Stories with Dice
Stories with Dice is an actual-play podcast where a fellowship of everyday gamers explores fantastical worlds, distant futures, and parallel realities through tabletop role-playing games (TTRPGs) from Free League Publishing, Chaosium, Modiphius Entertainment, and more.
Over the years, we’ve told stories around our virtual table in the worlds of Tales from the Loop, Pendragon, Mutant Year Zero, Star Trek Adventures, The One Ring, The Electric State, Forbidden Lands, Legend of the Five Rings, and Symbaroum. Going forward, we’re focusing on a smaller lineup of games, giving us more opportunities to return to each story sooner. As campaigns reach their natural conclusions, we’ll add new stories from the worlds of Twilight: 2000, Vampire: The Masquerade, The Walking Dead, and more.
We’re not voice actors, professional entertainers, or trained performers—just friends from around the globe sharing virtual dice, stories, and a laugh or two as the game unfolds.
Stories with Dice
Star Trek Magellan S1 E8 A Tangle in the Thread: A Star Trek Adventures Actual Play Podcast
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The USS Magellan emerges from the quantum fissure—badly damaged and deep in uncharted space. As repairs begin, the crew recovers a drifting shuttlepod: a duplicate of their own Faliero. Inside are Dr. Korby and their recently lost navigator—both alive—and their own chief engineer, dead.
Apologies for the audio issues experienced in this episode. We did our best to clean it up.
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Music by Andy Luiten
Welcome to Stories with Dice. This is Star Trek Magellan, a Star Trek Adventures second edition actual play podcast. If you're enjoying our actual plays, please subscribe to Stories with Dice so you never miss an episode. Don't forget to rate and review us, it really helps others discover the podcast. Follow us on social media to stay updated. You'll find the relevant links in the description of each episode. It is the early 22nd century, four years after the founding of the United Federation of Planets, five years since the end of the Earth Romulan War. Starfleet has renewed their mission of peaceful exploration. But something has gone terribly wrong at Cradle Station, a research outpost on the edge of Federation Space. The crew is dead, its lead scientist missing. The USS Magellan's mission? Unravel the mystery of Cradle Station and boldly go where no one has gone before. Hello everyone. Okay, so we're gonna start with some housekeeping. We're gonna do some sort of basic character development. So in Star Trek Adventures, when you use your values, that's how you that's how your character can start to develop. None of you have reached a milestone yet. So a milestone would be so, for example, Dr. Travis invoked a value in a previous episode. If in tonight's episode he invokes that same value and calls back to that moment where he invoked that value and makes some kind of connection between those two moments.
SPEAKER_04I think I used the good mystery as irresistible. I think that was what it was.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, so you would you would describe how that previous experience influences what's happening now, right? And that's how you gain a determination point, okay, in the game. And once you do that, your character has reached a milestone, and then you can do some character development. And then there are character arcs, we're not going to get to that right now, but Dr. Travis, Chief Engineer Rhodes, and Lieutenant Commander Maris all used values. And so none of you, again, have reached a milestone, but you do have the option, and again it's optional, to do some basic development. So you can reduce one attribute by one and increase another one by one. You can do the same thing to a department, or you can choose one of your focuses and replace it with a different focus. You can do that same thing to your talents if you want to repla if one of your talents isn't really working for you, or one of your focuses like, nah, that's not really what I imagined. You can change those, or you can help one of the supporting characters we've all been using, right? So, and in their in their training, basically, right? So and that means that you can do those above things that I just mentioned to one of the supporting characters.
SPEAKER_04Okay, cool. And you only get to do one of those things, right? Correct. You could essentially go, well, I'm not I'm not gonna develop my character, I'm just gonna develop that supporting character, because they were quite integral to the story or whatever.
SPEAKER_03Right, right. And if you think about supporting characters, if you think about like Miles O'Brien from the next generation, in the next generation he's a supporting character. He's not a main cast member, he's not in every episode, he's only in a couple handful, maybe, but then he moves over to DSpace Nine and he becomes a main cast member, right? So he went from being a supporting character to a main character.
SPEAKER_01Next time they appear in a story is when something interesting happens. Exactly, yes. But we'll leave that until we decide who wants to turn up again. Maybe that was one shot. They were there once, they'll be on a wiki entry and never appear again in the series.
SPEAKER_03So if anyone wants to do any of those any of those bits, we can move through that or we can just move on to the episode. It's up to you guys.
SPEAKER_04I think it'd be quite interesting because I I don't think I've seen or at least heard of a podcast or or an AP or anything like that, where they've done just a few tweaks. So it'd be quite cool to figure that out.
SPEAKER_01Might amend Denner, the engineer, give his attributes maybe a tweak. Okay, sure. Because I I've I like my stats as they are at the moment.
SPEAKER_03Okay, so you're gonna you're gonna tweak are you gonna tweak one of his attributes?
SPEAKER_01Well, he hasn't got any values, he hasn't got any talents, and he's only got three focuses, so not much amendment going on there, so it would be attribute or department. Let's have a look. Uh he's got control of eight, daring of nine, fitness of ten, insight of nine, presence of eight, and a reason of seven. I don't believe they can go lower than seven, is it? Correct. You can't go below seven and you can't go above eleven. Eleven. I might just take one of his insights and swap that for control. So take his insight down to eight and take his control up to nine. Because he just averted a warp course, so that's pretty control relevant. There we go. So now he has a control of nine.
SPEAKER_04How about you, Ed? Did use quite a lot of daring, so I thought maybe I might want to change inside down from eleven to ten, and then put my daring up from nine to ten.
SPEAKER_03Carmelo, what about you?
SPEAKER_02I think I'll just leave it for the moment. I mean, I had an idea of maybe that this I was gonna do almost the same thing, but I think I'll just leave it for the moment. Okay.
