"I should caution you all not to make assumptions about the 'robot'," Alex says then.

"It may look like a robot, but it could be an actual alien life form. Remember, the Medusans use a containment vessel to move about among organic life forms so as not to drive the rest of us insane."

He moves over to the next door that ISN'T where the robot is, and waits for Security to open it.

Starbird smiles as the Lt. Commander accidentally refers to him as an ensign.  He doesn’t bother to correct him, either.

The last door out of this room opens just as easily as the others. Exactly what the room beyond was intended for isn't immediately clear, but it is circular, and has a curved counter and cabinets against the back wall.

After a moment, it appears that this is the kitchen/galley. Exactly where the devices are is uncertain, but presumably in the cabinets.

He wasn't sure if it was Security's 'problem' to open the other door, but other than stepping in front of it or pushing a button, he couldn't see how Pacomio was going to open it. Shoot it? Might work, but Koram wasn't holding out much hope of that. Besides, that might trigger the robot to attack... responding with violence to violence.

"Okay, let's see what this other door holds," he said, walking over to the door that wasn't hiding the robot.

He ran his tricorder around the perimeter, noting where there was circuitry, surprised that he actually found any. It looked like a capacitance plate... just touching it should open the door. It wasn't visible... at least to visual senses and sensors. Well, he didn't scan it on UV or IR frequencies. It was always possible that the Iconians had some sort of other sense, like sharks had an electrical sense.

"Okay. Here goes." He presses the plate.

Starbird gets ready for anything, even if it means fighting a sudden rush of 20 goombas with heaters and bad gambling debts.

The door slides open like the others, and you see what Eclipse had already described.

The back wall has the appearance of a replicator and there are three tables with chairs between the door and the replicator.

The room is otherwise empty and featureless.


Before anyone can enter the room, however, the central platform comes alive again by the appearance of the shimmering planes of light and images.

As everyone looks at it, an image of strange but familiar people appear. They seem to point to the Federation members in the room, and then several of them move towards you and step out of the images into the room. They are clearly Romulans!

OOC: Are they pointing their fingers, or hand disruptors?  Do they seem hostile?

They were just pointing fingers at first, but as they step out of the 'glass' panes, they are drawing disruptors from their belts.

Koram was carrying a phaser just like all of the away team, but it wasn't the first thing he thought to reach for. It was his tricorder. He wanted to get a new reading on the Iconian gate.

He was also ready to duck into the next room if the Romulans started shooting, which he was expecting to happen because he was pretty sure Pacomio would shoot first!

Starbird quickly checks to make sure his phaser rifle is set to stun, and then opens fire on the nearest romulan.

02:28, Today: Pacomio 'Bugeyes' Starbird rolled 28 using 2d20 with rolls of 15,13.  Phaser rifle on stun.
This message was last edited by the player at 06:29, Tue 03 May 2022.

Pacomio's TN is Control (8) + Security (4) = 12, no successes, so he misses.

The Romulan shoots back. His TN is Control (11) + Security (2) = 13.
22:40, Today: StarMaster rolled 4,18 using 1d20,1d20 ((4,18)).

The Romulan only manages 1 success, so he, too, misses.

The startled redshirt quickly glances around, looking for cover.  He doesn’t bother warning his companions, since the weapons fire has most likely alerted them.

The only cover is the galley/mess hall where Koram went, as well as Hawk, Keth and Seleya.

Eclipse, on the other hand, has leaped across the room and attacked the first Romulan to step off the platform, meaning they've been transported to this site.

As soon as Eclipse realized that the Romulans were being transported from wherever they were to this site via the Iconian portal, shi realized shi needed to keep them from coming through!

Shi leaped halfway across the room to attack the Romulan in hand-to-hand combat. If shi was successful, shi was hoping shi could push him back through the portal and maybe the portal would change.

Daring 7 + Security 4 = 11 TN.
Hir Unarmed Combat Focus increases the TN by 1, to 12.

Although shi only needs 1 Success, hir attack is opposed by the Romulan's Successes, so shi uses Determination from Martial Arts Talent to give hir 2 Successes for that.

21:58, Today: Eclipse rolled 15,6 using 1d20,1d20 ((15,6)).

Not satisfied with only three successes, shi's going to use 3 Momentum to increase hir dice pool by 2 dice.

22:07, Today: Eclipse rolled 12,10 using 1d20,1d20 ((12,10)).

That gives hir a total of 5 successes. Shi'll use any Momentum to drive the Romulan back through the portal while doing 4 damage (2 for Challenge Dice roll + 1 for Martial Arts + 1 for hir claws).

23:39, Today: Eclipse rolled 2 using 1d6 ((2)).

The Romulan's Daring 9 + Security 3 gives him a TN of 12.

00:01, Today: StarMaster rolled 20,11 using 1d20,1d20 ((20,11)).

That's only one success against Eclipse's 5, hir Unarmed Attack when successful results in Knockdown, so it only takes one Momentum to drive him back through the portal.

The other Romulans had halted momentarily when the phaser fire started, and as their comrade tumbles back to the floor at their feet, a female Starfleet Science Officer suddenly steps through another shimmering plane and pulls up short as she realizes she's amid the Romulans.

For a moment after stepping through the invisible gateway, Dr Hanson is absorbed in her tricorder readings, but as soon as she glances forward to see where she is walking, she notices that she is suddenly in the middle of a group of armed Romulans in a strange room.

