airlocks (at least the outer door). Elevators can be simplified, just a tube with a deflector projector 
  at the bottom.  Deflectors could even be used in life systems in place of airbags. Or you can opt for a deflector bed, where 
  the mattress is replaced by a deflector for total comfort and protection from beam fire by the people living downstairs. If 
  your power and projector systems are dependable enough, it's no problem.  The most common use of specialized 
  deflectors is the shaped K- and EM- shields used as thrust nozzles in modern three-phase Kinetic Drives.
  There is also the Zeta effect or "Z-shields". As I said, EM-shields diffuse incoming fire and absorb whatever they 
  can’t ward away as heat. That heat (sometimes lots of it!) has to go somewhere and the only place in your ship built to take 
  that much abuse is the power core. This results in damage and weakening of the core and is something you’d want to 
  avoid. Modern screens do this by using the shields as a heat radiator. After all, they are good at manipulating radiation 
  already. Current holo movies always get this wrong, probably because the reality looks pretty silly. Shoot at a shielded ship 
  and you see beam scattering at the point of contact and dimly glow around the shield surface until the side of the shield 
  facing away from the contact point starts expanding to radiate heat from the attack more efficiently.
  Most races depend mostly on Z-shields for heat radiation. Terran engineering is more belt-and-suspenders style. Our
  ships have huge heat radiator fins compared to most species. These let us keep fighting after our shields go down … at
  least until the radiator gets hit. On the other hand, a ship that relies only on Z-shields for heat radiation will be stalled and
  35
  
  dead, incapable of movement.
  Shields can direct your waste heat and stray energy emissions away from prying eyes, providing a degree of stealth. 
  In fact, they are perfect stealth devices against most active sensors employed by pre-starflight cultures. They seem to have 
  no effect on psionic energies, though the Fleet is working hard on that to deal with our friends the Slugs.
  36
  
  37
  Space Fleet Cruiser Nikola Tesla scores a hit on Cruiser Thomas Edison during fleet training exercises, overheating Edison's radiator
  and causing her (his) shields to drop.
  
  First Generation Shields can be employed for 1d4 turns before overheating. Overheating causes 5 points of 
  damage per turn. While the shield is up, the ship can’t fire, maneuver or use its sensors. First Generation Shields roll 
  1d3 instead of 1d6 to determine the percentage of damage they stop.
  Second Generation Shields are similar to modern shields but roll 1d4 to determine the percentage of damage 
  reduced (so they eliminate 5-20% of damage at half power and 10-40% of damage at full power.) These shields were 
  used by the Fleet at the time of the First Contact War. They were replaced by Third Generation Shields near the 
  middle of the conflict. Many older civilian ships still mount ‘2G shields’.  
  Third Generation Shields are currently in use. They function per the official rules.
  Fourth Generation Shields are available only to select ships for special purposes. They roll 1d8 
  for the percentage of damage stopped (5-40% at half power and 10-80% at full) .
  Armor
  The Zangid are at a severe disadvantage already not having torpedoes. It is true that you can have a Zangid 
  task force take on a lone Terran ship, but an alternative is to make the Zangid ships tougher and use less EU for 
  protection. Armored Zangid ships impose a -1 or -2 on hit rolls.
  38
  
  Shield Heresy
  We don’t like to reinvent the wheel, but we have a problem with shields in the rules as written. Consider two 
  Frigates fighting. One frigate charges its shields fully - that’s 30 EU right there. The other frigate does not charge 
  shields. 
  Assume roughly half of all shots will hit. So for 5 EU, you energize your beam battery and get one hit. That 
  does on average 15-20 points of damage (call it 18). The beam strikes the shielded ship and is reduced by 30-40% 
  (call it a third). That’s 12 points of damage inflicted.  
  The shielded ship fires back, also inflicting roughly 18 points of damage. Observe the damage inflicted on 
  each ship on the following table:
  SHIELDED
  UNSHIELDED
  Damage
  Total
  Damage
  Total
  Turn 1
  12
  12
  18
  18
  Turn 2
  12
  24
  18
  36
  Turn 3
  17*
  41
  18
  54 (46 EU available 
  tomorrow)
  Turn 4
  17
  58
  18
  72 (28 EU available 
  tomorrow)
  Turn 5
  17
  75 (25 EU available 
  tomorrow)
  18
  90 (10 EU available 
  tomorrow)
  Turn 6
  17
  92 (8 EU available 
  tomorrow)
  18
  108 (Destroyed)
  39
  
  *After the second turn the shielded frigate is doing 5 damage to itself everytime it fires a beam battery because 
  it is out of energy due to powering the shields.
  See?  Those shields don’t work nearly as well as advertised. 
  In your game, you might want to experiment with giving shields a certain amount of "damage points", say 
  equal to the EU invested in them. Any attacks would be applied to these damage points first. In the example above, 
  the shielded ship would have 40 EU left from its damaged power pod the next day.   In other words, they would 
  know they were in a fight, but the frigate would be in much better shape thanks to their shields.
  40
  
  Chief Medical Officer, GCS Nikola Tesla
  Transcript #33046 from Tesla Shuttle 1
  C.M.O.: What is it?
  Tivk: It is a big, glowing, green head that is chasing our shuttle.
  C.M.O.: ...I mean I want exposition. Do you know anything about it?
  Tivk: It is big. It is glowing. It is a green head. Would you care for range and bearing?
  Mukh: I'm assuming this is your first contact with a sufficiently advanced jerkwad, Doc?
  C.M.O.: ...
  Nok: Hang on; it's closing. I'm killing our relative velocity. They love it when you run. Any suggestions?
  Mukh: Prayer?
  Tivk: I do not know whether to commend you, or slap you.
  Elder Gods - or in Fleet vernacular "Big Glowing Heads" - are generally quite the pain in the ass. 
  Advanced and nigh inscrutable beings, they usually show up at random, announce that we are primitive 
  savages, and then try to stop a war or otherwise screw with our basic right to destroy ourselves. Maybe 
  they're trying to teach us some morality? Otherwise, it seems as absurd as a human trying to break up a 
  fight between two ant colonies. Maybe it's their equivalent of community service to the More Elder Gods...
  Elder gods are often portrayed as being able to do whatever the heck they want. Even those who 
  have limits are often way above your Captain's pay grade. Maybe the Big Glowing Head chasing your 
  destroyer is "only" as powerful as a dreadnought. That still isn't helpful when you're up against one. Here 
  are some considerations when encountering an elder god in a mission (good luck).
  41
  
  1) Less is more. Especially in their case! There aren’t a huge number of them -maybe a hundred individuals 
  encountered in the Northern Lobe. Still, one of those Big Glowing Heads can be plenty.
  2) They're Inscrutable. Their motives can be a complete mystery to us short lived mortals. Maybe they 
  want to protect a planet of slime molds that will evolve into a beautiful and benevolent culture. Maybe they 
  just want to give the slime molds a chance to develop before we start selling them Phast Phood franchises - 
  who knows? 
  3) They might not be monolithic. A space god might still have to worry about his peers. It might get called 
  home from playing by his angry parents ("... and put the Orion Arm back the way you found it! Sorry 
  humans. ") Your current mission blocking BGH might have to pay a price for Its intervention, or have limits 
  on what It can do before other elder gods show up to ruin the party. Ratting one of these guys out would 
  make my career...
  3a) You might be unlucky enough to be caught between a war of the gods. This can go one of two ways: 
  either the gods of both sides cancel out and need your gang for tie breakers, or they don't cancel out, and 
  the Universe really does hate you as well as have no concern for those a few light seconds around you. In 
  the Fleet’s experience when they fight, it is solely by proxy. So far.
  4) They aren't all powerful. Your starship crewmen could be gods to an iron age civilization, but they can 
  still be taken out by a spear or a bacterial infection, for that matter. Primitive natives may not know this, 
  but wait 'til one of your contact team cuts themselves shaving. By the same token, the personification of 
  Cloacina (Roman goddess of sewers!) might be vulnerable to an ion torpedo, or enough energy weapon fire 
  or have a finite energy supply or a vulnerable power source. You get the idea.
  5) They might be charlatans masquerading as gods. Maybe they just found a ring of power in a pig's nose 
  42
  