SPEAKER_03No problem. We opened on a starless void. The Magellan hangs in the dark, endless sea, like a stone dropped into water. Ripples spread outward, with each ripple and other Magellan surfaces, fractured reflections barely holding together. Beside each one, a shuttle pod, the Falero, tumbles end over end, caught in the same impossible current. The ships blur at the edges, mistaligned and flickering as if out of phase with themselves, transmissions breaking up across realities. Inside, on the bridge, the hull groans under the strain, sparks arc from consoles, with each movement of the crew, ghostly after images trail behind them. Their voices are delayed, echoing out of sync. On the main viewer, the stars slowly begin to return. The afterimages and echo of voices dies away as the Magellan and the Filero exit the quantum fissure. And now the scene changes to a montage of repair crews patching hull breaches, technicians fixing damaged circuitry, and the captain at his desk in his ready room recording his log.
SPEAKER_00The ships took in serious damage. The Falero is secure, her crew are counted for. I can't let that slide. Not now. Not out here. So far from home.
SPEAKER_03So as you finish your log, the you hear the door chime, and there's someone waiting for permission to enter your ready room.
SPEAKER_01I've got the latest damage reports here, Captain, for you. Sure. He tries to like wipe off the sort of like dirt from his hands before he like sits down in the chair because he's just covered in like grease and stuff. We we're not going anywhere anytime soon. The main reactor's probably gonna be offline for at least another day or so. We're not going anywhere until the deflector's fixed as well. Sensories are shot, computer circuits burnt out, multiple hull breaches on multiple decks, the shield generator is shot as well, but it might be quicker to just re-initialize maybe the hull plating because the shields are a bit unfamiliar to the crew per se. It's not technology we're necessarily. It's gonna take us a while probably to figure that out. Like a bare minimum. Like we can maybe get the deflector and the warp drive kind of running in a day or so. But we're not gonna be pushing like any high warp for a while until we can get like decent repairs done. Especially with like the structural integrity still a bit iffy. We do have limited fabrication facilities here on the ship. So if we get the raw materials, we could probably fabricate some kind of spares. It won't be necessarily good as the stuff out of the shipyard, but it might do the job.
SPEAKER_00I didn't think we should have only for the uh report of repairs. Well, congratulations for what you did in the city. The way you handled yourself and you managed to land the city. That was impressive, I have to say. And I will do recommending you for condecond for that. I think it is something out of the ordinary, and you save a lot of people.
SPEAKER_01That's um nice of you say, but if you don't mind me saying, I think the out of the ordinary was more what you were dealing with on the planet side by the sounds of it. We well did our best.
SPEAKER_00I think we well everyone under a lot of a stress, complicated situation. I also hear that you were helping to some degree to minimize the damages of the contamination of deuterium and other toxic films and waste. Again, that was very good initiative on your side. I especially my officers to do their utmost to protect the crew, but as uh civilians that made my need to help. So for that again, I think you need to be commanded. I represent your independence and you ask.
SPEAKER_01Right now, Rhodes is kind of looking a bit nervous because this is all very nice and all, but he this doesn't feel like it's the crux of the conversation. Then he doesn't get the captain as being the sort of man who's like, oh, let me tell you how great you are and wonderful and marvelous. So he's he's waiting for the penny to drop.
SPEAKER_00As you might do remembering, all this is good, and as I said, I will be commanding you. But I also expect the officers, just never authors, understand that you know have this side of you that likes to take initiative, which as I said before, I appreciate. But you know, uh I was aware of the risk I was um violent to by jumping into the teletransporter. Do you understand?
SPEAKER_01I can understand what you're saying, but I can't understand why you had to do it.
SPEAKER_00I need to protect my crew.
SPEAKER_01That's very well, but to run a site-to-side transporter requires use of both of our transporters to transfer the pattern signal into one, then into the second one, down to it. In the same time it would have taken you to transport you one place to the other, I could have transported two security men who were right here on the ship, straight there.
SPEAKER_00Question on the question on my decision making here.
SPEAKER_01I am just pointing out the logic that.
SPEAKER_00I understand that the mighty ruse and appreciate if you plan them out to me. But if I should do something, is that okay for you? Is that hard with a plan between us? I wouldn't want to lose a good officer 50 like years away from home. Just sit there looking at you. And if there is silence, I will just keep silent.
SPEAKER_01Rhodes will just stare at you back and then just be like, understood, Captain. Now, should I go back to duties or down to the brig?
SPEAKER_00Lose your job.
SPEAKER_01Yes, I will get back to my job. And he gets up and leaves.
SPEAKER_03So you guys step out onto the bridge. So the bridge hums with activity. There are technicians moving between consoles, repairing damage stations, and rerouting power from non-essential systems to get to get the consoles back up and running. There's chatter from damage report teams crackling through the internal comms, and then suddenly there's a chime and a subtle but unmistakable tone from the communication station. And the comms officer stiffens and she starts tapping the console and she says, Captain, there's a message coming through from the main computer. And so the her screen, you you step over to her console here, and uh you can see that her screen locks into a prior priority overlay, and across the across the interface, a message flashes, red condition protocol triggered, contingency file now deploying. And then the a file starts unpacking itself, lines of encoded data are moving across her screen, and then you see the insignia of Starfleet Command, and then the voice of the computer says, This document is intended for immediate release upon verified trans fisher displacement. Contingency parameters met. Captain's eyes only. Dissemination of this information to USS Magellan senior staff is at Captain's discretion as operational circumstances require. Okay. And so your communications officer sends the information to your ready room. And she tells you that according to the metadata, the file was embedded in your systems, buried in a routine update before you left Stase 12 for cradle station. It's like they almost knew something might happen. Okay, so the captain steps back into the ready room, the door slides shut behind him, and he accesses the message. It's from Commodore Travis, commander of Stase 12. This file is intended for the commanding officer of the USS Magellan. If you are receiving this, Project Cradle Phase 2 has been activated. You are operating outside standard Federation contact range. Full briefing follows. Project Cradle represents Starfleet's most advanced initiative to investigate the possible origins of sentient life in the galaxy. Based on data recovered from Cradle Station and Corilla 4, in an analysis of ancient Saurian star maps, an origin point has been identified, the Boreth system, located beyond the edge of charted space. Preliminary research suggests this location may be the cradle of galactic intelligence. Dr. Corby has theorized that the so-called Proto-Mentis, an ancient, possibly pre-biological intelligence, is a progenitor species or unifying force behind the evolution of sentient life across the Milky Way. DNA fragments recovered by the team at Cradle Station and artifacts found on Corella 4, combined with theoretical models and quantum resonance data, have lent significant credibility to these theories. Dr. Corby, currently unaccounted for following a field incident, made substantial breakthroughs suggesting that all intelligent species in the galaxy may share a common genetic and cognitive ancestry derived from the Proto-Mentis. Following his disappearance during the incident at Cradle Station, Dr. Corby has re-established communications. Utilizing a recovered Orion spacefold device, he successfully generated a controlled quantum fissure. This fissure may function as a communications link, or potentially as a near-instantaneous transit conduit to Boreth or other remote star systems. In his last transmission, Corby reported initiating phase two of Project Cradle, attempted contact with a Proto-Mentis construct. Moments after this report, the deuterium mining facility on Corella 4 transmitted a distress call claiming they were under attack. I confirmed with Starfleet Command that the USS Magellan was already en route to respond. I am sorry, Captain, but I was also ordered to not brief you on these matters until now. Dr. Corby theorized that the Protomentists did not merely evolve, but awakened by tapping into a kind of universal sentience. If this is true, learning to interact with that fabric of awareness could redefine the foundations of science, diplomacy, and consciousness itself. Project Cradle remains classified at the highest level. Any unauthorized dissemination of this document will result in immediate disciplinary review under Starfleet Regulation 98.6 B. Good luck, Captain.
