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Episode 6 - The Beam
131 Plays8 months ago
The Hoodoo ventures further into the heartless darkness to find rogue Khanate engineers. Chaos strikes as crewmembers start disappearing, including Captain Khan. The remaining crew must fight off holograms going haywire while they try to find their missing comrades.
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Transcript
Klingon Engineers Flee Incident
00:00:00
Speaker
eight months before the incident.
00:00:09
Speaker
In the dead of space amidst the chaos of a red alert, two Klingon engineers stand above the lifeless bodies of two Khanate Marines, their eyes gleaming with determination.
00:00:27
Speaker
The warp core is charging. Hurry. We must reach the control room before they find us. We must leave the system now. Engaging warp drive in three, two, one.
00:00:56
Speaker
The ship hurtles through the void, leaving the chaos behind. But their journey is far from over. As they approach a new system, an ominous transmission crackles through the comms. This is Coney Command to the Agamemnon. This is Coney Command to the Agamemnon. Return at once. You must. Can you feel it? We're almost there. I can. i What was that?
00:01:24
Speaker
An orange bean, mysterious and foreboding, sweeps over the ship, and in an instant, the two Klingon engineers vanish without a trace.
The Disappearance of Agamemnon and Secret Orders
00:01:34
Speaker
With its crew of two gone, the ship plummets towards the planet, Bacchus II, its fate sealed by an unknown force.
00:01:48
Speaker
Command to the chairman. The Agamemnon has gone missing in the Baucus system over the planet. I am aware of the situation. This is a Crow operation. Section 13 has been alerted. Delete all records of the missing ship, including this conversation. Understood.
Mission of the Hoodoo: Episode Introduction
00:02:08
Speaker
Space. The Heartless Darkness. These are the records of the starship Hoodoo, its task to secure, contain, and protect against the entities and phenomena that pose a threat to the people of the United Socialist Khanate. Always resolved to boldly go where no one dares. We are Khan.
00:03:11
Speaker
Episode 6. The Beam. Written by Razik Brown and Ruth Hinkle.
Captain Khan's Pursuit of Missing Ship
00:03:29
Speaker
Captain Khan sits in her ready room. She's joined by Commander Leela Desai and Lieutenant Metley. Away from the rest of the crew, the three of them slip into easy banter.
00:03:41
Speaker
We're chasing another missing ship. We're an intelligence vessel. When things go missing, we're the lucky ones who get to go looking for them. We're chasing two rogue Klingon engineers. I watched the footage. Something fishy was going on with them. You sure they didn't just break into some blood wine? That's kind of racist, counselor. I'm Romulan. We're racist by nature. You're also half Terran. And are you saying Terrans aren't racist?
00:04:11
Speaker
ah Cut it out, you two. Captain Khan takes a sip from a flask. We need to be careful. From the intelligence support you sent, this T1KA class crow is dangerous.
00:04:26
Speaker
Section 13 has extensive documents on species T1KA, despite the fact that nobody has actually seen one. Our information comes from old Klingon squirrels and redacted Tal Shiar data. The D1KA species is believed to be extinct, but their tech is literally beyond description. Extinct wizards with powerful tech? Just what we need.
00:04:50
Speaker
What's our approach? We tread lightly. The plan is to locate the missing ship, retrieve the engineers, and secure and contain any relics if necessary. Section 13 has mandated that all information regarding CRO T1-KA technology remains classified until further notice.
00:05:08
Speaker
Alright, so no touching the ancient scary alien tech. Got it. Let's brief the team and prepare for a departure. And maybe pack a few extra tricorders.
Crisis in the Baka System: Tractor Beam
00:05:18
Speaker
You never know when we might need a bit of magic. I'll bring the bloodline. Decide against the captain to look. Ugh, captain. Just kidding. Captain, we're arriving to the Baka system momentarily. On our way.
00:05:45
Speaker
Captain Khan commanded a sigh, and Lieutenant Metzli stepped onto the bridge at the Khan. Emethus Skye glimmers as she turns to greet her commanding officers. All right, crew. Listas? Listo. Good. Skye, bring us in.
