Pacomio does as the Romans do, also firing on the robot.

10:26, Today: Pacomio 'Bugeyes' Starbird rolled 15 using 2d20 with rolls of 11,4.  Phaser rifle to hit.
This message was last edited by the player at 14:27, Mon 13 June 2022.

Pacomio's TN is 12 (Control 8 + Security 4), so that's two successes, which is all that's needed for a ranged weapon attack.

Damage is a number of Challenge Dice equal to 4 + Security Discipline, so 8 for Pacomio's Phaser Rifle.

14:25, Today: StarMaster, on behalf of Pacomio 'Bugeyes' Starbird, rolled 8d6 ((1,1,3,1,5,2,1,6)).

That's 8 damage plus two Effects.

Added to Logan's 6 damage overloads the robots defensive shield (4 points) letting 10 points get through. The robot explodes! No one is close enough to be damaged by the explosion.

"Let's hope that actually was an attack, or else we may have just murdered somebody." Dr Hanson says as she gestures to the smoking shell that used to be a robot. "Koram and I can stay here to watch the gateway while you guys secure the rest of the facility. If our robot friend over there had any friends, we probably want to know about them before they know about this."

Pacomio stops himself just before making and embarrassing remark about how the robot should have been full of loose change.

"There's no known instance of the Iconians having ever developed artificial intelligence," Koram responds.

"It should certainly be possible given their level of technology, but it could have been one of their blind spots. Either that, or they might have had a philosophical reason for not creating them."

"Unless you mean that there might have been some type of lifeform inside the robot. We didn't pick up anything on our sensors, and I don't think it could have survived this long anyway."

He continues working on the Iconian symbols for the gate.

"Even if we figure out what the symbols mean, we may never work out their coordinate system. I'm not seeing any indication that the source code is part of the equation. If we knew where those Romulans were, we might be able to translate our coordinate system into the Iconian system."

"I think the best we can do for now is attempt to activate it randomly. We'll need to make sure we know how to shut it down instantly, though, in case it creates a portal into open space."

"On the other hand, there's probably some sort of failsafe to keep that from happening, but it can probably be over-ridden. In any case, activate the portal to see where it goes, then shut it down instantly while we analyze what we see."

"Yeah, I guess. The line between robot and android tends to get blurry sometimes, so I usually play it safe and just assume they're all people." She pauses while Koram continues.

"Do we know how to deactivate it? Because you just told me not to just turn it on to see what happens. If not, maybe we should leave this for later and help the others secure the facility, then come back with some more technicians and gear and give this a proper analysis in safer conditions." Dr Hanson pauses for a moment. "But I'm not in command here, so that's not my decision. What's your call Lt. Commander?"

OOC: I don't actually remember, do we know how to deactivate the gateway?

Yes, the 'off' button was identified. That's what was used to shut it down after Eclipse kicked the Romulan back through, grabbed Maribel and dragged her back to this side.

Now that the robot was destroyed however undesirable that outcome might have been, Eclipse ventured to look into the room where it had waited. She still didn't venture into, but merely attempted to discern its function just from observation.

"This looks like the engineering section," she informs the others after her observation. "It does follow that it is the one that would be guarded. On the other hand, the robot may have just been a maintenance robot, and it was attempting to ascertain who we were. Or possibly communicate with us."

"I'm no engineer, but that's what it looks like to me, too," Logan responded as he stepped forward.

"Pacomio, keep an eye on the ceiling and upper walls in case there's some sort of defensive system built into it."

Once into the room, he starts moving around the perimeter looking at the various equipment and whatever is displayed on them.
This message was last edited by the GM at 21:16, Sun 19 June 2022.

"Not sure we're ever going to get a better team down here than us," Koram quips a bit sardonically. "Even if the Federation returns to this super-system, I doubt if any other scientists will fare any better than us."

"After all, this isn't the first Iconian base that we've encountered. We still didn't learn anything from those. Or was it only one?"

"Although, now that I consider it, that portal may have had a much greater range with an even more advanced coordinate system. I don't know if this one has a limit... assuming there is such a thing... but it would make sense that it would be built intentionally for this system."

"I wonder how old this facility is?"

“Sure thing, bwoss.  I mean… yes, sir.” Pacomio eyes the ceiling, making sure it doesn’t get out of line.

"Fair enough, I guess. We should at least take defensive positions before testing this, in case we accidentally open the gate to the Romulans again."

Dr Hanson draws her phaser from it's holster again. "Which of us is worst at shooting people? Because that should be the person to activate the gate, so that everyone else is free to defend if we do open the Romulan gate again. I have Level 3 security training and I do actually keep up with doing my phaser drills. My Suus Mahna is a bit rusty, though."

"We're not going to activate the portal unless we know where it's going to go," Logan states rather emphatically.

"That's not why we're here... well, not primarily. First we see what else is here. Then, if either of you can give me assurances that you can control where the portal will go, maybe we'll give it a shot."

While the panels in the other room are interesting to Logan, he has no idea what any of them mean. It occurs to him as he glances over them that even if one of them is Life Support, he has no idea what the Iconians would have made it look like.


Pacomio doesn't see any panels in the ceiling or the upper half of the walls that he thinks a weapon could pop out of it. In fact, the floor, walls and ceiling all appear to be seamless.

Every room has been circular and the same height... about 10 feet.

Oddly, there are no light fixtures--the entire ceiling glows with a soft light.

Koram pretty much agreed with Logan's statement that they weren't going to activate the portal. As he'd already surmised, he doubted it would open into someplace hostile, like open space, since there didn't seem to be any sort of barrier within the portal.

"We were sent here to investigate the super-tractor beam that moved one of the planets," he informs Maribel.

