I recently enjoyed a rare catchup with my mate Rich, where he celebrated his birthday by hosting me to another fabulous retro Sci Fi game! This time we used the Space Station Zero rules by Snarling Badger games
The Secret of the Pirate Queen
The uncharted moon hung beneath the Rocketship Calypso like a dirty green marble, its dense atmosphere swirling with clouds and electrical storms. Somewhere beneath those clouds, Galacteer intelligence reported, lay the headquarters of the most notorious space pirate in the sector: Pirate Queen Xylvia!
Beautiful and deadly, her ships had raided merchant vessels, ambushed military transports, and struck colonies with such precision that the authorities suspected she had access to information from somewhere deep inside the sector's communications network.
Now the Galacteers had been given a simple assignment: find her base. Find out what she was hiding. And, if possible, bring back the secret of her operation.
And Captain Ace McGuire and his crack team were just the team for the job!
Descent
The moon's atmosphere was too dense for a conventional approach, so Ace McGuire, Jane Hunter, Rocky Rizzo, and Galacteer Trooper No 42, in his bright red shirt, had left the Calypso in orbit and descended by jetpack toward the hidden installation.
They emerged from the clouds. Below them, through the swirling mist, a landing platform appeared.
Ace pointed downward. "There it is."
Jane checked her instruments. "No ships. No activity."
Rocky grinned. "Maybe they're all out having lunch."
Galacteer 42 scanned the installation. "I detect no significant movement, Captain."
"Then let's hope it stays that way," said Ace.
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| The table setup |
The four landed safely on the platform. For a moment, everything was quiet. Ahead of them stood the massive entrance to the pirate installation, a faded emblem painted beside it — a stylized skull beneath a woman's crown.
Jane looked at it disapprovingly. "Rather passé, but it looks like we've found the right place."
"Let's get inside before somebody notices us," said Ace.
But the platform was not nearly as deserted as it appeared.
They were crossing the landing pad, when Jane stopped and raised her hand. "Wait."
Off to their right, three figures appeared around the corner of the base. Pirate sentries! Two had conventional laser rifles while a third toted something heavier. The pirates saw the Galacteers at the same time and there was no hesitation. They rushed forward, opening fire as they did so.
"Cover!" Ace shouted.
The first sentry caught Rocky in the open. A burst of laser fire struck him in the shoulder and arm. Rocky staggered and threw himself behind a piece of equipment. Jane raced toward him.
"Rocky!"
She dropped beside him as another burst scorched the landing pad.
Rocky grimaced. "I'm okay. Just a scratch."
Jane looked at the blood running down his arm. "That doesn't look like a scratch, you're bleeding."
"I ain't got time to bleed!" He raised his laser cannon and took aim.
The pirates were advancing rapidly, spreading out as they came, the heavy-weapon sentry moving toward the center to pin the Galacteers down. Across the landing pad, Ace gestured sharply to Galacteer 42.
"With me! This way!"
They moved left, keeping low behind equipment crates and structural supports, moving toward the pirates' exposed flank.
"Keep their heads down!" Ace called back, and both of them opened up. The sentries had been outmaneuvered. Then one of them raised the large tube to his shoulder.
Ace's eyes widened. "Look out!"
A rocket screamed across the landing pad, passing directly between the two groups of Galacteers before exploding harmlessly beyond them. For a moment, everyone stared.
Rocky blinked. "Was that a rocket launcher?"
"Apparently," Ace replied deadpan.
"Well, this escalated quickly" said Jane.
There was no time to answer. The Galacteers opened fire. A storm of laser bursts swept across the sentries. The pirates scattered for cover but two were too slow and were dropped immediately. The remaining sentry scrambled behind a piece of machinery.
Ace broke from cover. "Got you!" He fired. The blast struck the pirate and threw him to the ground. But the sentry rolled onto one knee and brought his weapon up. Ace saw the muzzle beginning to glow.
Then—
ZZZAAAP!
Galacteer 42 stepped around the corner. His laser rifle still glowing from the discharge as the pirate collapsed.