00:06:06
Speaker
As soon as you've dropped out of warp, the hula was caught in a powerful tractor beam. Captain, roll for the hula to see if you can escape. The number to beat is three. Aw, what the fuck? Did you say three? Yes, ma'am. This roll uses control and con. Roll two, D20. 17 and
00:06:34
Speaker
Shit. for democracy fee An orange beam of light pulses through the hood. What in the... Lieutenant Metzley disappears from the bridge. Report! Some kind of beam is emanating from the surface of the planet, Captain. Uh, where did Metzley go? Scanning, Commander.
00:07:00
Speaker
Captain, all of the ship's Klingons have been beamed to the planet. What is going on? A giant agent of the Price detected. Computer? Did y'all hear that? The orange beam pulses through the ship again.
00:07:17
Speaker
Captain Khan disappears from the bridge. Shred Bear materializes next to Desai on the bridge. What is the nature of the command emergency? Oh bother, where's the captain? I'm detecting the captain's life signs on the planet. Bridge to captain, are you okay? I'm fine Leela, but we found that missing ship and we've got company.
Mysterious Entity and Chaos on the Hoodoo
00:07:41
Speaker
Company? I'm detecting 200 unfamiliar life signs around you captain, centered around a structure.
00:07:48
Speaker
A massive white tower. They're all gathered around it. Be careful, Captain. So far, so good. They saw us appear, but have made no moves. They seem... mesmerized.
00:08:05
Speaker
In the CIO's nest, Dr. Leia was completing Guild's biweekly behavioral and psychological assessment. Guild. I must say, you've been learning how to handle stress well.
00:08:17
Speaker
Thanks, I guess. Stress was abstract to me until a few months ago. Overcoming stress showed signs of the rapid development of your positronic brain. This is essential for your development and the goals of the mission. Oh, and who do we have here? You've brought me quite the spread of organics, and I assume this vessel will take us to the gate. Uh, Doc? Did you hear that? I've taken the liberty of securing the Bajoran Agent of Orgil's ship.
00:08:46
Speaker
She'll be dealt with shortly. I don't like the sound of that. um I'm going to try convince this entity that we're on her side. Go for it. The entity is predisposed to believe you, so the difficulty is one. Roll for control plus security. Target is 15. Five.
00:09:08
Speaker
The Entity will believe whatever you say next, play through. I am the lead scientific researcher on this ship. The Bajoran agent is my specimen. Take me and my bodyguard to her at once. Yes, I saw her mind. She has all of technology inside her psyche. Perhaps we can extract it from her and assimilate it into our arsenal.
00:09:31
Speaker
Dr. Leo simply makes his way to the control panel where he sends a message to Dreadbear. The message says, use Matrix, get Jake. As I bring you to the Holy Temple, I must check your psyches for impure thumbs. Another wave of orange pulses through the CIO's nest. Guild, you sense something trying to gain access to the hollow emitters in the positronic brains of the soon-type holograms.
00:09:58
Speaker
Roll to fend off the attack. Difficulty three, target 14. 16, 19, 15, Jesus Christ. The entity now has access to all the positronic brains on the hoodoo and the hollow emitters. The orange beam pulses once more.
00:10:22
Speaker
Dr. Leo and Gil disappear.
00:10:35
Speaker
While he appears to be routine maintenance in the holodeck control, Jake is actually monitoring the holo activity as part of his section 13 assignment from Desai. Razik, describe what Jake's seeing. In one room, an ensign immerses himself in an American riverboat holoplay, writing the next great Kanye novel. Mark Twain sits in the corner sipping whiskey, recounting the time he saw a lady show in Mexico.
00:11:05
Speaker
And I dares say, that young woman could do the most fantastic thing with a handful of acorns. Um, in another room, a man pets a triceratops in a lush, inverted world, kinda like Jurassic Park. We'll call it Dino World.
00:11:30
Speaker
If they look down on me back at home for enlisting, put jokes on them, I get to pet dinosaurs. Aren't you cute? And, um, in the third, two women are running away from a mass killer in a slasher hollow plate. Like, they're being chased by, like, Leatherface in a cornfield or something.