SPEAKER_00And the message ends.
SPEAKER_03You don't have any star maps on the Magellan that reference the star system.
SPEAKER_00On my way, Captain.
SPEAKER_02It had a lot of a pressurized effect on my on my cortex. So but I I'm fine for the moment. I'm getting over it.
SPEAKER_00Is that clear?
SPEAKER_02Very clear, Captain, yes.
SPEAKER_00Please do listen very attentively. Let me know what you think. I basically replay the the thing when I'm just holding my hands and looking through the window when I let Vandermar is just listening.
SPEAKER_02That's um somewhat unexpected. What are your initial thoughts yourself, Captain? Because I feel that in our current situation we have no available uh data on this sector of space that would help us to uh pinpoint any relevant star system.
SPEAKER_00That's what I asked you. My favorite room, as you can understand. I need to continue forward. We have been requested to find this origin of this part of the system, whatever it is, and to try to look further into the situation with this species, which these kind of entities that live within spaces, as I understand. And you have been a connection with them, right?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, in a rather painful way, we had a connection.
SPEAKER_00What do you think about these creatures, beings, sentient beings? Are they a danger to us? What else what is the connection of these beings to the monsters we encountered in Corella?
SPEAKER_02Or are they a danger to us? Yes.
SPEAKER_00So what there is by looking for them and they will be now you're putting the whole Federation in danger. I was your your take on this. Um please speak freely.
SPEAKER_02I think it's very possible that a Federation could be in danger. We need to establish, first of all, well uh well if we think about what happened, they b they actually in a way helped us move away from where we were, sending us 50,000 light years across the galaxy. Might not necessarily be help that we think it is, but they helped us to leave that particular area and protected us from a renegade group. So there could be some leeway for negotiation, for participation and cooperation. Well, I'm not exactly sure how far that would go, but it's possible that it's there. They did spare us from those renegades.
SPEAKER_00That's my feeling too. Those are my thoughts, and I think we need to successfully. I mean, we're having an exploration mission and investigation and research and scientific uh mission. Um I think we get on some roads, obviously, and push through. But I'm gonna request you with available tools that you might have, and please do request anything you might need. Try to triangulate the position of this forest system. Um just report me as report back as soon as you get any information.
SPEAKER_03Yes, Captain. Okay, and at that moment the intercom on your desk beeps, and it's your communications officer. She says, Captain, I'm sorry for the interruption. We're picking up a distress beacon on a Starfleet frequency, but That's gotta be a malfunction because we don't have any ships out this far. As far from us? Approximately one astronomical unit away. At full impulse, we could be at that location in 26 minutes.
SPEAKER_00So then our request to our navigational helm to do so. And please do verify with navigational helm if with the engineering if this is okay to push the ship. Understood, sir. And I will just go to my you know to Captain Churr.
SPEAKER_03Okay, so let's catch up with Dr. Travis.
SPEAKER_04Sir, Dr. Travis has basically been spending most of his time with Hetner Shaq's going through all the injuries, going through all the work that's happened, because obviously we've still got people to kind of treat after the incidents. So we've managed to kind of triage everyone, we've managed to get all the kind of like various treatments in engaged and sort of like on board with everybody. And I'm sort of like slowly kind of with Shaq's getting rid of the sort of like minor injuries, and given all the sort of like doses of medication out to the medium injuries and the severe injuries we've kind of either kept on observation and we've kind of informed department heads that these people aren't gonna be working, and I guess Shaq's and I will probably be sitting at the desk in Med Bay, having just finished off all the kind of like paperwork that comes with all of that.
SPEAKER_03You also have Kaval in Sick Bay, because remember his phaser overloaded in his hand, so he was badly wounded, and this is his first chance to get medical care. So you've you've taken care of his injury, he's recovering in sick bay.
SPEAKER_04So once that's all the once all that's kind of done and we've kind of taken stock of realizing that we've kind of like shot out quite a far distance away from from known space, taking stock of whatever medical equipment we have, drugs, etc. And then at that point I realize that I'm sitting down with a cup of tea, and realize that my arm is still in a sling, my head is still injured and bandaged, and actually I probably need treatment.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, Shax is like, uh, sir, why don't why don't you let me take a take a look at all that for you? Well you should you should you should you should uh get in the bio bed and let's let's get you properly properly looked over.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, so in which case he'll finally do that moment of sort of surrendering himself to just getting treated himself. Your mother, by the way, is on the bridge helping out. I don't want to see my mother.
SPEAKER_03Just for that one of counting for everyone, yeah.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, I just want to be left alone for just five minutes of peace and quiet. I think that's pretty much all that all that Scott Travis wants. Okay. And uh Mr.
