Scenario 16: The Thorian Incident

The year is 2164. The starliner Jade Star, inbound to an Outrim colony on Thoria, has run into a bit of engine trouble. Concerned about pirate activity in the area, sent a distress call to a NAC naval base. The NAC did not have much in the way of ships to send as escort, but one of the NAC's brand new Victoria-class battleships was paying a visit to the base, and that should be more than enough to dissuade any random pirates from sticking around.

Unfortunately, the "pirates" who happened to be in the area was a squadron of ESU ships seeking to aggressively disrupt shipping to NAC colonies in any way, shape, or form, picked up the distress call. Their intelligence briefing indicated that there were quite possibly NSL spies on board that vessel who had eluded the enforcement authorities on Nova Moskva and escaped with state secrets. This liner could not be allowed to reach Thoria. So, like a small pack of wolves, moved in quickly, hoping to beat the NAC to the starliner.

As it turned out, the two forces arrived at almost the same time. And when the ESU wouldn't back off from the NAC presence, things heated up.

# of players: 2

Forces:
NAC

ESU Set Up:
Each side sets up within 24 mu of their side of the board. The Jade Star is located 12 mu closer to the NAC forces than the nearest ESU ship. Starting speeds for the NAC are 12, for the ESU 16, for the starliner 6. Facing is at the discretion of the players (but the NAC player would be wise to have the starliner facing toward the NAC battleline). The starliner may not exceed a speed of 12 during the course of the scenario.

Special:
The map is floating.

The NAC battle group must move to rendezvous with the starliner. Once they have gotten to the starliner, the battleship may not move more than 12 mu away from it unless battle damage forces it to withdraw or fall behind.

The ESU may not fire on the starliner until the NAC battleship has been driven off or destroyed.

Any time a ship has damage to its third row of hull boxes, it will withdraw from battle on a roll of '5-6' on a d6. If it has damage to the last row of hull boxes, it must withdraw immediately, moving away from the battle as best and fast as possible (these are not suicide missions, you know).

Victory Conditions:
For the NAC: destroy or drive off the ESU, preserving the starliner (the spies the ESU intel thinks are aboard might just be - plus there are all those innocent passengers to consider...). Losing the battleship would be a serious blow, though, and force a draw even if the ESU are driven off or destroyed.

The ESU must drive off or destroy the NAC ships, capturing the starliner if at all possible (need to root out those NSL spies!), destroying it otherwise. Historical Outcome