00:12:07
Speaker
just another day in hollow paradise
00:12:17
Speaker
The orange beam sweeps over the ship again.
Holographic Threats and Psychic Attacks
00:12:37
Speaker
There's a loud crash from the hollow suite 004. what the computer show me dino world
00:12:48
Speaker
On the view screen, the ensign shot by the sudden attack is gored by the Triceratops. The Triceratops hoist the man into the air and roars.
00:13:02
Speaker
Computer! End program! End program! Unable to comply, organic. Summon your photonic master. whips out his phaser, grabs his data pad from the console, and rushes down the corridor to the horror show.
00:13:39
Speaker
Computer, end program, end program. The Ensigns fight off a very real attacker. Their phasers and martial arts barely keeping them alive. Hang on, I'm coming in. The orange beam pulses through the ship again. Jake, I need you to roll for sanity. Actually, he doesn't. His symbiont relationship shields him from psychic attack. I am protecting Jake's mind. Fine. The two Ensigns fail their roles.
00:14:09
Speaker
They
00:14:26
Speaker
The phasifier has no effect on the hologram. The slasher turns its attention to Jake, its eyes gleaming with malice.
00:14:36
Speaker
Dreadbear! One moment, crewman, I'll be right with you. Dreadbear runs into the holodeck and launches himself at the psycho killer claws spread wide. Dreadbear, roll for daring and security. You need to beat a 13. One! Whoo! For no success. Goddamn. Okay. Dreadbear leaps and bursts through the chest of the slasher killer.
00:15:03
Speaker
who stands for a moment with a comically lodged hole in his body before slumping to the ground. Are you two officers all right? His dread bear helps the ensign calm down. Jake glances at his data pad and notices the ensign of the riverboat getting pummeled by the blood-soaked hollow of Mark Twain.
00:15:24
Speaker
Computer, end all programs for the love of Cisco. I will not comply. Mark Twain passes through the wall, a bloody cane in hand. The rumors of my death have been greatly exaggerated. hologram runs torch. Jake fires on Mark Twain. Given your role as a Hall of Repair man, plus with your security
00:16:50
Speaker
Meanwhile in engineering, Lieutenant Haddad and Bebop Washington have their own problems.
00:17:02
Speaker
Bebop, you need to make a sanity check. Difficulty three because of your Orion heritage. You need to roll in an 11 or below. 16, 19, and 12. Boo. Well, you failed that spectacularly. Roll a 1d6 to determine the consequences. Three. You experience intense hallucinations and the difficulty of every roll increases by two. Now act like you're under psychic attack.
00:17:34
Speaker
Bebop sees the image of a priestly woman with cloven feet in a nun's habit standing before him. It is time to go home, young one. Your gods need you. No, stay back. You're from the church. You won't take me back to Miskatonic. Miskatonic? Is that where they are now? Rosie, give me a sanity check as well. Difficulty two, target 12. Uh, 15, 17.
00:18:05
Speaker
one b six to determine the cons one you go berserk attacking the nearest character which in this case is bba Since he's hallucinating, Bebop sees the nun swinging at him with a giant monkey wrench, but it's Rosie standing over him with murder in his eyes.
00:18:30
Speaker
to dodge Rosie's income and attack. The difficulty is three because you're out of your mind. Target 13. Four. Like a drunken kung fu master, you lean backward and fall, dodging the engineering hall. Seven.
00:18:48
Speaker
Rosie swings his monkey wrench overhand to bring it down on a fallen shipwright, but he rolls out of the way just before Rosie makes a dent in the ground. So it's damn you, stay still. 20 shit. But bam! Rosie catches Bebop in the back of the head with a wild backswing, sending the Orion sprawling to the floor as blood splatters in the air. Bebop, you've received eight points of stress knocking you out. They're crawling.
00:19:18
Speaker
With Bebop knocked unconscious, the engineering bay fills with an eerie silence, broken only by Rosie's muttering. The masters need new bodies, new vessels.