"Woah!" Her tricorder clatters to the floor as she takes up a Suus Mahna fighting stance, then lunges to attack the nearest Romulan.

16:56, Today: Maribel Hanson rolled 12,14,1,3,1,2 using 1d20,1d20,1d6,1d6,1d6,1d6 with rolls of 12,14,1,3,1,2.  Unarmed Attack against the nearest Romulan. Daring 11 + Security 3 = 14. 2 Successes, 4 damage if hit.

Starbird resists the chivalrist urge to rush in and physically protect the lady in jeopardy, and instead fires another stunning beam at the nearest Romulan.

17:36, Today: Pacomio 'Bugeyes' Starbird rolled 2 using 2d20 with rolls of 1,1.  Phaser rifle to hit.

OOC: Snake eyes.  Yikes!
This message was last edited by the player at 21:36, Mon 09 May 2022.

It only takes 1 Success for Maribel to hit the Romulan, though he has his own defense.

21:04, Today: StarMaster rolled 12,10 using 1d20,1d20 ((12,10)).

He gets one Success, which counters one of Maribels Successes, but she still has one Success, so that's enough to hit him. His uniform has 1 Resistance, so he takes three damage and her unarmed attack knocks him to the floor.


Pacomio rolled two 1s (low is good in this game), and since he wasn't using a Focus, each of those generates 2 Successes for a total of 4. Normally, he only needs 2 to hit the Romulan, but he was choosing to try and stun him, which isn't normally a function of the phaser rifle, so that raises the Difficulty by 1, so he still hits. That gives him 1 Momentum.

21:14, Today: StarMaster, on behalf of Pacomio 'Bugeyes' Starbird, rolled 8d6 ((4,3,5,3,1,6,2,2)).

The 1 is 1 Damage, both 2s are 2 Damage each, the 5 and 6 are each 1 Damage plus an Effect. That's a total of 7 Damage + 2 Effects. The Romulans uniform has a Resistance of 1, reducing the Damage to 6, but that's greater than 4 so he receives an injury. Pacomio has to spend his Momentum to cause an Effect of Stun. The Romulan is stunned.

That's 3 of the 4 Romulans down, though 2 can get up easily enough.

For a moment, Eclipse got a glimpse of the Mongoose through the Iconian portal, just as they'd done when Seleya had stepped through. Shi was now convinced that there was some factor in play that triggered the portal to the ship... maybe it was just the fact that there were people at those locations, though there were also power sources... more apt to register on sensors.

Shi didn't think the StarFleet Away Team was ready for dealing with the Romulans from wherever they were, especially not going to that location. Shi took a step forward, grabbed Maribel, and yanked her 'through' the portal to the Iconian facility.

As shi was hoping, the moment shi stepped off the platform, the portal(s) disappeared again.

She mentally contacted Sebastian on the Ancestor to contact the Mongoose and inform them about the Iconian portal and that Seleya and Maribel had now been transported to the planet via the portal.

After successfully knocking the Romulan over, she steps back away from him, draws her type 1 phaser from it's tiny pocket on her belt, and tries to stun him.


21:57, Today: Maribel Hanson rolled 17,11 using 1d20,1d20 with rolls of 17,11.  Control+Security=13. Phaser shot to stun the prone Romulan.

OOC: I think I need 2 successes for a hit on a ranged attack, so that's probably a miss. If not, it should have 5 damage dice. Assuming, of course, I can take another turn; if the Romulans get a turn first, ignore this post.
This message was last edited by the player at 02:07, Tue 10 May 2022.

The combination of Eclipse's attack, Maribel's attack and Pacomio's phaser shot was a bit of a shock to the Romulans. They might not have surrendered, but they recognized a superior foe when they encountered it, so the two downed Romulans weren't in any hurry to get up (unless it was to flee) and the 4th one decided to step back away from the 'angry' Human and ferocious cat creature.

Eclipse grabbed Maribel and pulled her through the portal and then the shimmering panes of whatever disappeared as Eclipse stepped off the platform.

Maribel is now in the Iconian facility with the Away Team.

After ducking into the other room for cover, Koram then directed his tricorder at the portal to see what kind of readings he could get. Then he noticed that the control panel he'd uncovered earlier was flickering with lights so he turned his tricorder on that. He might get some sort of reading he could decipher.

"I hope that's not a sign," he commented to Alex as the portal once again vanished. "Two people from the Mongoose get sucked through the portal already. We need to figure out to shut off the portal before any more get pulled through."

With the Romulans pacified, Dr Hanson relaxes a little and walks back to where she appeared to pick up the tricorder she dropped. With her phaser in her left hand and her tricorder in her right hand, she takes a good look around the room.

"Hey guys. If y'all are here, I must be on one of the planets. What is this place, and how did I get here? I was just leaving Engineering, then suddenly Romulans." She looks at the defeated Romulans on the floor. "What's the deal with these guys? They clearly don't belong here any more than I do."

“Watch out for ‘em, boss,” Starbird says to no one in particular as he keeps the phaser rifled trained on the downed Romulans.  “These cafones are strong.”

When no one answers her, Dr Hanson starts scanning the room to find some answers herself. She passes around the room slowly, scanning with her tricorder along the way. When she gets back to the platform she appeared on, she stops, looking intently at the tricorder, "Wait a minute, these readings look familiar."

She turns to the group, clearly excited, "Is this an Iconian facility!? I remember seeing tricorder readings like these in the reports about the Iconian gateway facility the Enterprise found. Did I accidentally walk through an Iconian gateway!?"