  or an alien's lobe.  Maybe they were discovered abandoned as a baby and given god-like powers by a 
  sympathetic Elder God (I'm told they exist).  Maybe some explorer reached the edge of the galaxy and 
  became a super-being.  These guys can be the worst of the bunch in some ways.  They may be easier to 
  neutralize - especially if their power comes from an object - but they are also completely unprepared for 
  the power they have.  Most Elder Gods got that way over millions of years, and they're still smug bastards. 
   Imagine if the jerk that bullied you at the academy had that kind of power?
  Like I said, the Fleet nomenclature for the high-end Elders is "Big Glowing Head -" followed by a number 
  designation - mainly because the Fleet loves number designations and what hell else do you call them? The 
  BGHs are currently at the top of the Elder God Classification System (EGCS) and are invulnerable to our 
  weaponry and technology … so far. Some notable examples of Elder Gods include:
  Sesku Iplodewatchewan
  Type: Humanoid
  EGCS Rating: 3
  This entity was contacted shortly after the First Contact War. She had set up shop on the Daelan colony 
  (redacted to protect the survivors) which had a number of Dreiped and Andromedan refugees. There she 
  set up the so-called Killing Cult, demanding the Daelan surrender the minority species in exchange for their 
  continued survival. The Daelan, being Daelan, managed to get a message out through their spy network 
  and  notified the Fleet. The Battle Cruiser Kamehameha and Dreadnought High Justice responded. Security 
  forces defeated the cult in short order but took massive casualties when confronting Sesku 
  Iplodewatchewan who, at the very least, had a personal force field, an invisibility cloak and a disintegration 
  projector. These may have been innate abilities. After reinforcements arrived, Sesku Iplodewatchewan was 
  apparently destroyed by massed ABC rifle fire and the efforts of three robot tanks that perished bravely. 
  Sesku Iplodewatchewan may have simply teleported away. In any case Contact Protocols do not apply to 
  her. Use of lethal force is permitted.
  43
  
  BGH #67
  Type: Big Glowing Head
  EGCS Rating: 8
  BGH #67 likes surprising shuttle crews and landing parties. It delights in posing riddles and puzzles for its 
  ‘opponents’ to solve. Failure to solve its puzzles too many times results in being teleported through space 
  and, occasionally, time. One unfortunate group was transported back in time to meet their past selves and 
  give them some coaching for the upcoming puzzle test. Help from the future wasn’t enough and #67 
  repeated the time skip. By the time they succeeded in winning the contest, there were five temporal copies 
  of each team member. Since then, the copies and originals were sent on assignments in different sectors 
  and receive regular psychiatric counseling.
  BGH #67 seems invulnerable to our current weaponry. An attempt to fend it off by the Cruiser Marie Curie 
  using torpedoes resulted in the entire crew being morphed into juveniles. The Fleet is still trying to track 
  down the Curie, which was last sighted ‘looking for action and cruising for hotties’ in the Kentaurus 
  Freehold.
  BGH #23
  Type: Big Glowing Head
  EGCS: 9-10
  WARNING:  Do not approach and do not engage. Report any sightings to FleetCom immediately. This 
  entity is responsible for numerous acts of destruction and murder in its encounters. Confirmed to have 
  destroyed the Battlecruiser Percival Lowell and her Destroyer escort.
  44
  
  45
  
  Sometimes, you just need an elder god in your SF game. Whether it is for a "big bad" in your campaign or 
  just to keep the characters away from that strange white void with no charted stars that you haven't mapped yet, the 
  use of all-powerful entities is a staple of the genre and, when used sparingly, provide everything from deus ex 
  machina to comic relief.
  Included below are a few random tables to design your own unique elder god.  You can either grab your dice 
  and roll away or just pick traits you like - After all, it's a God.  No one expects a balanced contest.
  Appearance (roll 1d10):
  1) Glowing Head (roll on BGH special features table below)
  2) A perfect specimen (and a hottie) of a known race.
  3) A glowing orb of energy.
  4) A hyperdimensional nexus it hurts to look at.
  5) Diminutive person with a funny hat.
  6) Disembodied voice.
  7)A bizarre compilation of humanoid, animal, vegetable and mineral (fungal optional).
  8) A writhing mass of tentacles.
  9) A nondescript humanoid in a business suit or archaic clothing.
  10) A different deity to each observer based on the religious beliefs they or their culture holds.
  46
  
  Big Glowing Head Special Features (roll 1d6):
  1) Several smaller satellite heads circling the main head and arguing, singing, etc.
  2) Many tiny insect eyes
  3) Head turns inside out when it opens its mouth too wide
  4) Breaks into smaller heads and reforms
  5) Disembodied brain (numerous eyes optional)
  6) Big forehead
  The elder god's dark secret is (ROLL 1D10):
  1) On the run from their peers.
  2) Screwed something up big time in the past that was hushed up.
  3) They have blood on their hands. A lot of blood.
  4) Not the god you think they are.
  5) On the run from their former believers.
  6) They have the soul of an innocent child (good luck making them give it back!)
  7) Will wipe out  beings that don't measure up to some double standard.
  8) Is just testing you! Isn't that a relief?
  9) Is an elaborate AI constructed by someone long ago.
  10) Is an elaborate genetic construct built by an AI long ago.
  47
  
  The elder god is really (roll 1d10):
  1) A con artist with some state of the art tech
  2) A con artist with a genuine artifact of the gods not completely understood
  3) The real deal, in that they are practically immortal, have existed since prehistory, and were worshipped by 
  someone somewhere who didn't know better
  4)The real deal, in that they are practically immortal, have existed since prehistory, but don't really give a throggit's 
  tail about you primitive types.
  5)A powerful being that is practically immortal but hasn't been around long at all and is the equivalent of a teenager 
  (or a toddler).
  6) An all-knowing type that likes to watch but is limited in their direct interactions.
  7) Totally alien and incomprehensible.
  8) Existing in multiple dimensions and really incomprehensible.
  9) Says they are incomprehensible, but are really just a jerk.
  10) A time traveller from the future.
  Humans are ... (roll 1d6):
  1) Toys.
  2) Great but you can't eat a whole one.
  3) Primitives.
  4) Animals.
  5) Better left alone.
  6) To be watched carefully and preached to like an 80’s cartoon PSA..
  48
  
  The elder god's weakness is (roll 1d10):
  1) Nonexistent. Run.
  2) A finite supply of energy.
  3) A focus for their power is needed.
  4) They (or their power) is limited or bound to a place.
  5) Their life force is linked to a place, object or person.
  6) Their true love.
  7) Overconfidence. See number 1 above.
  8) Dependency on the belief of their followers.
  9) They are physically a normal humanoid.
  10) Roll twice. It's a bad day to be a god (relatively speaking).
  Modus Operandi (roll 1d10)
  1) Works behind the scenes using followers.
  2) Appears in giant form and demands worship.
  3) Appears and spends all their credits on ale and whores.
  4) Chases starships, breaks up wars, and otherwise interferes with primitives' natural development.
  5) Offers people their fantasy in exchange for their soul or a reasonable facsimile.
  6) Makes people love them.
  7) Causes natural disasters: planet quakes, thunderstorms, meteor showers, actors going into politics etc.
  8) Feeds off the living to make undead slaves of them.
  9) Has really nasty minions.
  49
  
  10) Bad news: The elder god doesn't mind getting their hands/feelers/claws/suckers dirty (or bloody), it's a throw 
  down.
  Power Level (roll 1d6)
  1) They can neutralize the defenses of an entire world.
  2) They can slug it out with a capital ship (Cruisers and larger).
  3) They can slug it out with smaller spaceships (Frigates and Destroyers).
  4) They can raise merry hell with a landing team and shrug off any attacks with ordinary sidearms.
  5) They can terrify and dominate primitives.
  6) They are stuck on the plane of dreams (woooooo!) and can only act through dreams.
  Edge (roll 1d10)
  1) Possessing sentients and/or machinery.
  2) Incredibly realistic illusions.
  3) Mind control (they make new friends easily).
  4) Tech blocker. Your blaster will not function here!
  5) Shapeshifter.
  6) Knows what scares you.
  7) Unearthly allure.
  8) Warping reality in an instant.
  9) Has an established and extensive theocracy with armed might.
  10) Has a very sneaky and capable cult of total fanatics.
  50
  
