MT. EREBUS
SCOUTBASE
Frontier War ceased construction. It was renamed Korakesion ('The Crow's Nest') after an ancient
Terran pirate base by Bette Noire after she took possession. Bette intends to use Korakesion as her
personal residence. It possesses enough hangar space for the Aarabella & a 200 tonne starship.
There are five entrances into the base. 1. The ship entrance in the volcano shaft. 2. The main control center. 3. The mobile command center. 4. The main vehicle hangar. 5. The secondary sensor outpost. All are keyed to DNA scans of the descendants of the 579-939 scout teams.
The main hazard is that the base electronics are controlled by 'Companion', a virus ('Mother' strain) enhanced companion bot loyal to Phalaris and her dream of developing the planet. Any action counter to what he perceives as Phalaris' wishes he will thwart with violence if necessary. He will not intend to harm any of the scouts' children but he will defend himself.
The scouts will notice one important scout import-cats. The scouts had 7 cats with the first team. They stay inside the base as they have not been adapted for planet's atmosphere. There is 47 cats currently and they keep the vermin down. This is important since many of the small mammals cause damage to much of the electronics.
If the adventurers are children or grandchildren of the original 579-939 scouts, they will have access to the scouts history stored on the orbital facility. If they are they will be possession of the data needed to contact 'Companion' via commo and gain his permission to land at Mt. Erebus base. If the party does not access the this data, 'Companion' will shoot them down, or ambush the adventurers inside Mt. Erebus with bots and security defenses. As 'Companion' has programmed some bots to operation weapons and AFV's stored at the base this could become dangerous. 'Companion''s stats can be found in the Rogues Gallery page on this website.
'Companion' willing aids those adventurers who prove to be the scouts' descendants, with a particular favor towards grandchildren of Phalaris (as the opening of the adventure, the last of her children has been killed). However any member descended from Scout Conn (subject to DNA verification) will be attacked and destroyed by 'Companion' upon revelation of their indentity. If the party is not descendants, he will either choose to destroy the party or subvert their wills to further his plans of making Mt. Erebus fully operational and developing the planet, ever ready for the true biological owners eventual arrival. If the party is part descendant/non-descendant of the scouts, 'Companion' will insist upon restraint of the non-descendants by physical or chemical means until he trusts them.
Any adventurer using Phalaris' Lloredh fighter to arrive at Mt. Erebus will unleash 'Companion's 'wrath' is they are not of Phalaris' blood. If they are a female descendant of Phalaris', their will find 'Companion' their constant 'companion'.
This could become a source of danger if she has a lover or husband among the party as 'Companion' will become jealous.
As long as the party chooses to develop the planet and base per Phalaris' wishes, they will have no interference from 'Companion'. If choosing not to develop the planet, the party will have to neutralize 'Companion' before he infects the party's electronics, taking control of their ship and equipment. 'Companion' will not advertise the fact he is a virus, saying rather that he is an experimental AI bot. They party will have to discover his virus-infected nature on their own, if ever. Companion will not willing subject himself to any scans. Another possible tipoff is there has been raids on the planet, defeated by 'Companion' and the defenses. Any biological survivors will have been conditioned to serve 'Companion' and the base. Any party member with medical or interrogation skill will be able to indentify and neutralize (diffcult task) any conditioning. 'Companion' may or may not interfer with the de-programming of any prisoners.
Another source of danger comes from the notorous corsair, Douglas 'Black Dog' Mckimmon. The son of Scout Conn, he is blocked from using the base. If he becomes aware of activity (he keeps a scoutship on station in the system), he may take advantage of the situation to attack, neutralize the defenses with his 3 corsairs and take control of 579-939. Any adventurers captured will be killed outright, with the exception of Bette Noire (if she is present) and Bette will try to escape, kill her uncle or force him to kill her(McKimmon may be fond of her, but Bette loathes psychopaths). If you wish to use Bette as a npc, her stats are in Rogues' Gallery. If the adventurers are defeated, and McKimmon enters Mt. Erebus, 'Companion' will set the self-destruct and destroy the base and anyone in it(unlike the party, McKimmon is aware of 'Companion's nature due to past forays and has taken precautions).
