Attendees: Chris, Jake, and Shannon Carol; Jason and Jonathan Edds, L,R, &H.

 

The Magnificent Eleven

Multiverse Location

Star Trek DS9 -- Earth Year 2369 https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/2369 

Background

 

The Exchange, always playing The Long Game, has been setting up an Acquisition of the Alpha Quadrant leveraged using their centuries long struggle for control of the Gamma Quadrant. Their attention has been drawn to DS-9 because they dislike short term conquest (flipping galaxies) and primarily move for control of  the coordinated consciousness of entity systems (shorthand: mythology) via belief in valuation, structurally represented by commerce (I/you want that/those) and transportation systems (I go there prepared to do this). 

 

When Commander Benjamin Sisko and Lieutenant Jadzia Dax of the United Federation of Planets discover the Bajoran wormhole, the first stable wormhole known to exist, and Sisko makes direct contact with the Prophets, becoming the Emissary of the Prophets as prophesied in ancient Bajoran mythology (DS9: "Emissary"), the balance of power is shifted significantly and the Dominion prepares to shift emphasis toward the Alpha Quadrant. This trigger’s a threat to DS-9, largely unregulated commerce which is the vehicle for The Exchange’s agenda, as well as potentially putting in Dominion hands the UFP research into their existence and capacity. The UFP suspects but doesn’t know yet what to call what they suspect is The Dominion, and has just begun to probe the nature of The Exchange. 

 

Ala https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Magnificent_Seven, the DS-9 staff are set up to be the soft/innocent Federation villagers needing protection on DS-9 from the Pirates with extra-planar powers unleashed by the Dominion to create chaos into which they may step. The Exchange has guessed that factions of The Federation have realized they exist because of the shadow they cast, since they have at their disposal ancient arts and “advanced” (extra-planar) tech, and have begun to discover the power block’s nature and scope. Two metalchemists, a married couple with one child assigned to DS-9 for the purpose, are leading this effort. They are the parents whose child will be split into twins and sent to Faerun on Toril.

Prelude - The Characters - Transit & Transaction

BEGIN 20210222 Session

Email to each player likely to participate in Session 001:

Abby, Chris, Don, Huston, Jake, Jason, Jonathan, Lisa, Rosalie, Shannon

 

You are: [Insert Familiar Transit Hub narrative appropriate to characters milieu]: 

 

Kaj Rol and Anakin

In the Transit Hub in the westernmost section of the Duros Sector of the moon Nar Shaddaa. A series of platforms between buildings span one of Nar Shaddaa's many canyons--the only part of the sector where air taxis can reach. Nar Shaddaa is the largest moon of Nal Hutta. More commonly known as the Vertical City, the Smugglers' Moon, Little Coruscant, or derisively as Little Slugland, and in shorthand slang as Narsh, Nar Shaddaa is similar to Coruscant in that its surface is entirely overgrown with city sprawl for millennia. But unlike Coruscant—which is only relatively rundown and dangerous on the lower and under levels of the world city—Nar Shaddaa is filthy, polluted, and infested with crime everywhere. Nevertheless Nar Shaddaa remains the most important financial and trading center of Hutt Space. 

 

Aang

You are in a station of the monorail, an immense mass transit network spanning the entire city of Ba Sing Se that serves as the primary mode of transportation for the city's aristocracy and general population. Originally, the cars were pushed from one end of the rail network to the other by a group of earthbenders, but now the cars are powered by mechanical engines. 

 

Betty

You are seated on a bench looking intently for someone, whom you can’t quite recall, at Oliver Tambo International Airport, Johannesburg. This city is widely considered the commercial hub of South Africa since “hosting” the gold rush of the country in the 1800s. Tambo is Africa’s busiest airport, which has the ability to hold 28 million people annually. Tambo also flies to all major destinations worldwide so there is a good chance this is where anyone might arrive once in South Africa. If you have a long stopover in Johannesburg, Tambo isn’t the worst place in the world to get stuck at as it has an impressive variety of shops, Jozi famous restaurants, and cafes to choose from. A great added feature to Oliver Tambo International is it’s connection to the city by the Gautrain, a world-class train and bus service which travels to the major hubs of Gauteng province. Tambo is also a conduit for the limitless funding of drug cartels and the violence brought with them to transit routes through the continent, fueling social and political destabilisation of African countries. The American FBI, British MI6, and Russian Federal Drug Control Service maintain a presence there because the primary source and reason for the global drug situation are two centres of drug production, specifically heroin from Afghanistan and cocaine from Latin America amounting to over four trillion dollars feeding transnational crime networks. Large scale production and trafficking to different markets leads to a surge in related violence, as well as political and social instability as African states fall victim to drug trafficking organisations that run as a quasi-state entity within African states. The illicit drug trade has volumes equivalent to the GDP of some African countries and contributes to the violence in transit countries. Also, piracy in international waters off the coast of Africa is directly linked to the international drug trade and directly linked to both major and minor airports. The drug related essence of the piracy problem is covered up--that the fundamental basis of piracy is trafficking expensive drugs. 