  Transcript #33046 from Tesla Shuttle 1
  Tivk: That is an encounter I do not desire to repeat.
  Mukh: Meh. He gave us three riddles, we answered three riddles.
  C.M.O.: I knew he was just messing around when he asked "How do you keep a monkey in suspense?" 
  Smug bastard.
  Nok: I bet he didn't really give us three wishes.
  C.M.O.: Smug. Bastard.
  51
  
  By Riasi (professional cat girl)
  First of all, "felinoid" is human jargon for a humanoid with feline characteristics. I don't think it is 
  accurate. A better definition of that word is an animal with catlike features and I'm talking about cat girls 
  and guys. I think "ailuranthrope" has a better ring to it, and it is also similar to ‘Lurran’ our own name for 
  ourselves. I admit that describing a humanoid as based on a Terran animal is a useful form of shorthand. 
  While an alien can be really alien, it is still easily understood (for the most part anyway) by your listeners. 
  So, humanoids with cat-like traits and/or features...what the heck do you mean by that?
  Your first contact with cat girls happened in the 21st Century … if you count primitive cos-mod 
  surgery. Some people wanted to look like cats. 
  Your next contact with cat girls was with humans who were genetically modified to have feline 
  characteristics. A number of feline characteristics were very useful for ... space travel. But it wasn’t really 
  about space travel, was it?  Naughty humans...
  It is true that Human Felines (and Lurrans) have an easier time orienting in zero gravity than regular
  humans. We have less tolerance for gee forces than average, however. This was discovered in your World
  War Mark Two when the American Office of Strategic Services tried making a cat guided shipping bomb. It
  was reasoned that since cats must have some measure of aerodynamic ability to always land on their feet
  and loathed water, they would aim their bomb towards a ship to stay dry. I have no idea how they were to
  control the bombs but the question was a moot point since the cats passed out soon after the drop. It was
  a dirty trick to pull on a cat, and I'm sure just one reason the Germans kept scratching their heads and
  wondering how the Allies won.
  52
  
  In any case, my people prefer low gee planets and low acceleration ships. Physically, we are slighter 
  and weaker than humans, though we appear about the same size. This is due to standing and walking on 
  our toes and a generous helping of body fur.
  Lurran night vision is better than human norm but we don’t see in pitch black or in the far infra-red 
  like the Daelans. Apart from our cat-like night vision, evolving around a type ‘F’ star has made us see into 
  the ultraviolet end of the spectrum. It’s a lovely color we call ‘murvle’. In contrast, your red and orange 
  blur together for us, and some shades of red appear black to us. This can be a problem when we 
  encounter emergency signage.
  Claws, even retractile ones, are a mixed blessing. They're great for opening up that cargo container, 
  but do you really want to chance those nails when you're wearing a spacesuit? Do you want someone with 
  those claws helping you suit up? Don't tell me about restraint, accidents happen. We make do with space 
  suits that have mechanical claws at the end of the arms operated by waldos. Much safer. Some of our 
  spacers have their claws filed down or removed for safety reasons. Spend too much time in a spacesuit 
  and they fall out anyway, like your pitiful human nails.
  There are other feline traits that make them less than ideal space explorers. Felines (on Earth at 
  least) are pure (obligate) carnivores. They have a higher need for proteins than most animals and they 
  can only get such good things as taurine, arachidonic acid, vitamin A and vitamin B12 in sufficient 
  quantities from meat, which is really bad news for long duration voyages or space stations. A vegetarian 
  diet causes hearing loss, hair loss (!) and liver and heart problems for felines. We Lurrans are not pure 
  carnivores but pretty close. It has caused a number of problems in our explorations and we often stop off 
  on friendly planets for a fresh meal. We eat a lot of our meat rare. Very rare.
  53
  
  Our starship crews looked at a lot of dietary supplements when there was no fresh meat. Contrary to 
  popular belief, our non-Lurran crewmates do not look yummy after a few weeks. Cloned meat, synthesized 
  meat,  and really good dietary supplements help us satisfy our need for meat on spacecraft and stations.
  Another characteristic we share with felines is sleeping a lot. We are capable of  bursts of speed and 
  strength, but we pay for it afterwards with power naps. Humans are at an advantage for heavy labor 
   purposes as they are built for endurance. Cat people are better for things like damage control or 
  emergency response (just hope we wake up.) 
  There are some cosmetic considerations with cat people: tails, fur and ears. Now most mammals 
  have body fur, unless they lose it for evolutionary reasons (being aquatic or having thick skin are the two 
  most common courses). You humans evidently lost your hair through random evolution and then came to 
  prize that hairlessness as a sign of fitness, which led to the hairless people breeding more and more. 
  Success rewards success in nature, so you're now bald, by ailuranthrope standards. Evolution doesn't have 
  to go that way. In our case, it did not, fortunately. Human hairlessness is a mixed blessing. Humans  gain 
  and lose heat more quickly than Lurrans. They also suffer  sunburns and have no protection versus a 
  scratch or nip. Fur is the way to go! Fur is also handy for retaining body heat if you are smaller than 
  human average, so our fur is functional, as well as beautiful. 
  Having cat ears is no weirder or ‘unattractive’ than many of the ‘forehead aliens’ we've met. We 
  convey a lot of emotion through ears, whiskers, and tail movement, but are hard to read by facial 
  expression. Some humans regard us as aloof because we can’t exactly smile. Showing teeth among 
  Lurrans and other evolved mammals is usually a prelude to biting someone. When in doubt as to our 
  intentions, look at our hands. If the claws come out, odds are you're upsetting us.
  Humans make a lot of fuss over our tails. Humans don't have one, nor do your closest relatives 
  54
  
  among the apes. One theory was that walking upright proved beneficial because there was less surface 
  area exposed to the tropical sun, resulting in more heat tolerance.  Being a biped negates the need for a 
  tail. We cat people came from a more temperate planet and we also kept the ability to run on all fours. We 
  had fur to protect us from the sun so we have evolved an upright stance for tool use. So you can say being 
  bipedal is sort of optional or part-time for us. Our tails give us the advantage of balance (not to mention 
  swatting people who annoy us). A final note about Lurrans: unlike Terran cats, our tails are prehensile to a 
  degree that varies with individuals. Most humans find this alarming. Some athletic Lurrans can actually 
  hang by their tails and use them as a crude extra hand (I can hang by mine for a bit or trip someone but 
  I’m athletic.) Our spacesuits all have  ‘tails’ built in. Some Lurran subraces and individuals have more or 
  less developed tails.
  I mentioned we are often characterized as being aloof and loners with little empathy for each other. 
  This is extending a perceived behavior 0f a small group of felines (house cats) to us because we have 
  some anatomical similarities. This is not the case even for all felines on Terra, as prides of lions work 
  together quite well. Also, the animals we evolved from were social animals and group oriented. 
  Most Earth felines dislike and avoid crossing water or getting wet. Tigers, in contrast, are awesome 
  swimmers. Know your ailuranthrope; I can swim, and I like water. I don’t like having to dry my fur out, 
  however. And fur conditioner starts to cost you. 
  Lurrans are not all that feline in nature. We are aliens. Aliens are alien. Just because you meet a 
  humanoid race with tails and retractile claws doesn't mean they act like cats. Foxes have tails and 
  retractable claws for that matter. We could have just as easily been called Fox Girls. I tried to do more 
  research on both Cat Girls and Fox Girls on your interwebs but … I couldn’t really get past the images I 
  found. Yeek!
  55
  
  LURRANS (Cat Grrls/Guyzz)
  Requirements: Dex 12
  Ability Adjustments: STR -1 DEX +1 CON -1 
  CHA +1
  Skill Adjustments: Combat -1, Contact +1, 
  Metabolism: Iron Based
  Claws- Lurrans have retractable claws. They 
  inflict 1d3 damage in unarmed combat. 
  Lurrans substitute Dexterity modifiers for 
  Strength modifiers when using their claws as 
  attacks focus on speed and accuracy.
  Light Frame- Lurrans have a +1 to Dexterity 
  and Charisma and a -1 to Strength and 
  Constitution reflecting their smaller size.
  Paws- Their paws lack grasping strength. 
  Lurrans may use laser swords and light (no 
  pun intended) melee weapons (doing 1d6 
  damage or less) normally. They use heavier 
  weapons at -2.
  56
  
