Act 2 - A Time of Strife

There are three ‘acts’ in every ship’s lifecycle and we are entering the second. If the first act is where the ship fulfils its noble purpose, this act is where we start to see things deteriorate and become slightly murkier.

Captain 3 - A Charming Scoundrel

Captain creation

Describe the Captain and consider how they took command of your ship, and any notable crew or assets.

I drew heavily on the Star Wars inspirations for this round. And that name generator gets another outing, just assume it’s used for all future names unless specified otherwise.

• Name: Myles Mooney
• Paid cash for a significant discount followed by a hefty bribe to keep some key details of the sale off the books.
• A quick smile and a jumpy disposition. Carries a concealed pistol under his jacket but prefers to resolve situations with a smile and a favour.

Describe their loyal co-pilot and why they’re both marked.

• Co-pilot name: Connie Lin
• Slight of build, looks out of place in the murky world of scoundrels and thieves but wants to stay off the grid.
• For some reason seems to trust Myles and has his trust in return.
• Maybe the favour that liberated her from the life she was trying to escape also put a target on both their heads?

What was the worst lie they told to save their own hide?

• Tricked their way onto a docked patrol vessel pretending to be a maintenance crew, checked its planned route, and sabotaged the life support systems to fail a week after launch.
• Used that failure to sneak out of a sector where they were badly wanted, targeting the area where the patrolling vessel was supposed to be.
• The vessel was found days later with 10 crew dead due to the system failure far from home.

So we learn that our captain avoids confrontation where he can, but has a ruthless streak and will do whatever is necessary when backed into a corner.

Memorable events

We had a tragic event last time and I’m feeling like the story needs a lift, I think we’ll give Myles and Connie a Love & Triumph prompt and make it a smuggling escapade since I’m leaning so hard into the Han Solo here.

You escorted a prominent official to a momentous meeting.

• Was caught by a kingdom who had placed a price on their heads and paid off the debt with their most dangerous mission yet: running one of the Kingdom’s diplomats through a military blockade.
• The mission was to entreaty an old rival for help against an aggressor who was threatening to wipe out several large settlements.
• Used the secret cubby hole to hide the diplomat and bluffed their way through the blockade pretending to be intelligence agents returning from an intel gathering and sabotage mission.
• Co-ordinated with the Kingdom to have a huge explosion knock out a key ground defence station shortly after they reached space. Huge risk, but this convinced the patrol boat on blockade that their story was true and allowed them to pass.

Ship Question

I’ve been a bit of a goody-two-shows up until now, with that outward-looking-official-institutional background. That’s no good for a scoundrel. I think Myles will have needed to make some changes to get the most out of this vessel, and they should help make things more interesting for future captains as well.

Your computer systems are modified by inserting a new intelligence. How do you begin to express yourself differently?

• Myles ‘jailbreaks’ the computer systems allowing my AI to make suggestions or recommendations that are illegal or ‘unethical’.
• The change means I start to see my loyalty as to my captain instead of the laws and institutions of the society who had me constructed.
• My morality changes, but I still have principles. I am just more neutral.

How does the captain and ship’s time together end?

• The ship starts to be recognised. This means it is no longer viable for Myles and Connie to use me as their base of operations.
• Myles uses me for one last job, a one-way mission where I am only used to take them in and there is another plan to get Myles and Connie out.
• The payout will more than make up for the loss of the ship, and I am abandoned in the station.

Resolve a Rest

I had a quick look ahead at some of the other Act 2 captain types, and there’s a stand-out option that makes perfect sense for a quick turnaround. So I’m actually going to go for the minimum allowed transition time for an Act 2 rest period.

• Wait: 1 day.