Ace stared for a moment, then turned to him and slapped him on the shoulder. "You saved my life, Trooper. You're a hero in my book."
Galacteer 42 took Ace's hand. "Just doing my job, Captain."
Ace laughed. "Come on. Let's get inside before you have to save me again."
The landing pad fell silent. But Ace knew now that the pirate base was definitely not deserted. And somewhere inside, the Pirate Queen was waiting.
The Galacteers had passed the first line of defence. They had yet to discover how many more the Pirate Queen had prepared for them.
Inside the Pirate Bay
Jane examined the enormous entrance lock. "This is going to take a while." She connected her electronic pick. Nothing. She tried again. Still nothing. Ace glanced nervously back toward the landing pad.
"Jane?"
"I know." She adjusted the frequency. Tiny lights flickered across the lock. Jane leaned closer. "Come on..." Then she smiled. "I've got it. Nearly there." Her fingers made one final adjustment.
CLUNK! The doors opened onto an empty airlock.
"Inside!"
The four hurried through. Jane closed the outer doors — THOOM. They were inside. She turned to the inner door. "This one should be easier." She connected the pick.
CLICK. The inner door opened, spilling them into a cross passageway.
Doors led left and right. Ahead lay a storage area with a control panel. Jane immediately moved toward it while Rocky and Galacteer 42 took positions back-to-back, covering the passage. Ace entered the storage area and found another control panel. He flicked a switch.
HISSSSS — CLUNK. A door opened at the far end. "This way," Ace said.
They entered a much larger compartment. Almost immediately, Rocky wrinkled his nose. "What is that smell?"
Ace stopped. The air looked hazy. "Wait."
Jane checked her instruments. "Atmosphere's contaminated."
Before they could react, three maintenance robots emerged from the shadows — ordinary-looking service machines, equipped with manipulator arms and repair tools. But their eyes were flashing red. One advanced, its arm snapping toward Ace. Ace dived aside.
"Yep! Hostile!" He pulled his respirator into place. "Jane! 42! Stay outside! We don't know what this atmosphere does!"
"Be careful!" Jane called.
Rocky grinned. "You and me?"
"Just like old times," said Ace.
They opened fire. The laser blasts splashed against the robots' heavy armor — barely a scratch. One robot lunged at Rocky. He ducked beneath its manipulator. "Whoa!" The arm smashed into the deck. Ace fired. "Those aren't maintenance bots!"
Rocky fired into a joint. "They're maintenance bots with attitude!"
Jane and Galacteer 42 added covering fire from the doorway. The robots kept coming. Ace ducked. Rocky rolled. A manipulator clipped Ace across the ribs and sent him sprawling. Rocky took a glancing blow across the arm.
The Galacteers' concentrated fire finally began to damage one of the machines. Ace saw the opening. "Rocky! Left side!" Rocky fired into the damaged joint. The machine staggered. Ace fired again. It collapsed. The other two charged. Laser fire. Sparks. Manipulators sweeping through the air.
Finally, the second robot began to smoke. "All together!" Ace shouted. The four weapons fired simultaneously.
ZZZAAAAAP!
The machine collapsed. The final robot charged. Rocky stepped aside. Ace fired directly into its power unit. The robot stopped, its arms dropped, and it crashed to the floor.
Silence.
Ace looked around. "Everybody okay?"
Rocky examined his arm. "I've been better."
Jane moved to the atmosphere controls. "Let's get rid of this poison." She activated the ventilation system.
WHOOOOOOSH!
The contaminated atmosphere was sucked out, and fresh air flooded the compartment. Jane checked her instruments. "Safe." Then she immediately grabbed Rocky. "Hold still." She slapped a med pack onto his wounded shoulder.
Rocky sighed. "Ohhhhhh... that's better."
The Galacteers had defeated the second line of defense, but somewhere deeper inside the base, even more dangerous machines were likely waiting.
The Secret in the Dark
Jane found the controls for the next door. "Got it." The door opened onto another empty passageway, and at the end lay another compartment. It appeared deserted — except for a large blue battle robot sitting silently in the corner.