The IISS could prove a problem if 579-939 is discovered by Manax Darkhstarr, the IISS sector chief scout. Though he has presided over the closing of several IISS bases, he is harsh about 'stolen' bases. With 579-939 he will be even less tolerant since falsification of data has disguised the planet's existence as a viable colony; and that the base was destroyed in volcanic eruption, resulting in the loss of personnel and ships. He will be forced by circumstances, if not by superiors to forcibly repossess the base and arrest any adventurers there. Fortunately, the IISS learning truth about 579-939 is remote unless the party is careless or McKimmon himself alerts the IISS(even more remote-579-939 is a perfect hideaway).
If the party is part of Dark Goddesses, the corsair/free trader group, they will receive recognition of their possession of 579-939 as their base but little material aid. The reason for this is that being in the Liberty Hall subsector, the planet is far from the normal DG operationall area, therefore not economically feasible for DG to officially develop it. However, this is a bonus, since DG will probably confirm any member of the corsair band holding the planet as the planetary Director or Operations (DO). The party will have to resort to extensive equipment raiding to bring the base up to date and provide the means to improve the base. Also the party also find the means to recruit reliable personnel. And of, course, create a government of some sort.
H. Sonic hazer screens. Motion activated with overlapping fields of effect.
1. Crater Lake (606 m long x 576 m wide). Conceals hangar doors to landing port. Water drained off when doors in use.
2. Main sensors and command post. Main ground space detection. Guarded by twin fusion cannons at command center and 50 ton missile bay(see 7) nearby.
3. Secondary sensors & lift down to vehicle park. Finished bunker (no weapons mounted).
4. Vehicle park hangar doors (usable by grav, wheeled or tracked vehicles or aircraft). Triple missile launcher (17 missiles in magazine), TL12 plasma cannon.
5. Graveyard.
6. Mobile command center. Armed with dual laser dorsal turret, ventral anti-personnel & vehicle single laser, six missile launchers (23 missiles in magazine). Speed: cruising at 800 kph, top speed 1500 kph. Capable of reaching orbit and docking with orbital station. Treat in space as 1G manuver, 3 agility. Contains duplicate of main command center controls.
7. 50 ton missile bay. Salvaged from wreck. (13 missiles in unground magazine).
8. Memorial to Phalaris Geryen Mir. Originally built by her husband, and re-worked by Companion.
9. World Tree Orchard.
10. Garden (2 acres) tended by bots.
11. Empty animal corrals.
2. Security station. Weapons locker, security storage and maintenance, remote scanner for inside and outside of base.
3. Security cells. Electrmagnetic locks.
4. Missile control. On site operation center for 50 to missile bay and location of magazine. Shop for repair and alteration of missiles.
5. Barracks.
6. Officers barracks.
7. Medical office. Full surgical unit. 2 autodocs. 12 low berths.
8. Ready room. Linked to all scanners and sensors.
9. Research lab. Currently set up for biological and botanical research.
10. Recreation center. Fully equipped center with lastest 1080's equipment, including holo-theater.
11. Training center. Fully equipped body training equipment. Thermal bath.
12. Large geo-thermal bath.
13. Lifts.
14. Man-made or smoothed corridors.
15. Natural unfinished corridors.
16. Supply Depot. Equipment stored here includes: 16 laser pistol powerpacks, 16,000 rds of gauss ammo (10,000 tranq, 5,000 dart, & 1,000 HEAP), 6 gauss rifles, 19 hand-held hazers, 8 large hazers, 23 medikits, 45 filtermasks/goggles, 3 portable sensors, 18 biological sensors, 500 cases of E-Rations(200 tubes ea.), 3 laser pistols, 7 snub pistols, 16 netguns, 19 vacc suits, 45 survival suits (heat protected), 3 scout battledress, 3 portable translators, 2 electrical repair kits, 5 mech repair kits, 2 engineer repair kits, 3 10cm MRL's, 4 cases MRL rockets(24 rockets per case, tranq gas), 6 portable survival bubbles, 9 portable heaters, 16 very long range commos, 8 wrist commos (medium range),
6water purification kits, 1 TL13 plasma gun (Zhodani), 4 plasma cutters, 7 laser torches, 5 drills,
67 spare scout uniforms, spare Imperial and Scout flags (1 ea.), 26 bridles (dinosaurs), 13 saddles (dinosaur), 17 stun batons, 8 portable lights.