SPEAKER_03Rhodes, when you d when you left the bridge, where did you head to the You know what?
SPEAKER_01I might go to the Sick Bay first. Okay. Because I'm gonna need a little something to keep me going over the next couple of days. Oh. A little uh a little pick-me-up. Some coffee and some benazine, probably.
SPEAKER_03Okay, and so you you come into Sick Bay and you see uh Chief Engineer Travis on a biobed, see Commander Koval on another biobed, and uh nurse Shaqs tending to both of them, and uh Shaq's turns around and says, Ah, Chief Engineer, uh do you need some assistance? Is there something is there something the matter?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, no, nothing major. Just you know all the repair work we're gonna be running like twenty-four hours, so I was just wondering if he had anything that could uh keep me going for a couple of days.
SPEAKER_03I might understand that you're asking for a stimulant.
SPEAKER_01Yep, if that's what you want to call it. But coffee won't do? No, we're gonna need something pretty strong. I've already been up about twenty-four hours already.
SPEAKER_03Well, why don't you get some rest and let your damage control teams and your engineering teams do their jobs? And tomorrow after a good night's rest, you can resume your duties.
SPEAKER_01I'll I'll look over to Scott and just like Ping like, come on man, do me a solid.
SPEAKER_04Travis basically opens one eye, kind of goes, That seems like pretty good advice, Steve.
SPEAKER_01Alright. Speaking of have you decided what's gonna happen to Pog yet? Yeah, he's he's still in the morgue, the ship's morgue.
SPEAKER_04We might I I I I don't know, depends how long we can kind of hang on to him really in stasis until either we get back home, or alternatively we can hold uh hold the ceremony here, but I guess we're we don't know where here is yet, right? So you might want to.
SPEAKER_01The captain said something about fifty light years away from our edge of space.
SPEAKER_04Right, okay.
SPEAKER_01That's but I don't know which fifty which fifty light years direction we are from anywhere. So you know, north, south, east west sort of thing. Relatively speaking on a star map.
SPEAKER_04Sure. I think they call that spinwood, don't they? Alright, well, you get some rest. I need to get some rest. Shax needs to get some rest.
SPEAKER_01Or maybe go see uh Gavin down at the mess has something he can whip up. Thanks for your help anyway.
SPEAKER_04I recommend some food, maybe a stiff drink, and then about six hours of sleep.
SPEAKER_01Steve leaves, but he's not going to do that.
SPEAKER_04Okay. Why would he?
SPEAKER_03Coffee enema is We're gonna switch to the bridge for a moment, unless you wanted to go somewhere particular, Doug.
SPEAKER_01Let me know when we start going to Impulse, because he will have things to say about that. Yes. Europe at Impulse, yeah. You notice that you're at it. As soon as he notices, he's like, what the heck are they doing up there? And get some to like message the bridge.
SPEAKER_00I had moist engineering.
SPEAKER_01I didn't mention that. So does so someone uh obviously asks me before they go to Impulse. Is that what you're saying, Tony?
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Okay, got it.
SPEAKER_03Yep, understood. Yeah, so the you get while you're in sick bay talking to the doctor and talking to Shaxx, the intercom whistles and it's the it's the uh the helmsman calling for calling for you, Rhodes. Rhodes here. Uh we're gonna need to go to uh full impulse and just wanted to check in with the engineering deck. Why?
SPEAKER_01We're barely holding together as it is. We're picking up a Starfleet uh distress beacon, and if I thought it would do any good, I would say we put out the distress beacon. We're in no position to go help anyone. Like, the whole thing might go fall apart of maximum impulse. Those cracks are gonna get and those cracks aren't gonna get any smaller, and the deflector's barely working, so we might just ram into a rock. Do you suggest we go slower than full impulse, Chief Engineer? Definitely slow slower than full impulse. Unless you can avoid every single tiny bit of matter that's out there. Especially with no shields or the hull platings. What speed do you suggest, Chief? I wouldn't say going past one third.
SPEAKER_03One third impulse. That's the best you can do. I'll tell the captain.
SPEAKER_01Not until we can get more structural repairs, but you said to prioritize the warp drive. Understood.
SPEAKER_03So you're going a third impulse, so it takes you a little longer than 26 minutes to reach the coordinates of the distress beacon. Commander Travis has moved over to the science station after Lev Maris exited the bridge. She is a science officer, so she's fully qualified to run those systems. So Commander Travis tells you, Captain, that she's run a sensor sweep. She's picked up a shuttle pod, two human life signs, and one Tellerite. One of the humans appears to be deceased. Sure. We're punching it up on the main viewer now, maximum magnification. And so you can see the shuttle pod sort of drifting in space. It's the filero. But the filero is in your shuttle bay.
SPEAKER_00Some type shuttle bay.
SPEAKER_03Do we have the chilero right there? Shuttle bay here. Uh aye, sir, filero and a canoe are all accounted for, sir. We've got repair crews working on the filero. She'll be in tip top shape in another day or two. And your communications officer tells you she's been trying to hail the shuttle pod, but there's no answer. Likely their communication systems are down along with most of their other systems. They appear to be operating on minimum life support. I will take care of spectral.
SPEAKER_02Okay, tell you.
SPEAKER_00Can you please move into the shuttle bay area while we bring them in, please? I open my eye. Get up.
SPEAKER_04Thanks for thanks for the payments. And then just kind of pick up my stuff and make my way down to the shuttle bed.
SPEAKER_00Before you go down, I will also send Mel, which is our security officer now. And I will ask I'm gonna ask him also to get through four people under the non you know, non-desired measures. So I registered this, we are in a known space, we're bringing uh pot inside the ship. So we must be fairly cautious about what's going on.
SPEAKER_03Okay, so Dr. Dr. Travis, you get to the you get to the uh shuttle bay, you've got a security team with you. They've brought the shuttle pod aboard. It's the filero. It says filero right on the side of it. It's got the Magellan's registry number, NCC020 on the side of it as well. And the uh security team opens up the opens up the pod. And inside you see your navigator, Jankum Pogg, alive and well, despite the fact that you put his corpse in the morgue. You also see Dr. Corby coming out of the shuttle pod, and Pog sort of looks, motions back at the shuttle pod and says, I'm sorry, Doc, Chief Engineer Rhodes didn't make it. Sorry, Pop.