  Ranged Combat- Lurrans have a -1 to all ranged attacks due to their preference for hand to hand combat.
  Night Vision- Halve all penalties for dim lighting or darkness (other than total darkness).
  Endurance- Lurrans double all penalties for high gravity.
  Skills- Lurrans treat climbing as a Primary skill for rolls and swimming as a Tertiary skill. They can swim, but they 
  aren’t great at it.
  57
  
  By Professor Tiglath Alfstan Mukh, Linguist/Historian GCS Nicola Tesla
  Many pre-spaceflight cultures try to prove their superiority to their intra-planetary neighbors. A 
  notable exception is the Taurans, who merely try to prove their superiority to everyone else. Some races, 
  like the humans, tried to improve themselves through genetic engineering. Friction arose between the 
  uplifted and the plain vanilla humans, and hilarity ensued.
  Actually the Genome War ensued and many people died.
  Human records of the time are sketchy. They have kept their nuclear response to a civilized 
  minimum,at the very least. According to some accounts, the genetically-engineered created a de facto 
  caste system, and natural humans were the underclass. Movies about the era have a sort of Roman 
  Empire/Fascist/Kinky vibe, but it seems like the oppression was primarily a matter of more and better 
  opportunities for those who played cut-and-paste with their chromosomes. 
  Like any plan to take over the world, there were problems with genetic engineering. A simple rule of 
  thumb is, "If a single world government doesn’t spring up on its own, you probably did it wrong."
  First of all, there's still a lot of unexplored territory in human genetic structure. At that point in history, 
  they knew even less.  Unfortunately, not knowing how little you know is usually taken as competence by 
  humans and most other races. Those frail, cellulite-ridden, appendix popping wrecks you walk about in are 
  the result of millions of years of trial and error. There are reasons for a lot of the so-called drawbacks you 
  have. Cure alopecia, for example, and maybe the subject acquires the gene for color blindness - or 
  schizophrenia. As Riasi said in her text on felinoids, "We don't know the exact reasons for humans being 
  58
  
  hairless or tail-less." So, a few body modding crews made themselves into human/generic mammal furries 
  and discovered that their new DNA sequencing triggered atavistic rages when they couldn't find designer 
  clothes made specially for those with tails. Some discovered their feline-modeled upgrades gave them 
  perfect balance, but threw their inhibitions to the winds on a regular cycle (Dream on. Cat Dudes don't 
  know you're breathing ... but wait 'til the 14th. Yeah there's an app that tells you that stuff. I got it. - 
  Riasi)
  Not all the drawbacks were that obvious, either. Government-mandated genetic tweaking resulted in 
  a "standard" upgrade package provided to all citizens in the womb. This had the unforeseen effect of 
  reducing genetic diversity. In nature, reduction of genetic diversity usually appears in very small 
  populations. When you have low genetic diversity, any bacteria, virus or bug with which one individual gets 
  infected has the potential to infect everyone. Fast. What one can't fight, none can fight. Standardized 
  genetic coding can result in true pandemics. While this may be no big deal if the complaint is athlete's foot, 
  before the Genome War, you had a new flavor of influenza everyday, and worse. It was a horror show in 
  closed environments like spacecraft or stations.
  Another problem with genetic engineering was copywriting. Let's say a geneware company  created 
  some individuals that made all other humans look fit for nothing but a museum display. The problem is 
  that these uber-people were going to have kids unless they were made sterile. Sterility is not a great 
  selling point. So, those fantastic gene mods are going to end up dispersed among the population like any 
  other genetic trait. Some companies tried to make their people/products sign agreements not to mate with 
  individuals below a certain genetic rating, or just with people with similar tweaks.  Naturally, this didn't 
  work. You humans mate no matter what. It’s saved mammals like you more than once. I understand you 
  even "got busy" with your Neanderthal cousins, and when you can close the deal with a person who can 
  benchpress a boulder, a court writ will not really deter you. Also, these gene products were brilliant. 
   Certainly brighter than the lawyers that thought up those safeguards in the first place.
  59
  
  In evolution, the race does not always go to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, but it is definitely 
  slanted towards those who keep churning out kids.
  The Human Genome War was not (as some Terrans think) a war between Human 1.0 and Human 
  2.0. Rather, it was a period of everyone fighting everyone else. You had the base-lines rebelling against the 
  caste system, the modified rebelling against the corporations, and the government trying to get control by 
  passing more and more restrictive laws until everything collapsed.
  Somehow, the Terrans still managed to send out at least six slower-than-light colony ships. One of 
  those was the UES Rigel.  More on those later.
  Today, most Terrans have at least some genetic trait that can be traced to artificial modification. The 
  line between "normal" and "modified" is meaningless, blurred by a couple centuries of snooksnook. Oddly, 
  you still get some reclusive self-proclaimed "genius" somewhere who tries to genetically modify his own 
  army.
  Any serious modification to strength, intelligence or dexterity seems to carry penalties such as 
  megalomania, over-emoting, being irrationally stubborn, and other failures to play nice with others. Today, 
  there are many organizations in our Polity that exist to resocialize these individuals - or at least stun them 
  and take the scissors and nukes out of their hands. 
  It’s easy enough to stun them if you wait until they monologue...
  60
  
  61
  
  Current genetic engineering can create a human (or other species) character or NPC, though it is far from an 
  exact science. Such characters roll 2d6+6 for their characteristics. If a player wants a gene-tweaked character the 
  Star Master now say: “Sure! Now roll on the table for side effects!”
  Genetic Superhuman Side Effects (roll 1d8:)
  1. Berserker- the first time the character is hit in a fight, they must roll a save vs. energy attacks or stun effects. 
  Failure caused the character to attack all creatures, friends and foes alike, in the immediate area (30ft.). The 
  berserk character may re-try the saving throw every other round. The character stays berserk for 1d6 rounds 
  after the last enemy is dead, or until they succeed on a saving throw. 
  2. Deadhead - the character’s Psi Potential is halved.
  3. Jerk- the character receives -4 to all uses of the Contact skill.
  4. Dependency- the character needs daily medication or a specialized diet. If they do not receive the required 
  medication or diet, they must save vs poison or suffer from the Berserker and Jerk disadvantages.
  5. Sterile- The character is unable to conceive or sire children and is psychologically traumatized as a result. In 
  any dealings with attractive or enticing humanoids, the character suffers from the Jerk disadvantage.
  6. Obsessive/Compulsive Monologuing- At an opportune time (ref’s call), the character must begin a 
  monologue. They won’t just call the Big Glowing Head a smug bastard - They will list Its faults in 
  excruciating and infuriating detail. The character won’t retreat before delivering a speech on how they will 
  return and exact revenge. They must monologue for 1d6 turns.  If the character is attack or otherwise 
  subjected to an effect that requires a saving throw, the character makes the saving throw normally.  If the 
  62
  
  character succeeds at the saving throw, the character may also stop monologuing - after a declaration of 
  revenge, of course.
  7. Jackpot- roll 1d6 on this table two times.
  8. Trifecta- roll 1d6 on this table three times.
  Characters created as part of mad scientist’s dream army may have an extra +1 or +2 to a stat at the cost of 
  two rolls on the chart above.
  63
  