"I'm not one hundred percent certain yet that this is an Iconian facility, but other than the Dyson Sphere builders, we haven't run across any other species that had this level of technological expertise."

"Don't exactly know why they created this system... other than to show off. In theory, a system this large should be impossible... incredibly unstable. So that stability is being forced... or maybe 'maintained' is a better word... artificially."

"I don't think we're going to work out any of their technology while we're here, but we still might learn something."

He follows Logan into the engineering room. It looks like that to him as well.

"Oh, here's an afterthought--Eclipse, are you capable of teleporting us to where the Romulans are? Or do you need to know where they are first?"

"It might be possible," Eclipse responds. "I did see the place where they were, though I don't have any idea how far away or in what direction it was. It's about focusing. I think I can focus on the Romulan I kicked and teleport to him. It's one of the idiosyncracies of teleporting. Otherwise, I have to know distance and direction I want to teleport if it's an otherwise unknown destination."

"For example, I could decide I wanted to teleport 100 feet to the east, or 20 feet upward."

Starbird continues to watch the ceiling, all the while willing it to start dropping free money.  (If only he were a Vulcan...)

"Between the three of you," he gestures to Eclipse, Koram and Maribel, "I have every expectation that you can figure out some of this equipment."

"One must be power, of course. Another has to be life support. A third has to be some sort of sensor station, since the facility needs to know when to make an adjustment."

"Another console has to be the tractor beam and another the portal generator. And a computer... or whatever the Iconians used. I suppose, for all intents and purposes, whatever the device is or how it works, its function would still be that of a computer. Right?"

"Oh, and here's another thought: what keeps this planet stable in its orbit? If it's generating a tractor beam over interplanetary distances to keep the other planets stable, what's to keep it from being rendered unstable while it does that?"

"Have you seen ANY indication that this may not be an Iconian facility?"

"Oh, that's a good point. Basic Newtonian physics say that any method of using this planet to move another would apply equal force to both planets. A tractor beam goes a bit beyond Newtonian physics, but either way there has to be something anchoring this planet if it's moving the others. Unless it's not anchored and the facility accounts for that push from the tractor beam to keep itself in a stable orbit around this star, but that would require a monster of a computer to calculate. But if anyone could do that, it's the Iconians."

Dr Hanson enters the room the robot came from. "Either way, we won't know for sure until we identify these systems. We'll figure out what does what Lt Commander." With that, she begins scanning everything of note in the room, being careful to get a full 3D scan with her tricorder so that others can investigate via holodeck at a later date. With enough time, she will try to document every room in the facility in this way.

"Wouldn't tractoring a bunch of other planets help keep it in place, like it was building a web around itself?" His eyes do not deviate from the ceiling.
This message was last edited by the player at 02:34, Thu 07 July 2022.

"I guess it's possible that they could be using the gravitational pull of the other planets to anchor this one in place for the long term, but they still would have had to contend with the counterpush from the tractor beam to get them in the right arrangement in the first place. When starships use tractor beams, they counteract that counterpush by momentarily firing thrusters in the opposite direction to cancel it out.¹" In like fashion to Pacomio, Dr Hanson talks while still focusing on what she's doing.

¹I just made the bit about the thrusters up, so if that conflicts with the lore, let me know and we can retcon it or something.

"Good point, Maribel. Of course, it's not like the Mongoose has ever tried to tractor a planet," Koram adds.

"Even another ship is usually smaller, but if it was bigger, it'd pull the Mongoose along with it."

"Also a good point, Pacomio. I could see multiple tractor beams being set out at the same time to other planets to act as an anchor for this one. That would require very complex calculations."

"It may also be that this planet balances its own orbit when it corrects one of the others. It's a significant point to note that there would appear to be a limit on the range of the tractor beams. I think that was an estimation of the amount of energy it took to affect just the one planet. So, in a system this large, there has to be more than one tractor beam planet."

"It also means that it can only make corrections when the two planets are closest."

"Anyway, back to the problem at hand. I'm thinking we should try to identify the life support controls first, as those are the ones we'd be most likely to recognize. I'm hoping we'll find that they used a similar system to as we do to indicate atmospheric pressure. In particular, a comparison between internal pressure and external pressure should be fairly obvious. If we find that, that should give us a foundation to decypher other systems."

"Is it just me?" Logan says, "But did that robot seem to get taken out a bit too easily? I thought Iconian stuff was supposed to be tougher than that."

"Even if it was just a maintenance robot."

"You guys making any progress on those controls?"

"I suppose, meanwhile, we should try to figure out what our next move is. Do we want to chase after the Romulans? Or just get back to the Ancestor?"

"It's not like we're intending to destroy this base. We're just here on a fact-gathering mission. Oh, damn! I hope disabling the robot didn't affect this facility's ability to keep making corrections!"

"After all, this place has been running for hundreds of years already. Leave it to us Humans to just show up and fubar the whole thing without even trying!"

As Koram had suggested, looking for an indicator of atmospheric pressure turned out to be the only reasonable one. Form follows function was a reasonable hypothesis, and you soon found the section of control console that had such an indicator.

It wasn't a Rosetta stone, but it was a starting point for trying to decipher the Iconian writing. It also helped that Koram's previous host had studied Iconian.

Having an idea of what the outside atmosphere was like meant you could compare it to the inside condition so you just had to note which was the lower--inside.

It was part of a bar graph representation that contained 5 pairs of indicators. One was clearly the atmospheric pressure, another was temperature. Those two gave you starting numbers to work with, and the labels under them were a clue to the language.

“Leave it to us to drop the cannoli,” Pacomio mutters, agreeing with Logan.
This message was last edited by the player at 16:53, Fri 12 Aug 2022.