SPEAKER_04I'll step on board and make my way to the deceased Chief Engineer Rhodes. He has severe burns all over his body. And I will check to see that it's him. I'll kind of if if we have like a DNA scanner to make sure that we, you know, it is the same crew member to stop. Yep, you wanna give me a um You wanna give me a role? Right, okay. Uh so what would you like? Reasoning and medicine? Yes. Yeah? Yeah. Makes sense. Anything particular you want me to add? It's not gonna have a focus. I think it's just gonna be ye old standard two dice. Any complication range? No, sir. That is, I believe they say, a success.
SPEAKER_03Okay, so that was a zero difficulty, zero task, so you've generated some momentum, first momentum of the episode. Yep. So your tricorder readings verify that he died of severe burns and fatal deuterium poisoning. Right. The DNA is a match. You'll have to get him you'll have to do an autopsy on him, perhaps even do some medical scans on the other two to sort of get a clear understanding of of what's going on. You'll need more than just your trichorder, you know, to dig a little deeper.
SPEAKER_04And I'll I'll do the same thing with Pogue. Presumably the same thing comes up. It's and as I'm about to contact the captain, I take it I take a step away from them. Sir, have Pogue here and Steve Rhodes. Steve Rhodes is dead. And Pogue is alive, and Dr. Corby is here. I don't really understand what's happened. But considering all the kind of like hoo-ha and malarkey that's going on, do we think that Chief Engineer Rhodes is the real Chief Engineer Rhodes? Did we want to get someone to escort him so that whoever that is does, I don't know, doesn't do any damage to anything? Well, I'm going to the break now. Okay. And equally, what about Poke? Because Polk's dead in my mould, in in my mould, but I've got him here on board the ship.
SPEAKER_00And please, cool people from security handle blank to guard these people that cannot leave the location until they go there. Okay, it's weird shit, Captain. Bye.
SPEAKER_03Can I have a word? Yes, sir. Yes, sir.
SPEAKER_04The captain's asked if we can hold Pogue and Corby here. And can you do a person-to-person con to someone you trust to go and get Steve Rhodes and bring him to a secure location?
SPEAKER_03Yeah, yes, yes, sir. Thank you.
SPEAKER_04I don't want to be the captain today.
SPEAKER_03By the way, you also you remember distinctly Dr. Corby being shot by the the alien entity? There's no wound or there's no singe mark on his clothing. He's perfectly fine, no injuries at all. Mr. Rhodes, where are you heading after that conversation you had with the helmsman about going to Impulse?
SPEAKER_01Well, that that would have been like an hour plus ago, right? Because we were traveling on the phone. Yeah, where did you end up? Well, back to engineering. So if the captain hasn't changed his mind, yeah, he'll be working on the hull breaches, let's say. So he's probably somewhere with welding tools.
SPEAKER_03Okay. So you're yeah, you're you're with your team, one of your teams fixing some hull breaches near main engineering, let's say. When a security detail, you've been there for like an hour, maybe a little more, patching some breaches. Security detail arrives, they go into main engineering, they walk right by you. They don't even bat enough. I'm wearing like a welding mask, so they probably can't see me. Right, exactly. They walk by you, they go into main engineering, they're an armed security detail, and then they come back out and there's uh one of your engineers sort of points over at to where to where you are, and they come over and and say, Sir, sir, we're gonna have to ask you to come with us.
SPEAKER_01I'm unless they specifically say like Mr. Roads he's gonna carry on because he's busy welding something with the mask, so unless yeah, so unless they actually physically tap him or whatever, because you know, all these torches can be quite loud. Yep, so he'll tap you on the shoulder. He'll flip up the mask and turn turn off the torch. Be like, yes, is any of the named ones, is it?
SPEAKER_03No, these are just some random security people.
SPEAKER_01Yes. We're very busy here. Can I do something for you?
SPEAKER_03Yes, uh, you're gonna have to come with us. Captain has asked us to uh to put you in a secure location until until he can speak to you.
SPEAKER_01The captain's changed his mind, right. I didn't think he'd be that petty, but alright. Danner? Yes. You're in charge while I'm away. Yes, sir. And uh right, to the brig. I know the way.
SPEAKER_03No, no, no, sir, we're not going to the brig. We're taking you to your quarters, and you're going to be we're gonna remain outside the doors to keep you secure until the captain tells us otherwise.
SPEAKER_01I'd rather go to the brig if we're going to do this properly.
SPEAKER_03Sir, we're just following orders. We're not going to the brig.
SPEAKER_01Did he say I had to be taken to my quarters? He said to take you to a secure location. We figured so. Then there's nothing more secure than the brig. Let's go. Okay, sir. He's not laying the captain away with this nicey dice. Oh, you get to be locked in the thing. It's no, you locked your chief engineer in the brig, because you were petty. Because he did something.
SPEAKER_03Okay, sir. Let's go to the brig. Have it your way. So they escort you to the brig, and Administrator Phillips smirks as they put you into the cell next to her, and then they they step outside, and she says, Oh, well, that didn't take long.
SPEAKER_01It turns out uh the captain doesn't like it when you don't do what he says. Well, he is the captain. Has anyone been telling you what's been going on? No. Well, we're gonna have a nice conversation just now, and I will proceed to fill her in on what happened since last time we spoke, which is probably going to be a bit earth-shattering and very upsetting for her.
SPEAKER_03Yes. Okay.
SPEAKER_01Dr.
SPEAKER_03Travis, were you taking the body of Rhodes to Sick Bay for an autopsy, or were you waiting for the captain?
SPEAKER_04No, she's what it's today. I was waiting for the captain. I will have zipped him up and got him ready to be transported. But I will literally have Dr. Corby sitting down in the shuttle, ba in the shuttle pod along with Hogue, and then we've got Blank basically standing over both of them, and me trying to make very bad small talk.
