I’ve been playing in a Star Trek Adventures game for the past several months. With our current season wrapping up, we’re letting our hair down and experimenting with our sessions. I’ve been given the okay from our GM to “guest direct” an episode. I wrote a bottle episode about the crew making first contact with a civilization that just achieved faster-than-light travel. I drew inspiration from early TNG episodes–a moral dilemma, but not one likely to weigh on the players’ minds. I’m aiming the tone to be something like TNG 1×08 “Justice.” I anticipate the crew will resolve the dilemma through diplomacy, however I kept my prep loose to avoid forcing my players towards a particular outcome.

Let’s dive in! If you decide to run the adventure, or use any part of it, tell me how it goes on Mastodon: @[email protected]

Synopsis

Starfleet diverts the players’ ship to a nearby system because the people there have achieved warp and are deemed ready for first contact. The people of that world appear to live in a pacifist agrarian idyll. However, quite literally under the surface, opposing forces stir. As the first contact mission progresses, the inhabitants of the planet draw the crew into an ethically fraught situation.

The Hook

Six days ago, long range sensors detected a warp signature originating from the second planet in the Jhora system. Yesterday Starfleet listening posts picked up an unencrypted wideband subspace transmission which originated from Jhora II:

Our dear stellar neighbors, greetings. I am Sabhe, First Speaker of the Jhorian Irenic Covenant. Please forgive the audacity of youth. We wish only for peaceful relations with the community of stellar-faring peoples.

After analyzing the message, first contact specialists determined Jhora II would be receptive to contact from the Federation. However, Starfleet was unable to raise Jhora II on subspace.

Starfleet dispatched the players’ ship to make first contact with the Jhorians.

What Starfleet knows about Jhora

Jhora II is a class M planet home to a pre-warp technological civilization.
No space faring civilization has made any recorded contact with the inhabitants of Jhora II.
Starfleet’s last presence in the Jhora system was in SD 31845 (nearly 50 years ago) when the science vessel USS Paracelsus surveyed the system.

USS Paracelsus’s Survey of Jhora

The Paracelsus’s captain, a Denobulan named Miral, recorded in her logs that Jhora II appeared to be in the early space age. Scans revealed artificial satellites orbiting Jhora II. Energy signatures from the surface indicated the presence of fusion power. Captain Miral deemed the risk of detection too great to approach Jhora II.

While surveying Jhora’s outer planets, the Paracelsus discovered an ancient station in a decaying orbit around Jhora VII, a gas giant. The station was estimated to be at least 50,000 years old. No onboard systems were functioning. Miral estimated the station’s orbit would hold for another thousand years before it was finally lost in the gas giant’s atmosphere.

When the Paracelsus completed its survey, it left buoys at the system’s heliopause which warn other vessels not to disturb the inhabitants of Jhora.

The Captain’s Orders

The people of Jhora II appear receptive to contact from the Federation. Because of your ship’s proximity, we have chosen your crew for this mission. Analyze the situation and proceed as you see fit. You are authorized to provide whatever assistance you deem appropriate to the Jhorians.

Directives

Represent the Federation to the people of Jhora II.
Discover the source of the subspace signal and why it ceased broadcasting.
Find and evaluate the ship and crew that achieved warp flight.

Arrival in Jhora

Jhora is a unitary system. The star Jhora is an orange dwarf. Eight planets orbit Jhora, four rocky inner planets and four gaseous planets. The system has two asteroid belts, one belt between Jhora IV and V and a second belt between Jhora VII and VIII.

System Feature	Description
Jhora	An orange dwarf star
Jhora I	Class D, a barren rocky world
Jhora II	Class M, inhabited by the Jhorian civilization
Jhora III	Class Y, a highly toxic world with a corrosive atmosphere
Jhora IV	Class K, a large but lifeless world with a thin CO₂ atmosphere
Asteroid Belt A	Rocky asteroids
Jhora V	Class J, a deep pink gas giant with a mostly helium atmosphere
Jhora VI	Class J, a large pale blue gas giant with a mostly hydrogen atmosphere
Jhora VII	Class T, the largest planet in the system with a multi-colored striated atmosphere. The USS Paracelsus located an ancient station in orbit.
Asteroid Belt B	Rocky asteroids
Jhora VIII	Class J, a small pale green gas giant with a methane atmosphere