Rocky stopped. He raised his laser cannon. "Let's make sure." He fired.
ZZZAP!
Ace knocked the barrel aside. The shot struck the wall. "It's not moving. Leave it alone. We don't want this attacking us."
Rocky lowered his weapon. "You're no fun."
"That's what keeps me alive."
The others began searching the compartment. Jane found a computer system and began working on it, patient and methodical, her fingers moving across the console as line after line of encrypted pirate code scrolled past. After several minutes, she broke through.
"Hey! I've got something!"
Ace moved toward her. "I've found the location of the data core," Jane said, "but it's in some sort of code."
"What does it say?"
Jane read the message. "It's in the dark."
Rocky looked around. "In the dark?"
Jane frowned. "That doesn't help much."
Ace shook his head. "We'll figure it out when we get there. Keep moving."
They headed for the exit. Behind them, the blue combat robot remained motionless. Its dormant eye gave no hint of the secret it, too, was keeping.
Rocky glanced back. "I still don't like that thing."
"Neither do I," said Ace.
They left it behind. But the silent machine had not seen the last of the Galacteers. Nor had they seen the last of it.
The Battle Bot
The next door opened. The Galacteers stopped dead. At the far end of the narrow corridor stood a machine that seemed almost too large to fit inside it. A planetary assault battle bot. A relic of the last war. A machine designed to assault entire worlds. Its armored body filled almost the entire width of the passage. One enormous eye glowed menacingly. But its weapons were silent.
Ace took a step forward. The machine rumbled.
THOOM.
It moved toward him. Rocky fired.
ZZZAP!
The laser bounced harmlessly from its mega-armor. The battle bot kept coming. Rocky lowered his cannon. "Okay. I officially don't like this one."
Ace scanned the corridor. Then he saw a hatch. "There!" Halfway along the passage was a small door. "Quick! Out through that door before it blocks it! Hold your fire and move fast!"
Jane reached it first and threw it open. They rushed through just as the battle bot reached the opening.
BOOM!
Its massive body blocked the corridor. They had escaped. For now.
But the Galacteers had learned an unsettling truth. The Pirate Queen wasn't merely protecting her secrets with armed guards. She had surrounded them with weapons left over from wars fought across the entire quadrant. What else awaited ahead?
The Pirate Queen
Jane entered the next compartment first. She cut left. And stopped. Two pirates stood there, staring at her in surprise. Then they opened fire.
"A little help in here, guys!"
Rocky and Galacteer 42 burst through behind her. Laser fire erupted. Ace entered last, but his attention was immediately drawn across the room. A huge viewscreen dominated one wall. Beside it stood a woman — tall boots, long cape, dark hair, a confident smile.
Pirate Queen Xylvia!
Ace raised his pistol. "Hey! You!"
But the Queen was already retreating toward another exit. "Don't let her get away!"
The firefight intensified. Jane fired from behind a console. Rocky crouched behind a table. Galacteer 42 fired precise bursts from behind a support. The pirates scattered. Furniture splintered. Computer panels sparked. The Pirate Queen reached the far door and paused.
"You'll like what's waiting for you in the next room, Captain." There was amusement in her voice.
She smiled, and disappeared through the hatch before he could respond.
The Galacteers stared after her. What could she possibly have meant? There was only one way to find out. And whatever waited beyond that door was clearly important enough for the Pirate Queen to risk leaving her own headquarters to them.
The Data Core
The Galacteers finished the remaining pirates and moved toward the exit. They looked through. The Pirate Queen was there, three more pirates surrounding her. A large control system occupied the center of the room. And beside it sat something extraordinarily strange.
A large yellow duck.
Jane stared at it. “Wait.”
Ace looked at her. “What?”
“It's in the dark.”
Rocky frowned. “We're indoors.”
Jane shook her head. “No. That's not what the message meant.” She pointed at the duck. “It's hidden in plain sight! That must be the data core!”
Rocky looked at the duck. "You're telling me that Pirate Queen Xylvia has hidden her entire operation inside a toy duck?"
Jane grinned. "Apparently."