  By Chief Medical Officer GCS Tesla
  (Commentary by Professor Tiglath Alfstan Mukh Linguist/Historian GCS Tesla)
  Different species should not be able to have kids. At least, that was what conventional medical 
  science told us before we made First Contact across the Local Bubble. Then, impossibly, kids! Humans will 
  be humans, after all. The fact that most human hybrids are with the Zangid, our often mortal enemies, or 
  with the Taurans, our sometimes mentors, sometimes frenemies, sometimes condescending jerks, says 
  something for our fast talking skills. 
  In the DNA of intelligent species across the galaxy, there are sections of code known as hybridization 
  interons.  Once thought to be redundant or junk sections of the genetic code, the interons act as a sort of 
  Swiss Army Knife of baby-making. You need a certain number of interons for the process to work and, 
  oddly enough, all mammal derived races we’ve encountered so far have that number: 46. So basically, 
  Andromedans, Daelans, Taurans and the Zangid can interbreed. Life forms with less than 46 chromosomes 
  can’t. There will, for example, be no Zangid War Hound-Chihuahua mixed breeds. 
  (Good thing too. Those Chihuahuas are murderous little things!-Mukh)
  The ability of non-mammalian species to interbreed is uncertain at present. The Gorran and Hykot are 
  both egg-layers, but their methods of fertilization differ greatly and might require artificial means.
  (You humans really think about sex a lot. This would never even occur to us. Gorran? Yikes! -Mukh)
  64
  
  The Rigel are the best known and most numerous hybrids in the galaxy. They are the only hybrids to 
  have their own civilization and a unique culture made of a fusion of Terran and Zangid customs.
  (More Zangid customs than Terran customs. But they still don’t know whether to conquer you or con  
  you. - Mukh)
  Recent research indicates an ancient extinct race known as the Rockapongolie were a very advanced 
  civilization that had widespread influence through the Local bubble and Leonis Expanse.  They are best 
  known as the creators of a device known as the Anomalous Xeno Artifact. The AXA, as it is known, is a box 
  or cabinet capable of changing the species of a subject. A number of these were found on abandoned 
  colonies by Fleet personnel. 
  (They seem to have missed or ignored the non-mammalian races.  I take this as proof God is cold-
  blooded.-Mukh)
  The Rockopongalie probably used the cabinets to place long term observers among other races 
  covertly. The scientific value of their observers recording their impressions as other species cannot be 
  underestimated. We have just begun to learn the many applications of these AXA devices. Professor Mukh 
  has proved instrumental in translating the operator manuals and allowing us to restore full function to the 
  one AXA Tesla has recovered. 
  (About that "scientific research" … it's not hard to read between the lines. The Rockopongalie were 
  not after abstract knowledge. We may have found a race more interested in "getting it on" than humans.-
  Mukh)
  The AXA in question can now hold five genetic templates, derived by scanning a cell sample. Any 
  65
  
  known species can use the AXA and, with care, templates can be swapped out. The cabinet works its 
  miracles through a combination of retroviruses, nano-tech, and bio-genetic mutation on a scale beyond our 
  current technology. Some nuances of operation are still beyond us. 
  (He means to say it hurts like hell! Also it takes at least an hour to reset and recalibrate. On the 
  other hand, it is probably safer than a teleporter. Note that "known species" does not include Gorrans or us  
  Hykot. The damned thing spat me out and identified me as a type of terrier! The Rockopongalie were 
  warm-blooded bigots, apparently.
  And it's "retroviri", not "retroviruses" Doc.  Learn your own languages! -Mukh)
  Subjects transformed by the AXA also are host to a retrovirus that realigns the DNA of any 
  mammalian humanoids to allow interbreeding between that species and other known mammalian species. 
  We are not sure if this function was intentional.
  (Variety is the spice of life. In any case, it appears from the inferences I can make out in the AXA 
  manuals I translated that this "species swapping" became something of a compulsive mania among the  
  Rockopongalie. As time passed they seem to have devoted more and more time and energy to it. 
  Eventually, so many Rockopongalie became other species and settled into a lifestyle of "orgies" or "family  
  raising" with other mammalian species that there were not enough left to maintain their cultural identity or  
  civilization. The Rockopongalie are possibly unique in the galaxy in that they effectively bred themselves  
  into extinction.-Mukh)
  66
  
  67
  
  The easy way to make a hybrid character is to take one advantage and one disadvantage from each parent 
  species. For example, the Rigel (human/Zangid), the hybrids receive both the Zangid Constitution bonus and the 
  lack of active Psi Potential. Humans are the default species in Starships & Spacemen, with no special abilities other 
  than a potential for active Psi, so it is suggested the hybrid lose a disadvantage normally received from the other 
  parent, such as the lack of active Psi potential.
  In the case of a Tauran/Zangid hybrid, the high Tauran Psi Potential and the Zangid lack of Psi would cancel 
  out, leaving a race about as psionic as humans. A character can take the High Zangid Constitution and the Tauran 
  low Charisma, resulting in modifiers might look like this:
  Tauran/Zangid Hybrid
  Requirements: INT 10, CON 10
  Ability Adjustments: CON +2, CHA -2
  Skill Adjustments: None
  Metabolism: Copper or iron based depending on the mother’s metabolism. 
  (No, an iron based mother can’t have a copper based offspring unless she adopts one.)
  Tauran/Human Hybrid
  Requirements: INT 12, CON 9
  68
  
  Ability Adjustments: INT +1, CHA -1
  Skill Adjustments: None
  Metabolism: Copper or Iron based depending on the mother’s metabolism.
  At character creation, a Tauran/Human hybrid may chose a single psionic power. Other Tauran abilities are 
  available if the character was raised in Tauran culture. Otherwise, it is possible to learn the meditative trance and 
  nerve strike; these are not automatic. Tauran/Human hybrids do not suffer from the blood fever.
  69
  
  by Lt. N’Sa Nok, Shuttle Pilot GCS Tesla
  Transcript #51049 from Tesla Shuttle 1
  Nok: Finally, a planet with a normal level of light. I can take my shades off here! Not to mention, walk 
  around without fear of combusting.
  Mukh: If you had a healthy coat of slime ... you poor mammals.
  Tivk: Yet, we survive.
  Mukh: Barely. Take the humans: If it wasn't for that asteroid strike, they'd still be living in the dinosaurs' 
  walls and stealing scraps to survive.
  Tivk: I doubt that any Tyrannosaur could get the best of the Chief.
  Nok: I'd be selling tickets to that fight. What's going on over there?
  Trader: Step up! Be orderly, you rabble! Yes, let me have a scan of that stone ... 20 carats. Very nice. That 
  will buy you ...10 liters of water! Good thing you caught me today. Tomorrow the price goes up!
  Nok: This is the way it goes on tide locked worlds around an M star.  Too low a water percentage to start 
  with, and it all freezes out on the night side. My homeworld was lucky. But this ... those firestones are 
  70
  
  worth thousands!
  Mukh: The "dirty chiseler"! Rrrrrrr.
  Nok: Merchant! What are you doing to these locals?
  Trader: I’m selling them water, fresh from the dark side. And I sold them some water ice I collected from 
  asteroids on my flight here. That cost even more - it was imported!
  Tivk: You are selling them their planet’s own water. This amoral hyper-capitalism is tantamount to 
  extortion.
  Nok: Yeah that’s ... the hell did you say?
  Trader: I prefer to term it "in situ resource utilization". I can charge for my labor, wear and tear on the 
  ship, and my time. I am a licensed trader and charging what the market will bear. Anyhoo, this planet is in 
  open space. The Fleet doesn’t run things out here. So hand out your brochures, conclude your "cultural 
  exchange" and be on your way!
  Nok: You’re taking advantage of their low technology. The locals could supply themselves if they had 
  environmental suits or sealed vehicles. Why not sell them those? 
  Mukh: And sell them service contracts!
  Tivk: We’re trying not to exploit the locals, Mukh.
  71
  
  Trader: Wah wah wah. Not my fault their ancestors got stranded here and went tech-stupid.
  Nok: ... 
  Many people said that interstellar society would have no basis for trade. Any star system has more 
  than enough resources to last a space faring race for their foreseeable future. Barring luxury items or 
  unique substances like arts and crafts, there is little worth trading.
  In practice, this is not the case. As transportation costs became cheaper, it paid to harvest resources 
  from  star systems where they are easier to get to. A case in point is asteroid mining in the Sol System. 
  Even though Terra was full of metallic wealth, little things like insane depth and magma made 99% of it 
  unreachable. For some precious metals, it actually paid for the Terrans to send rockets with a cargo of 
  rovers to an asteroid, in hopes of  later establish mining outposts. And that was with chemical and ion 
  rockets! Our K-drives make mining on a system-wide scale easy.
  For another example, Terra was lousy with water. Water can be used for fusion fuel, chemical 
  propellant, life support and shielding.  That Terran water, however, is at the bottom of a deep gravity well. 
  Before the K-drive and antigrav came along, the Terrans used moon ice as a major water source in 
  exploring and exploiting space.  Their puny rockets were so weak, the moon ice wasn't even from their 
  moon - they had to go all the way to the neighboring planet of Mars because the gravity well was more 
  shallow.
  So the bad news for the galaxy is that "evil aliens" might want something our lovely worlds have.  All 
  it takes is being able to acquire resources more efficiently elsewhere -  often at gunpoint. Even worse, if 
  living beings are cheaper than robots, native populations might wind up working for them, with a beam 
  rifle aimed at their heads.
  72
  