Secrets and Clues in the System

Asteroid Belt A is the remains of a class D planet destroyed approximately 40,000 years ago in an Ancient Jhorian Empire weapons test.
Asteroid Belt B was mined by the Ancient Jhorian Empire.
Asteroid Belt B has a derelict Ancient Jhorian Empire ship in it.
- It collided with an asteroid and was not salvaged.
- The ship returned to the Jhora system after the empire collapsed.
A small ancient station is in the upper atmosphere of Jhora VI. It was a refueling hub for Jhorian in-system.
The south pole of Jhora IV has the remains of a small Ancient Jhorian colony. The colony is mostly underground. After discovering warp drive, they abandoned it.
The warp-capable ship entered warp near Jhora II, warped to Jhora VII, orbited the planet while the engine recharged, and warped back. The entire flight lasted six hours with about 28 minutes of that spent in warp.
The universal translator has a relatively easy time with Jhorian language because words and syntax made it into the languages of cultures which the Ancient Jhorians subjugated.

Secret and Clues for Jhora II

Jhora II was impacted near the equator approximately 10,000 years ago when the shipyard, by then long abandoned, deorbited.
When the stations were in use, Jhora II was deep in an ice age. Only a narrow band around the equator was habitable.
Jhora II’s crust was extensively tunneled.
- Jhorians lived there during the ice age.
- Precision scanners can’t penetrate the tunnels.
- Transportation in and out of the tunnels is only possible with signal boosters.
Jhora II has artificial communications and weather satellites that were recently made. They somewhat resemble the ancient orbitals elsewhere in the system.
Jhora II has an operational subspace transmitter in Haven. The earlier signal was sent from there.
Technology signatures for fusion power and a planetary rail network.

The Situation on Jhora II

Jhora II is an M-Class planet with an exceptionally mild climate. Most communities are small and rural. The planetary capital, Haven, is located near the equator. When the ship enters orbit, they are greeted by a signal sent via a terrestrial broadcast, i.e. radio:

Greetings, star farers. I am Sabhe, First Speaker of the Jhorian Irenic Covenant. Our people greet you in peace. We invite you to the Concordant Plaza in Haven where you may meet representatives from all Jhora.

The players can respond and speak with Sabhe, though she urges them to meet in person.

Jhorians Greet the Away Team

Jhorians are humanoid. Their skin tones range from light pink to deep brown. They have two pronounced vertical ridges on their foreheads, one above each eye.

The away team is greeted by a large assembly of Jhorians wearing plain robes in earth tones. When the away team turns to them, they bow in unison with their palms raised in front of them. An elderly female Jhorian, Sabhe, stands at the head of the assembly. Her robes are banded with yellow, orange, and purple.

Sabhe and the assembled members of the Irenic Covenant ask the away team questions about the crew, where they’re from, what kind of families they have, and the Federation’s values. They are particularly interested in the prime directive. They’re not interested in Federation technology.

The craft that achieved warp flight is not present. If asked about the craft, Sabhe will demur and claim it to be a sensitive topic best left for another time. The assembly asks the away team to stay for celebrations that evening.

First Speaker Sabhe

The title First Speaker is an honorific given to the eldest member of the Irenic Covenant. The First Speaker has the privilege to speak first in the Covenant’s meetings, nothing else.

Sabhe is 81. She is a venerable age for a Jhorian who live an average of 90 years. She knows the legends of Jhorian Empire. She seeks to reassure any visitors of the peaceful nature of Jhorian society. She wants help controlling the Jhorian Youth who she fears want to rebuild the empire.

The Ancient Jhorian Empire

From 45,000 to 38,000 years ago, the Jhorian empire controlled this sector. It was an authoritarian regime which conquered pre-warp worlds. A few of those cultures retain myths of the Jhorian invaders who lived in fabulous palaces and could call lightning upon the disobedient.

The Empire collapsed after the climate warmed on Jhora II. Jhorians left the underground complexes for life on the surface.

Factions on Jhora II

Jhorian society is split between the Irenic Covenant and the Jhorian Youth. The vast majority of Jhorians support the Irenic Covenant.

The Irenic Covenant the planetary government, but it is hardly a government. It makes no laws and has no military. It is more like a mutual assistance society. Communities send representatives to the capital to facilitate cooperation between them. The Irenic Covenant equates space travel with war. They wish to have good relations with space-faring societies because they can no longer have no relations. They do not consider themselves a space-faring society.