Killua

The Black Whale (Burakku Hoēru) sits in the water at the port in which you discover yourself wandering. It is the first of a class of large transport vessels built for Kakin's expedition to the New Continent and is able to carry 200,000 passengers.

 

Hermione Granger

You are seated on a bench at King's Cross Station, one of the main train stations serving London, England. Students of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry take the scarlet steam engine named the Hogwarts Express to Hogwarts from Platform 9¾ (just 20 yards or so to your right), every 1 September at 11 AM sharp. To get to Platform 9¾, one must run straight at the wall between platforms 9 and 10. King's Cross also serves as a major intercity and commuter rail hub for Muggles going to North London or Yorkshire and the North East and Scotland.

 

River Song

The STS is a public transport and freight network, created using transmat technology, that links human settlements throughout the Sol system between the late 21st and mid 22nd centuries AD. You have followed a premonition to the immense station that is the central and largest hub of the The Interstitial Mass Transit System, (also known synonymously as the STS after the company that maintains it, the Sol Transit System company) that is above the STS’ central control facility here beneath Olympus Mons on Mars.

 

Tim

You have made your annual trip into the main market area of the largest port city nearby. A three day journey. There you will secure the arcane and mundane supplies you absolutely need but cannot procure in the remote area you call your home.

[Interview]

Suddenly you are seated on a bench at what you may find out later is called “a small rail station”. There is a sign that says “Hounslow Central”. A man, likely called Mr. Norris based on what Mrs. Norris is calling him, is having what you may later learn to call “his picture” taken with a small brown and silver box by his wife while standing in front of what you will learn to call “the train”. He clutches meaningfully the staff of a tiny flag (later: “a Union Jack”) protruding from a small metal stand, obviously taken from the several also being used to form a cue. Somewhere nearby someone [a Nude Organist] occasionally plays a single note on a wind instrument of some kind [pipe organ]. This occurs irregularly but continually, as far as you can tell.

 

Swinger

You are hanging out in the central area where residents of Third Earth gather before making their way to anointment ceremonies held at the Cats Lair. You see here many from Third Earth including the Berbils, Bolkins, Brute-Men, Molemen, Tabbuts, Trollogs, Unicorns, Wolos, and Warrior Maidens.

 

The Interview

 

“Suddenly, you find yourself in a tremendously large chamber of uncertain dimensions. You notice that you are seated in a chair that is obviously and uncomfortably too large for you. The figure of a cute baby shifts into focus in front of you, standing in a chair larger than yours and much too big for it at the far end of a large conference table which seems to be larger at its end than at your end than would make sense in any world in which the rules of proportion make sense. Words occur.” [Please play attached sound file. If you are a parent, please facilitate your progeny in listening to their own version of this without you hearing it. Their version will be very similar but with specific differences.]

 

[The Exchange]

“Geiá sou...Salve...Përshëndetje...Iwi selami newi...Gratulacje!...Marhba...Welcome! You are The Best at what you do. Syncharitíria! [Συγχαρητήρια! or Congratulations!] Because you have been selected in this specific instance, there is no process of decades a striving must undergo of interviews and fulfill additional requirements to obtain the position within the designated fiscal period! We will give you what you need most to succeed even more! Felicitations! All that we agree must be if this you want, of course! Only Be Yourself And Win as we instruct in the going! There will be other Opportunities as well with whom you will work closely. Do not murder them, unless. Again! ... OK!”

 

[PCs will notice The Exchange learning and upgrading their interaction protocol as they continue to interact. This is a second tier goal as they integrate Humans/Ffolk from various multiverse locations as Markets.]

 

You are back in an unreal version of the transit center you remember being in before the interview. Around you are walking, standing, or seated several figures. Among them you notice and have a chance to observe closely, in particular: [Please see Logistics for The League of the Extraordinary Magnificent Eleven Google Sheet for details of your cohort] 

 

Chapter One - Arrival at DS-9 Earth Year 2369

Materializing in Cargo Bay 4. Beginning to look around on guard. Odo and Security force of 20 use suspensor field to immobilize all but Hermione. Confusing negotiations ensue. Security escorts the LEME to Ops and then Sisko’s office.

Discovering the Dilemma

 

Pirates in never-before-seen ships appeared and demonstrated power with which nobody here is familiar. They cut DS-9 off completely from all communication beyond the station, gave a 24 hour deadline to surrender and evacuate all personnel, at which point they say the station will be destroyed. As proof of conviction, the Base ship (Cylon Imperator) entirely destroyed a visiting Pakled Embassy Cruiser 1/4 the size of DS-9. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Star_Trek_races#P

Then they disappeared!? The communication block remains and ship drives fade and fail with any effort to leave the area of Bejor.

 

Sisko does not believe that destruction of the station is really their goal. Why not just destroy DS-9 up front? They didn’t care about the Pakled lives. So what do they really want after the residents and staff have departed? The UFP personnel will stay and fight to give time for Starfleet to send help.

 

Next move: Ward Room meeting to introduce all officers and strategically relevant parties for a planning session.