  The good news is with modern warp flight, we have a basis for trade. A system without asteroids but 
  with a prime garden world might send food cubes to the belters two stars over in exchange for titanium 
  and iron. The garden planet might even accept belters from overcrowded space stations who wanted to 
  turn farmer, or even better, knew how to mine their garden world more efficiently.  There you have it - 
  have a basis for trade in raw materials and immigration.
  Technological mismatches provide yet another opportunity for trade. It could be as simple as 
  bringing cell phones to underprivileged natives (The phones are free - it's the contracts are where they 
  "soak ya"! - Mukh) It could also be a matter of providing services. Those belters, for example, would be 
  glad to mine the garden worlds satellite in exchange a share of the mineral wealth and free lodging, and 
  they can do it a lot better than the local boys. Throw in free vacations on the garden world itself, and you 
  have a literal gold mine.
  The price of robotics will either encourage or eliminate organic workers, just like it will encourage or 
  eliminate slavery. When a robot becomes cheaper than a living sentient’s upkeep, workers - slave or free - 
  are no longer necessary, and often become vermin to their former employers and masters.  Once again, 
  immigration is a basis in trade - either as free refugees, or slaves sold on to less advanced planet.
  Transcript #51056 from Tesla Shuttle 1
  <<ERROR FILE NOT FOUND>>
  Transcript From the Private Journal of N’Sa Nok
  Trader: You ... DOGS! Swine! Throgg whelps!
  Nok: Who, us?
  73
  
  Mukh: I’m more frog like. It is a common mistake.
  Trader: You gave those natives hand stunners and a de-crypter paddlet to open up my ship. They seized 
  my water AND my ship 'til I pay an import tax and a dozen fines for health infractions and ... they want 
  me to unionize my market workers! You utter bastards!
  Nok: Ooh. A union. Imagine that.
  Mukh: I might have explained how galactic economics worked. 
  Tivk: We brought no such equipment with us, besides our own gear which is registered with our ship. It is 
  present and ready for inventory. If I were you, I’d make my way to your embassy with all due speed. 
  There is a large mob of unruly locals cresting that hill at this moment, waving said out-of-place weaponry. 
   They look far from charitable.
  Trader: Nyaaaaaaaaaagh!!
  Mukh: Humans run funny. That serves him right. So what’d you charge the prince for those stunners and 
  the de-crypter?
  Nok: It came to ten thousand credits in firestones. I’m opening an account for his planet with it at the 
  nearest spacebase. 
  Tivk: I had my misgivings, Mr. Nok, when you asked me to fabricate those stunners and the de-crypter. 
  Fortunately, the resins required were the same as those used for trade good kits. But are we not pushing 
  the envelop on "allowable imports"?
  74
  
  Mukh: Naaah. Wow, look at them run!
  Nok: Here come our new friends. They look pretty... impressive. They’re proud of those stunners - look at 
  them wave them around!
  Mukh: Yeah like the Chief that time I ... Wait, did you guys show them the fabricator? Do they know we 
  have the means to manufacture stunners?
  Tivk: I... might have done a demonstration for the prince...
  Mukh: Prep the shuttle!
  Nok: Dark Mother dancing on a pole!
  Mukh: Prep the damn shuttle!!!
  Nok: Prepping now! Come assist, Tivk! Mukh, you hold them off!
  Mukh: Why am I the strong  arm?! I have two PhDs!
  Tivk: Your skin is 10 centimeters thick, not counting mucus secretions. You can take ten hits from those 
  stunners before being knocked silly! Try to stand in front of the lateral stabilizer. A stun discharge there 
  could delay our departure.
  (Sound recorded: Dakkadakkadakkadakkadakkadakkadakkadakkadakkadakka!)
  75
  
  Mukh: You better hope they knock me silly! Dakkadakkadakkadakka!
  Tivk: You do know yelling  "Dakkadakkadakkadakka" does not improve your aim?
  Mikh: Prep the egg sucking shuttle! Ow. Ow! Did you have to give them Type 2 stunners!? ... Why isn’t my 
  stunner working on them?  They’re superhuman!!
  Nok: You’re trying to stun them with the targeting laser, Dr. Two-PhDs! 
  Mukh: PREP! THE! EGG!! SUCKING!! SHUTTLE!!! REEEEEEEEEEEE!!!
  (Dakkadakkadakkadakkadakkadakkadakkadakkadakkadakka!)
  76
  
  77
  
  Food Fight
  A peaceful garden world is the annual stop for a fleet of pirates who stock up on food. Fending them off is 
  easy enough for a Fleet ship, but only a temporary fix. The crew must give the population the means and will to 
  resist.
  Lawn of the Dead
  A fungus brought in a free trader slipped through is destroying grass all over. Grains are grasses. Grasses 
  feed livestock. Grasses prevent erosion. The crew may have to deal with floods and famine if the bight continues. 
  Traders will also need to be hired - and negotiated with - to bring in food till the world is again self supporting.
  Sales of the Floating Mountains
  A group of off-world asteroid miners arrives in the local system, threatening to sell gold, platinum and ionite 
  at a fraction of its local value.  Unless the planetary leaders pay a huge fee for them to leave, the miners will 
  undermine the local economy.
  78
  
  Transcript #51409  Enlisted Cafeteria, GCS Nikola Tesla
  Jenn: Morning Mr. Tivk. May I join you?
  Tivk: There is no one else sitting at this table. I see no physical impediment.
  Jenn: Uh, I mean, would you like company for breakfast?
  Tivk: ...I will acquiesce to your request.
  Jenn: Thank you.
  Tivk: Certainly. There's no need to request permission.
  Jenn: The Chief has had me overhauling the Shaker the last few days. He's way upset about that whole 
  "Procurement Branch" fiasco.
  Tivk: Of course he is. You got caught.
  Jenn: Good point. You would not believe how much lubricant a shuttle uses.
  Tivk: I know exactly how much it uses. It is a matter of fact. My belief does not alter it.
  79
  
  Jenn: ...
  Tivk: Ms. Jenn, I am going to pre-empt you here. I dislike small talk. I have enjoyed our collaboration on 
  designing and tweaking various items of weaponry and equipment. You have a fine eye for design and 
  practical engineering which I enjoy encouraging and you are a suitable co-worker. That is as far as I go.
  Jenn: What are you -
  Tivk: I regard your attraction to me as a compliment. Thank you. I can't reciprocate. You're human, and 
  I'm not.
  Jenn: ...It's as simple as that?
  Tivk: It should be. Anything else is not rational.
  Jenn: Agreed. But then I'm not rational.
  (Sound recorded: Splash!)
  Tivk: I...failed to consider that.
  Jenn: Arrrrrrraarrrrgh!
  (Sound recorded: Stompstompstomp!)
  Riasi: Hurrrr. She really let you have it.
  80
  