Ethics: Pacifist and Isolationist

The Jhorian Youth are an underground (figuratively and literally) organization which idolizes the Ancient Jhorian Empire. They made the warp flight. Their craft was painstakingly assembled from many ancient crafts in different states of decay. The Jhorian Youth draw their membership from technically inclined Jhorians who maintain power systems, communications, and transportation on Jhora II. The Jhorian Youth believe that Jhorian society achieved greatness when it was forced to live underground.

The Jhorian Youth have their headquarters in an ancient ship depot built into a canyon wall. They keep the ship that made warp flight there.

Ethics: Authoritarian and Materialist

Secrets and Clues on Jhora II

Tens of thousands of years ago, Jhora II was home to a space-faring empire which dominated nearby star systems.
During the high empire, Jhora II was deep in an ice age. Jhorians lived underground.
When the climate grew mild, Jhorians left their regimented subterranean lives and settled the surface. The empire could not sustain itself and collapsed.
The Jhorian Youth made the warp flight in a salvaged Jhorian Imperial Ship.
The Irenic Covenant is aware of other space-faring civilizations. They passively monitored the USS Paracelsus during its survey of the system.
The Irenic Covenant learned of the warp flight and sent the subspace broadcast because they feared an invasion.

An Abduction at the Celebration

That evening, the Jhorians hold a celebration for the crew. Long tables laden with food are set up on the Concordant Plaza. In the center of the plaza, musicians and dancers perform. Jhorians from Haven and beyond come and go freely from the plaza to talk to or just stare at the crew. Most Jhorians are genuinely excited to meet travelers from space, especially once they learn that the Federation is peaceful. They don’t like hearing stories of battles or conflict.

The members of the Irenic Covenant pass the celebration in somber reflection. For them, opening their world to the outside means inevitable conflict. If engaged in conversation, they ask the players if they think contact with the outside will make their society more peaceful or less.

As the night wears on, a group of six Jhorians assault a non-player crew member who is apart from the others. They knock the crew member out and two of their number hustle their captive away while the other four block any attempt to follow. They quickly go underground which makes the ship unable to lock transporters. The celebration erupts in chaos. The members of the Irenic Council who are present slip into despair as their worst fears seem to materialize.

The Jhorian Youth’s Demands

Shortly after the crew member disappears the players ship receives a hail from deep under the surface of Jhora II. The leader of the Jhorian Youth, Primarch Davras, addresses the captain:

Captain. I am Primarch Davras of the Jhorian Youth. My operatives abducted your officer to give us cause to deal directly. We will return your officer in exchange for assistance restoring power to our ancestors’ facilities. You have one hour to decide the fate of your officer.

Primarch Davras will converse with the captain. He can be convinced to meet the captain on the condition that no one is armed. Davras expresses admiration for Federation technology, “greater even than what our glorious ancestors achieved.”

It is possible to trace the transmission to an underground bunker. The bunker is attached to a hanger complex cut into the side of a canyon.

The Irenic Council’s Reaction to the Abduction

Sabhe and the Council will not help the players and advise leaving the crew member to their fate. The Jhorian Youth cause them distress, but they believe confrontation will only drive the Jhorian Youth to more extreme action. The Council believes the best way to handle the dissident faction is to deny them any social legitimacy and that the obvious benefits of free life will bring down the Jhorian Youth just as it brought down the Empire.

To illustrate her point, Sabhe will share legends of the Empire. She frames the Jhorian Youth as the Empire, and all its evil, reborn.

Second Half Complication

If the plot is moving towards conclusion too quickly this complication can give the players another tangible problem to solve. As it happens, Jhora II is entering a climate shift towards aridity. Some members of the Irenic Council are aware of the impending climate shock; however, they have no solution beyond economizing and sharing as they are able. The Jhorian Youth believe the coming climate catastrophe will vindicate their regimented way of life. A potential diplomatic solution would be for the Jhorians to expand energy production which would allow for mass desalination. The Jhorian Youth’s technological expertise would be needed for such a vast public works project, for which they may gain a stake in Jhora II’s governing system. Alternatively, the crew could come up with a Trek technobabble solution by succeeding on a complex project.

There we have it! A web of tension and a crisis that requires the crew to solve. I don’t want to over plan this sort of thing because knowing my group, they’ll find an approach I would never have dreamed of. I think it’s best for me to have a clear idea of the main NPCs and their beliefs. That way, regardless of what my players do, I can improvise authentic reactions and express the fundamental tension of the episode.

Do you run Star Trek Adventures? Did this adventure make you want to watch some early TNG? Chat me up on Mastodon @[email protected]

Star Trek Adventures Bottle Episode