SPEAKER_03So the captain, you arrive in the shuttle in the shuttle bay, you've got the security detail there, you see Dr. Travis, shuttle shuttle pod door is open, and two individuals are sitting there, and there's a body bag on the deck. I take Are we alone? Nobody else on the crew is around.
SPEAKER_00Uh, just just the security and the doctor, yeah. I will ask the security to go to the door and to hold their Yes, sir. I will I will get close to service. Anything weird to report?
SPEAKER_04Nothing weird. That's that's what's weird. It's as if Pogue hadn't died and we've got two roads. We've got two poges.
SPEAKER_03But you but you also know that in order to really answer these questions in depth, you're gonna have to take them to SickPay. Yeah.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, I can't do anything else about that, but so uh yeah, it's really bizarre, Captain. I don't think I've ever seen it or have read about it, or I I'm something Yeah.
SPEAKER_00And and Pog is the one that dies, right? Yes. We have an interesting displacement here. Let's try to question them and find What was the last thing they remembered? So let's try to end up and get close to Pog and Dr. Corby, right to see you here, Dr. Corby. And you tell me what happened since we last.
SPEAKER_03I'm sorry, I I've never met you before in my life. And may I ask Captain, he looks at your rank for a second. May I ask Captain, what is the meaning of holding us here? Where where is Commodore Travis? Dark Base 12. Impossible. Dark Base 12 was destroyed. What?
SPEAKER_00Wait a second. Wait a second, and I stopped you right there. Well, is that your name, right? Well were you la uh uh were you part of the crew of Magellan?
SPEAKER_03Yes, sir. Yes, sir. I'm navigator. Who's your captain? Well, Commodore Travis.
SPEAKER_00Where is Magalan?
SPEAKER_03Where is the ship now? Isn't this the Magellan?
SPEAKER_00What were you last time you you saw the ship?
SPEAKER_03We were on Corella 4, Chief Engineer and I were trying to put out a deuterium fires at Crest of the City, but things got a little haywire after that. We got word that Starbase 12 was under attack.
SPEAKER_04Captain, maybe it'd be good if we took them uh to a better surroundings, made some tea, coffee, had drink, had them looked over, you know. I mean, call me crazy, but a good mystery is very irresistible. And this is pretty irresistible to me. Um I feel like a bit like a Sherlock Holmes trying to figure out what to do with this. So maybe if I kind of instead of us interrogate them, perhaps maybe, Captain, we just have a conversation in a very relaxed atmosphere. Also, I think we might need to go and speak to Chief Engineer Road. Okay, so you want them to go to Sigbay? Yeah, so absolutely they go to Sigbay. I'll let Shaq's know that they're coming and just say be prepared for a surprise. Uh, because I think Shax will probably be able to handle it. Uh, then we will go to see Chief Engineer Road.
SPEAKER_00I would recommend that perhaps we have the body around. I would like to see how Chief Engineer No, absolutely not, Captain.
SPEAKER_04That will traumatize him. I don't think we should do that.
SPEAKER_00It's not a it's not a recommendation, Captain. As far as I'm aware, I mean I had a discussion with Chief Engineer Rhodes uh a few hours ago, and he's ours. He's our chief engineer. What I'm wondering is who is this one?
SPEAKER_04Well, according to the DNA and everything else, I'm gonna have to do more tests, but this is Chief Engineer Rhodes as well. And I don't really want our Chief Engineer Rhodes, or the other alive Chief Engineer Rhodes, to see the dead one because it'll just be a bit traumatic, and we can cut across that bridge later on. So I think we just go and see Steve and figure out what to do next.
SPEAKER_03In that moment, there's this low frequency hum that starts building. You're not sure where it's coming from, and then suddenly the lights flicker, and then everything around you elongates for like a heartbeat. Some lights blow out, and then there's this lurch for a second, you you almost lose your footing, and then everything resolves to normal again. And you can hear on the intercom, you can hear your comms officer asking for all decks, all departments, provide damage report immediately, and then you you also and then you hear this is astrometrics, we report a shift of 2.3 light years in less than a second, no known propulsion. Crap. So you go down to the brig, and there you see Administrator Phillips and in the cell next to her. Having a good old chat. Your chief engineer having a good old chat, yes.
SPEAKER_01And you'll do a check up first and make sure that everything's sure. Hey Steve. Is this about the impulse thing? I didn't really disobey your orders. I made the suggestion, the navigator accepted it.
SPEAKER_04Hey Steve, just uh hold fire for a minute and I will check, Steve, as well.
SPEAKER_03It's a it's a difficulty zero task. If you want to do it, you can. You don't you don't have to.
SPEAKER_01I want Ed to fail the rule and then be like, oh, he's quite clearly the double. Space him.
SPEAKER_04Right, I can do that. Let's have a laugh. Well, unfortunately for you, I got one success.
unknownOkay.
SPEAKER_03You have a momentum. Yeah, so there's uh there's nothing wrong with him, you know. He's the same old there's nothing physically wrong with him. Let's put him, let's put it that way. He's the same old Rhodes that he was last time you checked him out.
SPEAKER_00I will ask uh Stephen River's please step out of the brick and I will ask the security editor to open it. Okay to talk. Something has happened.
SPEAKER_01Okay. So Steve's getting a vibe that's just quite serious.
SPEAKER_03So administrative Phillips is like poking her head around, being like uh hello, hello Captain. You mind you mind letting me know what the hell is going on? When is when is somebody gonna come down here and let me out?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, and I will just turn around and ask uh the security detail to bring roads to his room and we'll all go there.
SPEAKER_03And she's like yelling at you guys as you leave the brig and the door closes. She doesn't like you, Captain, does she? Did she react to the whole me filling her in? What was it? She was basically, you know, putting putting all the blame squarely at the foot of your Andorian captain. If a human was in command of the Magellan, none of this would have none of this would have happened. Pog would still be alive. Pog wouldn't even be on the ship. He shouldn't have been on the ship anyway.
SPEAKER_01Is she relatively happy that we managed to like save the deuterium and like the city? Yes. That was the whole reason she's the administrator, like, you know. Yes. Well. I'm on her good side-ish then.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, and it was, you know, no thanks to the captain. Like, he he had not he didn't help you at all saving her deuterium tanks. That was all you. Like you if you had listened to him, she'd lost everything. Because he doesn't care about humans.