A duck! In the headquarters of the most dangerous pirate in the quadrant! Surely this harmless-looking object could not be the secret the Galacteers had crossed the galaxy to find? Or could it?
The Pirate Queen smiled. “So you've finally found it.”
Jane looked at the duck. “Why don't you destroy it?”
The Queen's smile widened. “Oh, sweetie. If only it were that simple…”
Before anyone could stop her, Jane charged into the room with laser fire erupting from her pistol and a pirate quickly went down. Galacteer 42 followed her while Rocky planted himself just outside the doorway and swept laser cannon bursts across the room.
Despite the chaos and gunfire, Pirate Queen Xylvia smiled as she tapped her console, and a heavy security door slammed down between the compartments with a heavy clang.
Rocky stared at the door, cut off from the firefight raging on the other side. "Jane!" He yelled, turning to Ace. "Get this door open!"
Ace raced to the console. He tried one combination. Nothing. Another. Nothing. From the other side came the continued sounds of laser fire and impact bursts.
"Come on, Ace!"
"I'm working on it!"
Another burst. Ace tried one final combination and the door flew open. Rocky charged through. Jane and Galacteer 42 were exchanging fire with the remaining pirates. One pirate was down. The Pirate Queen had retreated behind a console. The yellow duck sat on the desk between them, utterly indifferent to the battle raging around it.
"Get the duck!" Ace shouted.
Jane moved toward it. But the Pirate Queen stepped forward, and the two women locked eyes, laser pistols rising together. They fired. Each dodged. Each smiled. Each fired again.
Then Xylvia's shot struck Jane in the abdomen. She dropped with a gasp as the Pirate Queen smiled cruelly.
"Jane!"
Galacteer 42 ran to her. He knelt and applied a med patch. The last pirate fired and the blast struck Galacteer 42 in the shoulder. He cried out and staggered back. Rocky stared.
"I can't stand for this." He raised his cannon, and emptied it into the pirate, who collapsed.
Ace raised his pistol at the Pirate Queen. "You're coming with us Xylvia!"
She smiled, touched another control and the floor behind her opened. She stepped backward into the opening, her cape flying dramatically behind her.
“Enjoy your little victory, Captain. It won't last.” She dropped from sight and the hatch closed behind her.
Ace stared at the empty floor. "You'll get yours someday, Xylvia..."
Rocky grabbed the yellow duck. "Got it."
And with that, the Pirate Queen vanished into the darkness, leaving the Galacteers to wonder whether they had won at all!
Countdown...
Ace knelt beside Jane and applied a med pack to her wound. "Come on, Jane."
She struggled to regain consciousness. "I'll be okay." Ace helped her up. She swayed, then steadied herself.
Rocky held up the duck. "Is this what all the fuss was about?"
Jane managed a smile. "We'd better let the science team figure that out."
"Right then, team," said Ace. "We've got to get back to the launch pad before something bad happens."
At exactly that moment BEEP.
Everyone froze. BEEP.
A mechanical voice echoed through the base. "COUNTDOWN SEQUENCE INITIATED."
Ace's face fell. "Oh, no."
"SIXTY..."
Rocky stared at the ceiling. "You've got to be kidding me."
"FIFTY NINE..."
"Ace?" said Jane.
He looked toward the exit. "We're running."
"FIFTY EIGHT..."
Ace pointed. "NOW!"
The Last Stand of Galacteer 42
The four Galacteers raced back through the pirate base. They passed the compartment with the planetary assault battle bot. The enormous machine still stood there, silent, motionless, watching. The countdown continued as they raced past and burst into the maintenance compartment, where the wrecked maintenance droids lay scattered across the floor.
"Keep moving!" Ace didn't slow. Jane followed. Rocky came behind her. Galacteer 42 brought up the rear.
Then one of the maintenance droids moved. Its red eye flashed. A manipulator arm snapped upward and its arm struck him.
CRUNCH!
Galacteer 42 was hurled against the machinery, ribs broken. He tried to rise but the droid struck him again, and he went down hard, his rifle clattering away
Ace turned. "No!!!" He started back.
