01 Internal Affairs
Set the Scene
Tatu is doing their best to adapt to their new role as a ship hand and make themselves useful. They want to rise through the ranks and the USC Mining Corp has such formal structures in place that she can clearly see and manipulate.
Complication: 2 An obstacle blocks your way
Altered Scene: 1 Normal
How Much
How long has Tatu been a ship hand before an interesting opportunity arises?
3 About average
Random Event
What happens: KH Transform (social)
Involving: 9H Rumors (social)
Tatu has been working as a ship hand for a few months. The background they have from a low tech militaristic world gives them a natural affinity for piloting the loading mech since they are familiar with wearing heavy commander armors. There talks about putting them on as a full time crew with Vela but there are nasty rumors about Tatu based on her open disdain for space travel. That the mechanical problems the ship is having are her doing.
Yes/No (Unlikely)
Does Vela believe the rumors?
3,5 No
Vela sits down with Tatu in private and grills them about the recent failures with thrust compensation gimbal. Tatu swears up and down they have never touched it. Vela smiles after a while and accepts the sabotage isn't Tatu. "Tatu I know it wasn't you because there is no such thing as a thrust compensation gimbal. Respectfully, you don't know enough about the ship to have done anything to it"
Plot Hook
Objective: 6 Save an ally in peril
Adversaries: 1 A powerful organization
Rewards: 4 Support of an ally
Vela can't investigate directly and go against her crew, well she can, but she isn't going to. The USCMC inner politics are a complex web, one Tatu is unfamiliar with even if it does reek of the infighting on Palehaven. Vela offers Tatu a secret role, internal affairs. Find the agitators, find proof, bring it to Vela directly, don't get caught. In exchange she'll make the position formal, which would put Tatu as third in command on the entire ship.
Investigation 10 - Tatu spends a week investigating in secret and has a number of strong leads but no certainty and no proof. the crew generally doesn't like her so there is a fine line between dislike and sabotage that she must respect carefully.
Failure Move
3 Offer a Choice
Tatu must either call off the investigation or go deeper and further alienate the crew against her. No problem for Tatu, once she is officially an internal affairs officer no one is going to like her anyway.
Deception 12 - Tatu, with Vela's full consent, spreads lies that she is on notice and if one more thing goes wrong Vela is abandoning them at the next port. Whoever the actor is they take the bait and blaming Tatu for legitimate failures evolves into purposeful sabotage.
Competence 1 - Vela calls for a full investigation to prove Tatu did the deed and bring proof directly to Vela. Later that cycle Vella has the suspects she needs and the evidence to prove it unintentionally provided by the saboteurs themselves.
How Much
How many of the crew were actively involved?
6 Extraordinary
nearly half the crew were involved. Vela keeps up the ruse and makes it publicly very clear to Tatu that she is confined to her bunk and that Vela is within her full right to throw them out of the airlock at any time.
on arrival in orbit at USCMC headquarters for resupply Vela stages a lottery to help with loading duty for a rapid turn around landing to clear the ground bay as quickly as possible. once the crew is all in the hanger they give the same speech the faked giving Tatu.
Yes/No (Unlikely)
Does Vela actually airlock them before reentry?
4,2 No
Vela puts her hand on the button to open the bay leaning into her Novakid physiology that can casually exist in space to sell the threat. She just stares down the crew with no one saying a word until they land and she finally opens the airlock to a small security detail. Tatu is impressed, she has never seen so many people so happy to be arrested before in her life.
Pacing Move
2 Reveal a New Detail
Tatu is given the rank as promised, but without half the crew the Galleon is grounded and Vela was already operating in the red from the disaster on Halcyon Verge. Vela is going to be forced to sell down the Galleon back to the USC, greatly weakening the position of the USCMC.
Resolve 1 - Vela strongly considers cashing out instead of trading down and just retiring somewhere simple for a while. Technically due to the corporate structure the ship was hers. However she can't recall what life was like before she was a captain... because that was like 10 years ago and: Novakid.
Yes/No (Even)
is there a trade down cruiser available?
6,3 Yes
Yes/No (Unlikely)
can the trade down cruiser support an SDA?
3,1 No but...
the trade down available does not have an SDA included but it has been retro fitted to include one, an expensive option that takes up far more space on a small cruiser than one would normally want, but needing minimal crew is worth it to Vela over raw capability.
Yes/No (Likely)
new ship planetary package?
6,4 Yes
Yes/No (Even)
new ship Pixel printer?
5,5 Yes
Yes/No (Even)
new ship cloning pod?
6,6 Yes and...
Yes/No (Even)
new ship life support?
3,4 No
How Much
how much custom crap?
6 Extraordinary