00:19:37
Speaker
Rosie, stop! What are you doing? Weyland, can't you shoot lasers out of your eyes like guild? I keep a copy of my consciousness in the hardware I control. I don't use hollow emitters like the other Soong types. That's probably why I'm not being affected like the Haints are. Fine, I was hoping to test this a little more, but no time like the present. Hadar uses her improvised phototonic phaser that she built after Dreadbear's attack on engineering and studying guild.
Restoration Efforts and Mental Invasion
00:20:05
Speaker
Wait, she can just do that? So my character sheet says I have this ability called Cutting Edge Innovator.
00:20:14
Speaker
Once per session, Latima can create a temporary technological solution, a gadget that grants her an advantage of a relevant task. I'd say taking down a rogue hologram is a relevant task. Whoa, that's freaking cool. I gotta remember that if Weitland never has trouble in the mech hangar. Okay, this role is a difficulty too. Control plus security to hit Rosie. Target is 13. Nine and seven.
00:20:47
Speaker
Hadar's improvised photonic phaser hits its mark, immobilizing Rosie, but instantly disintegrating after use. With Bebop unconscious and Rosie subdued, the immediate threat is neutralized. The fastest. Hadar to the crow's nest. Yeah, go ahead. I'm beaming Rosie and Bebop to you. Why are you sending Bebop? I'm a musical, not a doctor. And I'm an engineer, sending them now.
00:21:17
Speaker
Commander Desai enters the CIO's nest just as Rosie and Bebop are beamed in. Emissary, what the hell is happening on my ship? Oh, bother! This is getting out of hand. Commander Desai, roll for control and command. The target is 17. Ten. Your psychic senses pretend something ominous. This is the Liberator to all crew. We are under psychic attack. Brace yourselves.
00:21:44
Speaker
The orange beam of light washes over the CIO's nest. Since everyone in the room is immune, no one needs to make a sanity roll. However, the disembodied voices of Klingons begin to emanate from every audio device in the CIO's nest.
00:22:01
Speaker
give us how you' lost all Computer, stop that noise. Why have you imprisoned these souls?
00:22:13
Speaker
Computer? Commander, I feel a photonic presence accessing the positronic brains on board. Is it a hack? No, this feels like a mind. Like mine, but alien. I don't know where it's coming from. If it worked once, it should work again. um Okay, so Commander Desai is gonna use her rem-fu telepathic abilities to repel the invading mind in the crow's nest.
00:22:43
Speaker
Okay, okay, I like your style. Since you're using Rem Fu ability, this will be control plus security. You need to beat a 16, difficulty two. Nine and five. As you push the invading mind out of the ship, you get an image of a brilliant white tower in the sand. However, the effort has exhausted you and you need a short rest.
00:23:08
Speaker
Oh my god, this is hitting harder than Romulan Razor Rum! I see, I see a white tower. I see, okay, mama needs a nap. Dr. Leo told me how to fix this. When I went crazy on launch day, Dr. Cheminuka installed a patch in my mind to repel the effects of T1KAPL8, the Matrix. That's probably the reason I'm the only hologram unaffected by this beam. If I can distribute the patch to all the positronic grains, that should get all the tactical holograms back online and the holo emitters will be under their control.
00:23:43
Speaker
Dr. Termanuka, I got your message. We're working on the The doc is indisposed at the moment. A new voice breaks through the calm, filled with anger and menace. I'm hearing a woman. She's in my mind. Get out. Get away from the captain. What's happening down there? The captain is being targeted. The entity on the planet wants her.
00:24:09
Speaker
Oh, Batha, we need to isolate this now where the organic crew will be overrun by holos. Leo, you better keep her alive. We're sending a fix. Yeah. Hurry. I can't fight this alone. Hurry rooted. Loosen the holofilters now. That patch should hit fast. It's working. Onboard safety protocols and holo management systems are back online. Unfortunately, it will take a while to reach Dr. Leo and Guild on planet.
00:24:38
Speaker
The room's lighting flickers as the system reconfigures. The holographic mob twain pauses, then dissipates into a harmless wisp of
00:24:59
Speaker
On the planet, Metzli, Falco, Seapok, and Gil protect the captain from a disorganized attack by bean heads, evoking Confederates in worn and faded uniforms, ragged orions from some sort of religious group, and the hoodoos' Klingons all gripping their heads in pain.