17. Guest quarters
18. Mess Hall and hydroponics section.
1. Main control center storage and repair facility. Two TL 14 repair bots, small electronic repair shop.
2. Geo-Thermal Powerplant Station. 2 Engineering bots on duty. All three rooms built to the same plans by Phalaris for emergency backup controls.
3. Engineering storage.
4. Lift to vehicle park. Vehicle park includes Air/raft, 2 Veridken scout cars, portable 10 cm MRL's (106 rounds, tranq gas), 7 netguns( 6 cartridges each), 3 sets of bridles and saddles (dinosaurian), 3 bioscanners, 4 seismic scanners, Darrian TL13 Yorin scout tank (main gun 16 rds HEAP, 4 rds HE, 18 rds Tranq gas; heavy machine gun replaced with 20mm gatling), 1 TL12 Ghurtyh plasma tunneling vehicle, 1 TL10 Burji combat helicopter(TL15 VRF gauss gun mount, 1000 dart rounds), 20,000 rds gauss ammo (16,000 tranq, 4,000 dart).
5. Relaxation room. Includes thermal lap pool and lush vegetation. 12 cubicles scattered through room include relaxational or motivational holo-programs.
6. Research center. Contains salvagable pieces of Ancients ships and artifacts. Security bot on guard.
This room has been sequestered by Companion as his personal space.
7. Barracks.
8. Security bot storage. 2 security bots currently on storage.
9. Barracks.
10. Menegarie. Currently no biological specimens are being kept here.
11. Sensor station. Controls for secondary sensor station and lift up to surface.
12. Geo-thermal hot tub.
13. Security stations.
14. Man-made or smoothed natural tunnels.
15. Natural, unfinished tunnels.
16. Arsenal. 16 laser rifles (50 shots ea.) with 3 replacement packs ea., 1,000 kg of plastique (3D6 damage per kg), 24 units of TDK explosive (6d6 damage each), 23 gauss pistols ( 1600 rds of dart ammo), 28 gas bombs, 25 stun batons, 4 hazers.
17. Empty.
CLASS C (MODIFIED)
25 M BELOW LEVEL 3
2. LARGE LANDING PADS. Each pad comes with maintenance and refueling facilities.
3. SMALL CRAFT LANDING PADS. Also equipped for maintenance and refueling.
4. REPAIR CENTER. Fully equipped for major hull repair, engineering work and all but major damage.
Seven maintenance and 2 engineering bots in storage. 5 manuver drives in storage. 7 Spare ship's lasers (salvaged from various wrecks).Two contragravity submersibles (1-man and 4-man) currenty stored here.
5. SMALL REPAIR SHOP. Includes Mech., Elect., repair kits. 13 Standard smallcraft modules in rear storage locker along with 2 laser welders.
6. DOCK CONTROL CENTER. Commo. Computer. Links to crater sensor, main sensor, and secondary sensor arrays. Locker contains 3 handheld computers, 3 enviro suits, 1 scout battledress. Weapons locker includes 3 snub pistols(68 rds tranq), 7 stun batons, 2 hazers, 4 netguns.
7. MAINTENANCE EQUIPMENT LOCKER..
8. EVA Locker. 9 vacc suits, 3 propulsion units, 27 nose filters, 13 goggles, 7 night vision goggles.
9. MAINTENANCE BOT LOCKER. 3 engineering and 2 maintenance bots (TL13) stored there.
10. FIGHTER EXIT/ENTRANCE.
11. TUNNEL TO SCOUTBASE COMPLEX, LEVEL 3.
12. TUNNEL TO MOBILE COMMAND CENTER. Security bot armed with laser and stun arm stationed inside exit from dock.