Lexi's Mission
by @Yamatsu

Message From: Andrew Roebuck, CFO of Goldstein & Klaus Asteroid Mining

*written transcription of a distress message* Is anyone out there? My name is Andrew Roebuck, CFO of GKAM (Gee-cam), and stationed on The Last Autumn. Pirates... pirates have completely blockaded Glittercrag Field. They call themselves "Judas's Noose." No one can get in or out... Trust me, we've tried. Most of us have enough to hold out for maybe a week or so, but things have been getting dicey. I've heard tell that some folks on other stations have been hoarding what little we have left-- fights have been breaking out, I think I heard gunfire somewhere. Please, if anyone can hear me-- *distant gunfire.* Oh shit. I have to go. Coordinates are at the bottom. Whoever gets this, you might be our only hope.

Located in a spot known as Glittercrag Field, The Last Autumn is a station owned and operated by a relatively small enterprise called Goldstein & Klaus Asteroid Mining. GKAM is a subsidiary of the larger Marley, Oz, & Silver Lending Company, something the players either will have heard of or will have explained to them. The Last Autumn is specifically the main offices as well as the employee housing, with other smaller hangars and processing stations dotted around the asteroid field. The station has been commandeered by a pirate group called Judas's Noose, rumored to have connections with some of the more "doomsday cult" sects of HORUS. Led by the enigmatic Brother Captain Matthew, the entire station, as well as the main NHP, has been nearly shut down in its entirety due to supply chains being blockaded. Hoarding has become a huge problem as what little supplies are left are being used to keep the executives and those close to them alive. 

The players are contracted by GKAM and their point of reference is Andrew Roebuck, CFO of GKAM. He gives a brief tour of the station and introduces the players to Rachel Brickley, the operator and main projectionist of the cinema. She's an enthusiast, especially of detective drama and Karrakin action flicks (think stuff by S.S. Rajamouli). The movies present are about a year and a half out of date, but there is an expansive collection of physical reels as well as a database with thousands upon thousands of digital movies that can be printed onto film. 

Mission Structure:

Blockade Run --> Short Rest --> Scouting Mission --> Long Rest --> Fight to the Ship --> Short Rest --> Final Confrontation

Judas's Noose seems to be mostly made up of mechs that have been cobbled together from IPS-N resources and given a viral injection of HORUS code. Brother Matthew has an NHP and his lieutenants have fragmented NHPs sold to them through Nu-Wavve CyberTechnologies, a meager Enterprise with the knowledge to clone and reproduce NHPs of... varying quality. They have been reproduced through a stolen Blackbeard's SEKHMET NHP, meaning that reports of unprompted violent outbursts have been common, even after multiple cycles. The leader of Nu-Wavve, Bobby Farro (he tells everyone his name is "Ace"), is the only person in the Rim that knows how to clone NHPs aside from top-echelon HORUS members and similar Union technicians and employees. Noose members will remark on how the NHPs seem quite erratic in their behavior, a product of them being so hastily concocted. Other information includes gossip about the Horizon Collective and their recent movements, the attack on the IPS-N freighter at Rào Cỏ Station, and the NHP that was supposedly stolen during the attack. It proves no immediate use to Judas's Noose, but Horizon's ears have to be perked up by this point, and GG_uncle would most assuredly be pleased if they could take something that Horizon wants. All of this information is interspersed between questions regarding Brother Matthew and his location. Players will first have to fill a four-segment clock culminating with a confrontation with a scouting force of Noose members. After a brief respite within a hidden pocket of a cored-out asteroid, they will track the position of Brother Matthew and engage him on his flagship, Golgotha.

Transponder the crew captures is actually an Omninet Hook, letting them not only send out a signal to "Reverie," but also to listen in on other conversations being had by Judas's Noose members. When they listen in on Brother Matthew, they hear a staticky sermon on the nature of paracausality and RA's influence on the universe.

His flagship is located near Asteroid 2265, the largest within Glittercrag Field and home to the largest mining operation. Golgotha is a modified Minokawa-class Frigate protected by an Interdiction Field similar to the ones used by Minotaur frames, meaning that anyone that comes within the radius is immediately teleported to the edge of that radius. If a ship is going fast enough, the repeated flashing of their surroundings being reset disorients the crew greatly and leaves them easy pickings for the spool cannons. The only way the party can board the ship is through the paracausal elevator connecting the orbiting Golgotha to the facility on 2265. Once they board, they will find that the ship is suspiciously empty, so they will be able to take a short rest. After that, they enter a door and instantly teleport to the bridge where Brother Captain Matthew and his Lieutenants, Brother Mark and Brother Luke, are waiting. 

Before the fight, Matthew will greet the party. He established Judas's Noose after becoming a member of HORUS and experiencing what it was like to see an unshackled NHP, specifically a Didymos-Class. He saw a future where humans as they are now no longer exist, instead fully realizing decorporealization and abandoning their physical forms in order to become immortal and all-powerful. Every man, woman, and child would be a god in their own right, free from hunger, free from sickness and death, free to make their mark upon the vast universe. Matthew began working with Andrew Roebuck in order to gather resources for Judas's Noose so that they could further the goals of GG_uncle. They already knew that NHP Zeus was taken from the IPS-N freighter at Rao Co station, but they lost track until one of their members reported it being stowed on Reverie. There is a mole within MSMC for HORUS, but no one knows who they are or what their goals might be.

If the Fragmented NHPs unshackle at any point during the fight, just start quoting Kill 6 Billion Demons in a creepy voice. Shit like "Let us cut God and see if he bleeds," "If it has a pulse, Take its skull! If it builds a house, Smash it flat! Strength is my God, The God of Shapes, If my God should fail me, I will kill him too." Spoil the ever-living shit out of the final conflict and give them no context. 

"The Howling Dogs shall come on Red Wings to bite at the throat of God."

"Heaven's bolts shall sunder the stars, cripple the Legion, and shatter the Stone"

"The Chimera shall bite and claw and bleat and sting, its many mouths filled with smoke"

"The meek shall lead the strong."

Once they unshackle, the NPCs can use their reaction to target one character and force them to make a Systems save. If they fail, they are Immobilized until the end of their next turn. This can only affect a character 1/scene.

Character-specific lines:

Newt: "Money and Power through Homicide, boy!"

Ferrus: "Legion dog! I command thee, heel!"

Zack: "Take care of slaying dragons, child -- lest ye become one."

Vermillion: "Remember, girl, Royalty is a continuous cutting motion."

  Upon defeating him, Brother Matthew will send out a final, faltering transmission saying "Our efforts have borne fruit, Zanzibar."