SPEAKER_01Well, apart from the human part, she's not completely incorrect about all those other statements. I don't think the reasoning was because he's not human. He had other reasoning, but yes, he did not care about the other stuff.
SPEAKER_03So you're in the chief engineer's quarters, the door closes behind you, the security stays outside.
SPEAKER_00Well, the situation has arrived. Something very strange. And I think it points out that somehow we have recovered another filero with three people on board. This tells me that there has been some weird stuff going on with time and space, which I still cannot understand. But we need to make the most of it, and that's why Dr. Harris was checking on you, just to make sure that everything is alright. How did you feel when you went through the anomaly?
SPEAKER_01Kind of sort of hard to explain. Kind of like an outer body experience almost. Like I was there, but also I wasn't there, and I was somewhere else as well, and feeling like stretched, you know, and that.
SPEAKER_00I understand. So nothing besides the weirdness of going through such an anomaly, and this perhaps traveling through a wormhole or something like this, nothing else. Um okay.
SPEAKER_01There were some minor hallucinations, I think people had. They said they saw things, the other engineers. Dr. Terriz, would you mind filling him in?
SPEAKER_04Yes, sir, no problem. Steve, have a seat.
SPEAKER_02Okay.
SPEAKER_04Here. Drink this. Mate, I don't have to tell you this, but I put my hand on your shoulder. You're dead. Or at least a body that is similar to you has been brought aboard that's dead. On the plus side, we also have a pogue who is not dead.
SPEAKER_01But straight here.
SPEAKER_04So it's very strange that you seem to have swapped one for the other. But it's weird. It's weird. I I've I've done some initial checks. And clearly somehow you've been split into multiple people. Persons, the same? I don't know how it'll work. Really, we should have uh the lieutenant commander down to uh to probably figure it all this out, but I probably should do some tests on yourself, your other self, pogue, the other pogue, and of course we've also had Corby turn up as well.
SPEAKER_01Corby. Oh, he was the cradle station guy, wasn't he?
SPEAKER_04Yeah. And he's not dead, so it's very odd, but I'm gonna need to run some tests. So I'm probably gonna need to have you come to the Medbay to subject yourself to a bunch of prodding and poking up.
SPEAKER_01I'm gonna be frank with you. I know this is like a big interesting mission, mystery at the moment and that sort of thing. But the Magellan's barely holding together as it is. Like, we're not gonna be getting anywhere anytime soon unless we put in some real graft and like fixing her up. I don't think solving like this nice sort of mystery is a priority right now.
SPEAKER_04Captain, I think we all need to have a bit of a rest and we all need to sort of take take half a day and reorganise ourselves and not do anything. That's if we can, Captain. If things don't happen. I think we need to fix this ship. That's what we need to go. I agree. But we also need to take some time so that everyone can be in the right place mentally, physically, so we can do the best we can. But we're not gonna be able to do that unless we take some time to sort ourselves out.
SPEAKER_00Well, as you say, Dr. Travis, Lieutenant Rhodes, you're gonna take half a day under the supervision of Dr. Travis to make sure that you are rested, that there's no consequences of going through this. I don't think there is any complication, but we're gonna be on the precaution side, and then as soon as you are recovered and you have rested, you'll go back to your to fixing the ship. Is that an order, Captain? I'm following the suggestions of our medical doctor, so yes.
SPEAKER_01Is that an order, Captain? Yes, it's an order.
SPEAKER_03Very well. Question Are you having your medical staff perform the scans in the autopsy or are they waiting for you to return?
SPEAKER_04They're probably waiting for me to return because I want to make sure that I get it. Got it. Okay. Just want to make sure I know what's going on.
SPEAKER_01I'm gonna go to the intercom, buzz it, okay, and be like, Denner. Denner here. Uh I'm gonna be stuck in the medical bay for about half a day. Can you send me up some reports as you get them every hour? Yes, sir. You can count on us. Uh roads out. Right, Scott, let's go get this over with.
SPEAKER_04Sure, I'll get it done as quick as I can.
SPEAKER_03Okay, so you guys are heading back to the sick bay. Carmelo, sorry we haven't gotten to you in a while. Uh you are in. So here's here's a cool thing. You you can either be in your quarters if you want, but there's a cool thing where you can spend two momentum or threat. You don't have any momentum at the moment, to create any laboratory that you need. So for so, for example, you could like spend two threat or give me two threat or spend two momentum to like create a quantum physics lab or to create a you know biology lab, or whatever, whatever you need in the given moments. That's just something to something to think about. So you can be in a lab, you can be in your quarters, that's fine. You'd let me know where you are. Okay, I'm going to I think it's a great idea to create a physics lab. So let's do it. Excellent. So you're in the quantum physics lab. Why don't you give me uh a reason and science task?
unknownYep.
SPEAKER_03Okay. I see you have a focus in quantum mechanics, so that can certainly apply. As you are studying the sensor scans you took of the quantum fissure, the effects that it had on the ship, and everything that's happened so far. And your difficulty is going to be two. You're gonna need two successes. Okay, here we go. Two dice. Excellent. Okay. So you've been studying sensor logs and all of the data that's been accumulated so far. Your working theory is that the Magellan is quantum locked with a Magellan from an alternate universe.
SPEAKER_02So that essentially means that the ship is in two places at once, or exchanging places back and forth with the with another Magellan.
SPEAKER_03Exactly. The two Magellans are quantum entangled with one another. So when one moves, you you're constantly swapping places. And the longer the lock persists, the more strain it places on the fabric between those two universes, and there is a rising risk of quantum collapse, where one of those realities may overwrite or destroy the other. To get this information to the captain. And as you think that to yourself, the captain walks into the quantum physics lab. I was just coming to see you.
SPEAKER_02Well, something just happened. And I don't think I'm surprised to hear you say that. Tell me what just happened, and I'll tell you what I think I know.