  Tivk: Considering she is a trained killer with beam weapons, Casaba Derringer rounds, and dark matter 
  munitions at her disposal, I think it went rather well.  At least it is over and done. When she settles down 
  we can work on those new ideas she had.
  Riasi: You gotta be kidding me.
  Tivk: There is no need to insult me...
  Tivk's Journal
  The ideal of multiple species working together in harmony is laudable. No one species is indispensable, and 
  together we become much greater than the sum of our parts. A 32% increase the galactic economy in the 
  decade before the Zangid War, if Tauran experts are accurate. And, of course, they are.
  Taurans ("beanpoles" is no less offensive than "Taurans", so we accept it) and humans are a case in point. 
  Despite the many misunderstandings we have had, all on the human's part, we remain your staunch ally. 
  Despite our near perfect rationality and your ... thought processes... we continue to work to together. 
  Mostly. 
  Taurans are a tall people hailing from a high gravity planet. It is a hot planet and height allows us to radiate 
  heat more efficiently. In addition, being higher off the ground kept our ancestors heads above the 
  inevitable dust kicked up by running from our planet's apex predators.
  Taurus Prime has a thick atmosphere with a lower percentage of oxygen than most Terrans find 
  comfortable. Taurans have a greater lung capacity than Terrans and in fact, some suffer from a form of 
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  intoxication when breathing a Terran air mix for the first few days. Don't bother looking for signs of this 
  intoxication; it would only be obvious to another Tauran.
  Our home world’s terrain runs strongly to desert, though there are small seas and forested areas. Survival 
  for our pre-industrial ancestors was difficult and many adapted to a nomadic existence. Our culture 
  stretches back continuously for 10,000 years, so I will just mention the high points.
  Current theories believe that we are not native to Taurus Prime but are the descendants of a lost colony or 
  interstellar refugees. Given the discovery of the Videni (whom Cadet insists on calling "mean-poles"), the 
  refugee theory is considered to be highly likely. The descendants of these refugees lost and re-developed a 
  technological civilization based on science and rationality wholly unlike the theocratic Videni. We are 
  tolerant of god-faiths, as one would speak softly to an agitated child, but place our faith in ourselves, our 
  tradition and our understanding of science. Science has a better track record for us, at least. Eschewing 
  emotional reactions and outbursts has maximized our intellectual and psionic potential.
  We developed FLT drives in the 1500's CE, by the Terran dating system. After an initial era of exploration 
  and several dangerous encounters, we settled down to develop the stars closer to our world in safety. We 
  entered into a golden age of extolling rationality, inward exploration, and peace.
  This ended when we contacted humans.
  I will explain why First Contact failed and you were shunned. We actually we shunned you long before you 
  found us. We had surveyed Earth and humans from space in the mid-20th century, your time, and decided 
  against contact. We really didn't expect to hear from you for at least a thousand years. Instead, two 
  centuries later, there you were contacting us. It was very disconcerting. 
  82
  
  The other thing that was disconcerting was the way you reminded us of...us. 
  You see, the Taurans with whom you have most of your dealings are not quite average for our species. 
  Most of us are over 70 Terran years old, or what we refer to as adults. Before age and maturity (and 
  hormone changes) makes us embrace rationality, we are juveniles. The difference might not be apparent to 
  humans. Juveniles among us are treated with encouragement and even indulgence. They are not rational 
  most of the time. They enjoy competition, procreation, excitement ...
  They act a lot like humans.
  We do not let them off world. If we did, they would run off to Terra and never come home. In any case, this 
  was the reason we shunned contact. Would you want to deal with a bunch of teenagers with starships? I 
  will, however, say this in defense of humans: Zangids are a little worse.
  Contact and alliance with humans was reconsidered during the First Contact War. The war was largely the 
  fault of humans encroaching on what the Zangids regarded as their territory in the Leonis Expanse. The 
  Zangid had a problem when the Videni arrived as well, but the Videni had a superior fleet. The Zangid may 
  be irrational, but they are not stupid.
  Of course we helped you. We have no desire to see any species (even the Videni) wiped out. We certainly 
  had no desire to see the Zangid with a major base on Sol in the Local Bubble.
  When we saw the Zangid were going to wipe you out, it triggered something.  Our juveniles frequently get 
  themselves in trouble and require help to extricate themselves. We never fail to intervene. We also never 
  intervene the first time they ask. That's the only way a juvenile will learn.
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  Our juveniles are more "human" than we like to admit. They are preoccupied with affairs of the heart. By 
  the time Taurans become adults we put such distractions behind us -though, admittedly, some more 
  effectively than others. Keeping our juvenile's home is the reason Tauran-human hybrids are rare. Few 
  adults are interested in raising more children, and the alternative is to let the hybrids be raised human, 
  which is equally unacceptable. While juveniles have always had limited contact with other races, 
  Confederation sponsored mixed-species colonies are allowing our juveniles contact with other races more 
  and more often.
  ...Now I just need to get Mukh or Nok to tell all this to Jenn. I'm staying in my cabin 'til they do.
  84
  
  Juvenile Tauran
  Requirements: INT 9, CON 12
  Ability Adjustments: STR +2, CON +2 
  Skill Adjustments: Technical +1
  Metabolism: Copper Based
  Juveniles get no Psionic Powers on generation but are psi active.
  Dude Where's My Starship?
  An important Tauran official's offspring have absconded with the family yacht. The crew has to bring them back 
  before someone makes an Aliens Gone Amok holo of them!
  Insanity is Hereditary, You Can Get It From Your Children
  The crew encounters a group of young Taurans who survived a ship crash. They must bring the youngsters back to 
  the nearest Spacebase.
  Might of Passage
  85
  
  Some young Taurans are undergoing the process of maturity and developing powerful and dangerous Psionic 
  techniques. Does the crew counsel them, or contain them?
  A Diplomatic Devolution
  A senior Tauran diplomat is infected with Reverse Aging Disease before an important summit. The crew must find 
  the cure before he blows off the peace talks to play holo games.
  86
  
  By Senior Technical Officer, GCS Nikola Tesla
  Transcript #50304 from Tesla Cadet Engineering Class
  Technical Officer: All right, the Chief and I were supposed to tell you command trainees about the K-drive, 
  but he won the coin toss so it's just me today. Everybody know what the letter 'K' stands for?
  Cadet: Kinetic. 
  (Sub-vocal sound recorded: "Duh,")
  T.O: Ah, we got a college man there! You are correct, the K-drive imparts kinetic energy to reaction mass. 
  This exits the back of a spacecraft, allowing it to accelerate in the opposite direction. Since you want to use 
  as little re-mass as possible, you want it to leave the aft of the craft very fast. So we're talking rockets. 
  What kind of rocket do we use?
  Cadet: Tenth generation Vasimr nuclear rocket.
  (Sub-vocal sound recorded: "Duh,")
  T.O.: And what does Vasimr stand for, wise guy?
  Cadet: ...
  87
  
  T.O.: "Variable Specific Impulse Magnetoplasma Rocket".  In the basic structure, it is very similar to the 
  first engines that took mankind to the planets and the nearer stars. Modern technology has let us improve 
  the engine's efficiency dramatically. We don't have to drag an ice asteroid around for propellant the way our 
  grandparents did. Can you tell me what the exact improvements were?
  Cadet: Well, we use a series of gravity generator toroids to accelerate the plasma exhaust dramatically 
  increasing thrust and fuel efficiency,
  T.O.: Specific impulse, not "fuel efficiency". Engines use reaction mass or propellant, not fuel. But you are 
  right. The grav generators increase thrust and specific impulse. You can get by with as little propellant as 
  you want at the cost of increased power drain for the grav boosters. 
  Cadet: I don't understand something. If we already use gravity generators to fling propellant out the back, 
  why don't we just use hydrogen, or water for that matter? Why lug a fusion reactor around to feed the 
  rocket plasma? There can't be that much extra thrust provided.
  T.O.: My gosh that's a good question. I may need to sit down. Seriously, though, those are good points. 
  First of all, the rocket's reactor can serve as a backup power generator in emergencies. That feature has 
  saved a few lives in Fleet history. Secondly, grav generators can lose power for a variety of reasons. Then 
  your water propellant would not do you any good. With the reactor design, you still have a rocket that will 
  take you at least some places, but only at about 1 g acceleration.  Call it Terra to Jupiter in a week, instead 
  of a few hours.
  Now, what about the other chief improvement over the old rockets?
  88
  