00:25:16
Speaker
Keep those phasers on stun! We can't turn our comrades! Aye, Captain. Khan and her protection details successfully stave off their zombie-like attackers. Wait, wait. Aren't Metzli, Falco, and Seapok half-Klingons? Why aren't they attacking the captain? The Tetsujin pilots Borg implants are protecting them from the entity's influence for now. And Metzli is really, really good at meditating because of her religious background.
00:25:42
Speaker
Yep. Anyway, an orange beam pulses through the crowd, brighter and stronger than it appeared on the hood. Several of the captain's attackers drop to the ground, eyes wide open. Z-POC scans one of the stunned beam heads on the ground. Emissary. Captain, they're brainways. The only thing that's still functioning are their core motor functions. I don't know what could have done this. They're souls!
00:26:09
Speaker
It's eating their souls. I'm sorry. What? The orange bean pulses again. Gills suddenly grips her head in pain. What's happening to me? Dr. Leo, roll control plus command for your sanity check. The difficulty is two and the target is 14. 16 and 18.
00:26:34
Speaker
Dammit. Dr. Leo fails a sanity check. Roll 1d6 to determine the consequence. three Dr. Leo suffers severe hallucinations. Leo Cheminuka rushes up to a Vulcan beamhead and sticks his phaser in his slack-jawed face.
00:26:51
Speaker
Doctor, what are you doing? The Vulcan bean head is hairless, its skin leathery and burnt from desert exposure, making its gender indiscernible. Its eyes go completely white. Its mouth begins to move, but a voice that only Dr. Leo and Gil can hear pause out. You lied to me, Voltonic. You're here to protect the Agent of the Prophets.
00:27:17
Speaker
You are not here to bring proper sacrifice. I don't know what you are, traitor. But if you enter my sacred temple, I will. In his madness, Dr. Leo sees only a threat and not a person. He sets his phaser to kill. I am Commander Leopold Desai Chaminuka, side chaminu ah first director of Section 13 of the United Socialist Khanate.
00:27:45
Speaker
Nothing is sacred to me. Damn. We hair screaming in her ears. Sister, you are like me.
00:28:13
Speaker
Decide back in the CIO's nest, you sent something attacking Leo's prosatronic brain. What do you do? Um, I'll make an assist role using REM food telepathy to help Leo ward off the attack. Okay, since you're using REM food telepathy, this will be a control plus security. You need to be the 16. Difficulty 2.
00:28:36
Speaker
9 and 5. Commander Leela Desai can feel the distress of the soon tyke hologram pattern after her dead lover Leo. Leela hold. Leela, I need you to snap out of it. I need you to defend our captain. I need you to do your fucking job. Desai's telepathic intervention helps Leela shake off the entity's influence just as the patch transmits from the hoodoo to Leo and Guild.
00:29:06
Speaker
Doc, are you good? No time, Captain. We need to get inside the tower and contain this crow immediately. Toray, you heard the Doc. Aye, Captain. Metzli grabs Falco by the shoulder and points at the White Tower. Warrior, we must cut a path to the tower.
00:29:27
Speaker
Aye, sir. Metzli and Falco, pick your stat between fitness and security or daring and security. Then roll to blitzkrieg your way through the beam heads and make a path to the white tower. 11. 8. Success.
00:29:47
Speaker
Falco does a classic two-hand fist maneuver and starts swinging his arms like a club, knocking out beam heads with every hit.
Into the White Tower: Zombie Attack and Discovery
00:29:57
Speaker
Metzli uses her Overwatch skill to cover the Captain Six from the lead, sniping any fast-moving bean heads. Guild will assist Metzli. I want to perform a tactical maneuver. Guild and Metzli. I want a fitness and security role with a difficulty of two to perform a fire team maneuver.
00:30:18
Speaker
10 and 4. twelve nine success describe it again attack pattern delta two I. Guild tosses her phaser over a group of beam heads, then phases through them as they run toward her and Metzli.