SPEAKER_00We just recovered a settle called Fullero, like ours. Exactly like ours, containing three bodies. One dead body of Chief Engineer Rhodes, one alive body of Felsman Hog, and Dr. Corve.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Right now being checked out by Dr. Toggis. Let me tell you, we are quite confused about this.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I am not definitely not surprised to hear you say that. What's happened, Captain, is that the ship is quantum entangled with another Magellan in another reality. We are essentially every time one ship moves, swapping places. This would be the reason that we had a displacement a few minutes ago. Yes, and the problem is that the strain upon the us being quantum entangled will have a detriment effect upon the barrier. Either there's a strong possibility that one of the realities will break down completely.
SPEAKER_00So we avoid that.
SPEAKER_02Unknown at this time, but I'll just keep working on it.
SPEAKER_00How do we send them back to that reality? Are we now in the reality? Can we actually check in which reality we are? Is there any way that you don't compare the outcomes of the fabric of the universe to compare with ours? Do we have any recording of such a thing?
SPEAKER_02Well, we can take any recent scans we've made sense that anomaly just hit and compare them to the previous scans before it happened to see if there's any shift or change so we know which reality we're actually in, if that's possible.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_00If this is their reality, and hoping that they will be collected by their own Magelan when they when we shift back.
SPEAKER_02It's quite it's possible. The only thing I'm not so sure about at the moment is when these displacements are going to take place.
SPEAKER_00Well, for me the importance is to know in which universe we are. So please try to see if you can make any comparisons to understand if we are in our universe or in their universe. And then obviously try to disentangle ourselves. But first I think we we need to send them back somehow or put them back.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, and Carmel, you you know, because you have quantum physics as a focus. You know that all matter has a unique quantum signature that cannot be altered. So that would be a way to determine where the if these people belong in your universe or not, right? You would check them for that unique quantum signature, it should match. And if it doesn't, then they belong to a parallel quantum reality. Excellent. Okay. I'm gonna call uh uh to Scott. Uh Scott here.
SPEAKER_02Hey, uh Scotty, you want to do me a favor? Depends what the favor is. Uh I'd like you to check the uh quantum signatures on the people you pulled off the second filero and uh compare them, compare them to the other ones, the originals, the ones we think are the originals.
SPEAKER_04Okay, sure. I can do that. I'll have to uh modify some of my medical equipment, but that shouldn't be a problem.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, is there anything I'm particularly looking for, or are you we are in sort of a situation where we are interposing ourselves in another quantum universe, switching places essentially with another Magellan. Uh at the moment I'm not I can't determine when these switches take place. I'm not sure how random they are or if they're or if they're actually on a regular cycle. First thing we need to do do though is determine uh who is who, who belongs to us, and who belongs to the other. Okay. I can do that. Great, fantastic.
SPEAKER_03Thanks a lot. Talk to you later. So uh let's go to the medbay. Your medical scans, this is not something you need to roll for unless you unless you want to. Again, it's difficulty zero. Full medical workups on Dr. Corby and Jankum. You know, and that itself is an odd task since you've got his corpse in the ship's morgue. Both of these gentlemen appear to be in good health, though Jankum does show signs of mild smoke inhalation. Their blood work returned anomalous fluctuating biochemical markers, exhibiting an irregular phase variance at the subatomic level. The lab technicians flagged those results and recommended referral to the chief science officer for further analysis. But says he he already spoke to you, so you do the analysis that he recommended that you do, and that reveals that their cellular RNA is out of sync with normal matter. And you compare that to Jankum in your core, in the in your morgue. Guess that's harder because he's dead, right? Well, the the cellular RNA is still there.
SPEAKER_04I guess he hasn't died recently. Yeah, okay. Yeah.
SPEAKER_03You know, he's on ice, right?
SPEAKER_04Yep.
SPEAKER_03So uh yeah, they don't match.
SPEAKER_04Okay. So I'll run my signature against them as a sort of like way to compare it. Yep. So I'll try and match my signature, their signature, so I can essentially divide between the two and go, they belong to a different universe, and these belong to our universe.
SPEAKER_03Exactly. So, yeah, so the the the navigator in your morgue, he belongs to your universe. His quantum signature matches yours. Uh, the the two gentlemen that you picked up from this duplicate filero, they do not. They are st they belong to another quantum reality. And so you're you then you move on to the autopsy of Chief Engineer Rhodes. You ask Shaq's to hand you the osteometric sequencer. Oh. He lifts it from a tray, he places it in your hand, and when you look up, something is wrong. It's not Shaq standing there. It's a Vulcan woman. You've never seen her before, but then the sensation begins to slip away, and and you do know her. Tilin is her name. She's already prepping the next instrument, but you still can't shake the memory of Shax. A de Nobulin, your head nurse, his voice, his laugh, you remember him clearly, but he isn't there. And you're starting to wonder if he never was there. God. I look over at Tulin and go, I don't suppose you know of Shax, do you? Excuse me, sir. Nurse Shax? Ever met? I'm afraid there is no nurse Shax aboard the Magellan doctor. Are you feeling alright? I'm fine.
SPEAKER_04I probably shouldn't have asked the Vulcan. And I'll kind of shake my head and yeah, it thanks, and I'll take the instrument and I'll continue to do the uh the autopsy.
SPEAKER_03The memory of Shaq starts to fade from your mind. Let's move to the captain in the lab with Lev Maris. As the Magellan lurches again, the lights flicker, reality folds in on itself, the ship goes to red alert, and then a message crackles over the internal calms. Captain, please report to the bridge immediately. I'm gonna go to the bridge with the captain. The two of you take the nearest turbolift up to the bridge. On the main viewer, you see a dense debris field. Massive hull fragments drift slowly across the screen. Commander Travis, the doctor's mother, reports from the science station. She's confirmed your position. You are at Varka III, inside the neutral zone, near the Romulan side of the border. You were nearly 60 light years from your previous location. Suddenly there's a violent explosion off the starboard bow. The deck jolts hard. The army officer on duty reports that the Magellan has just struck a mine. Then the communications officer says, Captain, we're being hailed, audio only. She opens the channel. Unidentified Earth vessel, you are in violation of treaty. Withdraw immediately or be fired upon.