Jane grabbed him. "No, Ace! We've got to go!"
"We can't leave him!"
The countdown echoed through the base. "THREE..."
Galacteer 42 looked at Ace, blood tickling from his mouth. "Continue... mission, Captain."
Rocky stared. Ace froze. He knew what Galacteer 42 was telling him. The Trooper who had saved his life earlier was now asking him to save the mission.
Ace swallowed hard. "I'm sorry, Trooper. You will not be forgotten."
Ace stared for one final moment, then the three remaining Galacteers ran. They had no choice.
Behind them came the roar of machinery. And then silence.
And so the Galacteers fled the pirate base, carrying with them both their prize and their grief.
Escape
They raced into the compartment beside the planetary assault battle bot, still motionless, as Rocky clutched the yellow duck beneath his arm.
"TWO..."
They squeezed past it and burst into the next compartment. The blue combat droid still stood in the corner, exactly where they had left it — silent, motionless, watching.
Rocky ran past. "Still there!"
"Maybe it's out of power," said Ace, not slowing.
Jane looked back. "Maybe it isn't turned on."
"Whatever it is, leave it alone!" Ace shouted.
"ONE..."
They raced through the main entrance and burst onto the landing pad. Everyone braced for the explosion.
Nothing happened.
Ace stared at the base. "What's going on?"
Then the ground began to shake.
ROOOOAAAR!
The landing pad split apart. A massive rocket erupted from an underground launch shaft. Jane stared upward.
"That's not a self-destruct!"
Ace watched the rocket climb into the dense atmosphere. Then he understood. "No." He grinned. "It's a launch sequence."
Jane looked toward the clouds. "The Pirate Queen!"
The rocket disappeared into the atmosphere. Somewhere above them, her escape ship waited in orbit. She had escaped. Again.
Rocky looked down at the duck. "This little thing caused all that trouble?"
Jane smiled. "We'll let the science team decide what it is."
Ace barely heard her. He was looking back at the entrance. Back toward the base. Back toward the place where Galacteer 42 had been left behind.
Rocky followed his gaze. "Ace..."
Ace shook his head. "We couldn't have saved him."
"I know."
"We had seconds."
"I know."
Ace looked down at the duck. "But he knew what the mission meant."
Jane stepped beside him. "He saved all of us."
"Yeah." Ace activated his communicator. "Calypso, this is Ace. Come and pick us up."
High above, their ship descended through the dense atmosphere.
"The Pirate Queen got away." He glanced at Jane and Rocky. "But we got what we came for." He looked back toward the pirate base. "And Galacteer 42 made sure we did."
The Calypso descended through the clouds. Ace put a hand on Rocky's shoulder. "Well done, team." He paused, then quietly added: "We'll remember him."
The three Galacteers watched as their ship came down to collect them. The Pirate Queen had escaped. The secret of her pirate empire was in their hands. But the Galacteers had paid a price. And this time, there would be one fewer member of the team aboard the Calypso when they went home.
Epilogue
Back aboard the Rocketship Calypso, Rocky and Jane sat at the laboratory table staring at the yellow duck.
"You know, I still don't understand why they hid their entire operational data core inside a duck."
Rocky shrugged. "Maybe pirates like ducks."
From the cockpit, Ace called back: "Just don't lose it."
Rocky turned the duck over. "Wouldn't dream of it."
For a moment, nothing happened. Then the duck's eyes briefly flickered blue. Rocky froze.
Jane noticed. "Did you see that?"
Rocky slowly looked at her. "No."
The duck's eyes went dark again.
Jane frowned. "I thought I did."
Rocky stared at the device. "Maybe you should tell the science team."
From the cockpit came Ace's voice. "What's going on back there?"
Rocky quickly put the duck down. "Nothing, Captain!"
The Calypso disappeared into the stars. Far behind them, on the uncharted moon, the Pirate Bay burned. But deep within the abandoned installation, something else remained. The great blue battle robot still stood in the darkness. Silent. Motionless. Waiting.
What is the secret of the yellow duck?
Find out in our next thrilling instalment!
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