00:30:37
Speaker
Guild then catches the falling phaser, charges it, and sets it to a wide sweep. With the beam heads between her and Guild, Metzli crouches on one knee and prepares to perform a phaser sweep. Ready? Hollow! Fire! The two security officers fire a wide ray of energy at the line of beam heads, stunning 50 people or more. We are Khan. We are Khan. The player pool momentum is full.
00:31:10
Speaker
With the path cleared, the team regroups at the tower door, their weapons still at the ready. The door is covered in an alien script with no visible locks or entry points. Shit, I can't read this. Desai, I need you to translate the writing on this door. I'm transmitting an image of it now. Of course. Okay, I'm looking at it. This looks like the inscriptions on the chairman's ring. Let me run it through my algorithm.
00:31:40
Speaker
This is a difficulty of three. I'm gonna need an insight and science roll. The score to beat is 13. Well, good thing Commander Desai has a focus in ancient alien languages. The difficulty has been reduced to two. Desai will also spend two momentum from the player pool. Okay, you get two additional dice. So roll four times. You need at least two successes. Four. Fourteen. Shit. Nineteen. Shit. Shit. Thirteen.
00:32:10
Speaker
Desai successfully decodes the alien writing she glimpsed on Cisco's ring months before, but only now did it make sense. This was the writing of species C.I.O. T1KA. Decide a con. It says, abandon your will, ye who enter here. Those of the light, think the words. We bring offerings into this holy place until the crawling chaos comes.
00:32:37
Speaker
Leo, Guild, you're made of light, so start thinking. We bring offerings into this holy place until the crawling chaos comes.
00:32:50
Speaker
Is it me, or was that too easy? The team holds their breath as the door processes the command. The ancient mechanisms creak and groan come in a life after eons of dormant. Hold. We don't know what's on the other side.
00:33:07
Speaker
The door hisses open, revealing the dark and foreboding interior of the tower. Before you can step in, several bean heads run past you and into the tower. A disemboweled bean head flies back out the door. Weapons! Chaminoka, enter if you dare. Leo steps right through the bridge without hesitation. We are Khan.
00:33:36
Speaker
God damn it, Doc, fall in! It's dark, but I sense immense and immediate danger. I can see just fine, and your reckoning is accurate, Captain. Gilt, can you see it? Gilt looks forward into the darkness, then slowly
00:34:03
Speaker
Everyone hit your lights. I want eyes on whatever the hollows are looking at. The lights reveal a pair of massive cloven feet. Everyone's eyes travel up the hairy, ungulate legs to the hammer-flowing ceremonial dress covering a ten-foot-tall woman with serpentine eyes. Her hands drip with viscera. What section thirteen the crow.
00:34:31
Speaker
and we're gonna do our jobs.
00:34:40
Speaker
Also starring Sean Capliff Jones as D'Artagnan Vibot Washington, the shipwright. Sam Ramos as CPAC Dylan Nomat, the barber. David Garnier as Jorge Miguel Falco Diaz, the striker. Razeek Brown as Jake Eku Freeman, the musicer. Michael Dobson as Waitland9R. Leopold Knott and introducing Chad Holbrook as Dreadbear. Cody Brooks as Rosie, Ruth Hinkle as Guild, Thaddeus Howes as Chairman Sisko, Nonya Mekorigmaiden as The Entity, name coming soon. Additional voices for the Klingon-1, Klingon-2, Khanate Command, the Mark Twain Hollow, male ensign, female ensign, slasher killer, beamheads, um, those are all by the people you just heard.
00:35:36
Speaker
thank you all very much you all did an excellent job if you enjoyed this episode because we really had a lot of fun making it please go to www.patreon dot.com slash dark trek and Pro us a bone, maybe even more than one bone. um If you're listening to this episode and being like, man, this is like really getting good. Well, it's only going to get better and it will keep getting better if you help us out. We are going to have the exciting conclusion to this adventure in two weeks with the White Tower. Please tune in and
00:36:17
Speaker
If you are enjoying this, go to www.darktrackpodcast.com and sign up for the newsletter. It's really cool. The content just keeps on coming. All right. See you in two weeks.