  Cadet: ... force fields?
  T.O.: Not very specific is that? Anyone want to elaborate? Right. Force field technology and old style 
  magnetic fields kept the hot plasma from contact with the rocket engine, which you want to discourage. If 
  the fields buckle, you'll have a melted engine, or worse. Our engines also have a heat tap to the main 
  defensive shields. Those monsters already deal with multi-megaton nukes and terawatt energy beams and 
  dissipate their energy. The engines use them to radiate their waste heat away instead  of the old style 
  physical radiator fins. You military types will try to aim that heat away from prying eyes to try for a stealthy 
  approach. Sometimes you even get it right. Oh, all right, what is it now?
  Cadet: We do have a radiator fin on the Tesla and other ships. Why?
  T.O.:  Back ups. When you're in a fight, you want as much radiator area as you can. The shields operate at 
  various radii, see. When you're cruising, they're bigger to radiate heat more effectively. To stop a beam 
  cannon or nuke they have to contract, sometimes to a few meters from the hull. Less room to radiate heat 
  mans more heat build up. Back up fins can save your life, then. Except ... The shields work both ways. 
  They absorb EM and heat from your ship, as well as the external energies. We have to open holes in the 
  shields for our rocket exhaust, sensors, comms and radiators. If a lucky shot hits your radiator in the 
  middle of a fight, through the hole opened for it, you'll lose the radiator fin and then the engine, a few 
  seconds later.
  Cadet: So do we have a back up for a radiator hit?
  T.O.: Sure. Lots. They're called lifeboats.
  89
  
  Fusion Reactors
  Space vessels all have a secondary reactor that provide extra power for emergencies. A reactor holds enough 
  fuel to generate power equal to one day’s output from the Power Core. The reactor of a frigate could thus supply up 
  to 50 EU before it must be refueled at a spacebase. In an emergency, a reactor’s fuel can save your ship. 
  90
  
  A ship can use up to 20% of its fusion reactor’s EU in a combat turn. A frigate, for example, could add 10 
  points to its power core per turn until the fuel is exhausted.
  Radiators
  Physical radiators can be used to shed some of the heat from a weapons hit on a ship. An undamaged 
  radiator can negate 5 points of EU damage from a hit at a penalty of +1 to to the next attack on that ship. The 
  radiator must be physically extended beyond the shields to gain this benefit. Radiators on frigates can negate 5 
  damage, destroyers 10 damage at a +2 to the next attack, and larger ships negate 15 damage at +3 to the next attack. 
  Ships must declare they are deploying radiators at the beginning of their turn.
  Only Space Fleet ships of Terran manufacture have physical heat radiators.
  91
  
  By Chief Petty Officer, Marine contingent, GCS Nikola Tesla
  Transcript #50308 from Tesla Cadet Engineering Class
  Chief: Listen up kay-dets. I'm here to spell out to you the care and feeding of a landing craft. One 'a you 
  "butter shirts" may have the honor of driving some of us Marines to the fight, someday.
  Cadet: What happened, Chief? Did the Tech Officer win the coin toss today?
  Chief: Nah. He got a good look at the the coin I was using. Now, future commanders, tell me why Eris in 
  her infinite wisdom gave us special built ships to get us from orbit to the real action? We have mastered 
  the atom, the force of gravity, and superluminal flight. Why do we still rely on glorified SSTOs like our 
  primitive ancestors?
  Cadet: A teleporter will get you killed?
  (Sound recorded:  laughter)
  Chief: Correct, but not the answer to my question. Yes, there's over 167 separate meteorological and 
  geological conditions that will turn your teleporter into gateway to Nowhere. If you try to use it anyway, it 
  will leave you dead or a cautionary tale to keep your friends up at night. But why the need for shuttles, 
  landers et al?
  92
  
  Cadet: Uh... our ships aren't aerodynamic?
  Chief: Cadet, when you got a big enough pusher an asteroid is aerodynamic. Be specific please.
  Cadet: An airframe takes up mass. It doesn't pay for a starship to be streamlines when it will only need to 
  land during a mission maybe 5% of the time. Also, even if you don't use the wings, they still need to be 
  shielded, and that increases the volume, mass and power of the shields required.
  Chief: Very good. I may let you drive me to the fight sometime, you're so bright. Anyone else?
  Another Cadet (unidentified): A starship's Vasimr rockets don't work well in atmosphere. You'd need to 
  stick an air intake on the front and use the reactor to superheat the atmospheric gas to create a jet. That 
  takes power away from the shields and weapons, leaving your ship more vulnerable in the air. When you're 
  operating in space, it's all just more mass and more maintenance and cost.
  Chief: Excellent. Yes?
  Cadet: What about operating on or near a world like Luna? Light gravity and no air. You could use the main 
  engines all you want.
  Chief: You could. But that's no place for troops. They could get roasted by maneuvering jets or cooked on 
  the inside by sensor beams or squashed by thruster fields. On airless worlds, Marines are either 
  underground storming tunnel cities or - well, we'll soon be underground either way. You ever see a 
  battlecruiser 50 meters off the ground? I did.
  Cadet: It must have been a sight, Chief!
  93
  
  Chief: I'd have liked it better if it was one of ours...
  94
  A rare image of the independent pirate craft The Wanton Cortesan, a modified Zangid lander.  The pirate craft had apparantly been 
  hiding under cloud cover prior to attacking the light freighter Solar Franchise above Dane's World in the Kentaurus Freehold. The 
  freighter's sensor data and these images (Transmitted by a sensor probe prior to its destruction) are the first confirmation that The 
  Wanton Cortesan is equipped with a Vidani Shielding Mechanism.
  
  Landing craft are used for rescue efforts or major assaults. They excel at dropping off a lot of passengers or 
  cargo quickly. Although they are capable of FTL flight, they have smaller power cores than true starships of the 
  same size. Currently, the major powers all can construct frigate- and destroyer-sized landers. 
  In troop landings, the troops in question are usually spread across several transports or capital ships and 
  transferred to a lander for planetet-fall.  This is due to living space limits aboard the landers. Having an Ionite core, 
  a lander is far harder to damage than a shuttleship and can therefore fly through planetary defense fields. The 
  greatest advantage of lander is the use of its beam batteries to reduce surface fortifications. Beam weapons can’t 
  penetrate most atmospheres; Landers are the only effective way to bombard a planetary surface with directed 
  energy weapons.
  While you can use a k-drive in an atmosphere, it heats up the surrounding air quite fast. There is also some 
  slight radiation associated with it. On friendly worlds with an atmosphere, the k-drive is turned off prior to 
  ionization blackout. As the lander approaches the ground, its k-shields allow it to assume a more aerodynamic 
  form. The k-shields also operate as a landing thruster, shoving against a wide area of the planet to lower the vessel 
  slowly and safely.
  Note that the landing craft doesn’t have to shut down the K-drive in the upper atmosphere and does not have 
  to play its thruster effect over a wide area. That only applies to friendly worlds. Landing craft of both sides made a 
  mess of Alakir-3 by screaming in on jets of radioactive death and using pinpointed k-shield effects to crush surface 
  95
  
  forces into the ground with every newton of thrust the landers could shed.
  Frigates and destroyers may attempt to land, even if they do not have a lander system installed. This requires 
  them to use their tractor beams in reverse as "thruster beams". This is a desperation maneuver, usually resulting in a 
  severely damaged ship. Treat landing in this fashion as the equivalent of a successful hit by an ion torpedo.
  Landers require a piloting roll to land safely at a -2 to the skill. Lander pilots are amongst the most skilled in 
  any service. 
  Failure to land safely results in 1d6 x 5 damage to the ship.  If a navigation officer is the pilot, shields may not 
  be used reduce the damage. Members of any other branch failing to land safely must roll 1d6 x 10 for damage.
  Frigates and destroyers can be made into landers. The modification results in +1 to hit the craft due to the 
  wing constructions and more exposed engines. In addition, the ship’s PPB is reduced by 10% (45 for a frigate and 90 
  for a destroyer.)
  Modified Frigates can hold 50 troops short term (1-2 weeks) while destroyers can hold 100 troops.  This is a 
  common modification for Zangid starships.
  96
  
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  15. The ABCs of Space Opera, Volume 1: A-L © 2015 Rob Garitta andRaymond McVay. “Starships & Spacemen, Dalean, Gorran, Hykot, Star Master, Tauran, The 
  Galactic Confederation, Vidani, Zangid” and other terms associated with Starships & Spacemen: Second Edition property of Goblinoid Games and used with 
  permission.  Text by Rob Garitta.  All Artwork marked “Dell 2315” by Rob Garitta.  All other Artwork by Raymond McVay                            
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  98
  
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