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Story 40

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Dock with the lab

When exiting your craft you find that the robots on board the lab have literally rolled out the red carpet for you. Strolling up the red carpet to meet you is the three-eyed self proclaimed genius from the commercial. 

“Hello and welcome. My name is Merv Arken, but you can just call me Merv. It’s great to have a few additional sentient beings aboard and I already know of you and your crew for your recent exploits in space. I know everyone is terribly busy, so let me start by showing you about. I know you and your crew are already familiar with the standard array of Blasters and Missiles along with Shield Piercer Mods all of which are available here, but I would like to introduce you to my more unique offerings.”

“Over here is my specially designed and heavily patented freeze ray. It takes the same amount of space as a Tier I (Nock) Blaster, but instead it does ice damage each time it is fired. This handy little tool could be yours for just 2,000 credits.”

The Freeze Ray can be fired up to twice in a turn causing 1d6 ice damage each time it is fired and the ice spreads orthogonally at the end of the turn for the player’s turn for the ship that was damaged. If an NPC is shot by the Freeze Ray, the NPC will gain 1d4 additional ice damage at the end of its turn.

“I once heard someone say that ‘The best defense is a good offense.’ To test this theory I have developed the Arken Auto Armament. It allows your computer to automatically retaliate when your ship is shot.”

The Arken Auto Armament is a Mod that allows your ship to use one of your armed markers to retaliate with one shot from any of your weapons against an attacking vessel. Unlike your shields, you do not get to re-arm that marker till your next Status Phase.

Your first officer speaks up, “The name of your Mod reminds me. I’ve been wondering since we first saw your transponder ID about the long name that is registered for your lab.”

“Merv’s Missiles or Arken’s Arsenal were two different names that I was considering. I tried asking the opinion of an old woman at the Department of Space Vehicles and without responding she keyed in my query as the lab’s name.”

“One thing I’ve always found consistent on every planet is the general ineptitude of the DSV.”

“Behind those doors is my BioLab. Most of the projects in there are attempts to enhance my own life, but I have some projects that may eventually have some applications against an enemy as well, or maybe even a particular old woman that works for the DSV.”

“Over here are some of my specialized missiles. I have a ranged missile to be able to hit your targets from further out, a programmable drone missile to hit targets that you might not have a direct line of sight on, and an armored missile that can be shot either into or out of a debris field or asteroid cluster.”

Ranged Missiles require a line of sight and is a single-use missile shot by your ship’s missile outfit. The damage is determined by your outfit, but it can fire at a range of 7-9 spaces away and costs 1,000 credits.

Drone Missiles do not require a line of sight and can travel 2-6 spaces before exploding. You can set it to maneuver complex paths . This is a single use missile launched by your missile outfit. The damage it causes is also determined by your missile outfit. The Drone Missiles cost 1,000 credits each.

Armored Missiles are capable of being launched into, or out of debris fields, asteroids, and even ice asteroids. Armored missiles have the traditional range of 2-6 spaces and require a missile outfit to already be installed. This is a single-use weapon and its damage is determined by the missile outfit. Armored Missiles are 1,000 credits each.

Your first officer speaks up again in an attempt to better understand your host, “Do you worry about your safety, being out here all by yourself?”.

“No, I’m not worried. Between being an arms dealer with lots of missiles, a number of robot minions, my own cloaking technology, and the fact that you’re actually talking to a 3 dimensional holographic projection of myself. If you had pulled a weapon on me I would have sealed the doors, gassed everyone present, and then revived you in order to use you for testing a biological weapon I’m developing. Nope, I’m not worried at all. Oh look, here’s the next weapon I want to show you, Merv’s MIRVed Missile. It allows your missile to split up its payload and hit multiple targets. The MIRVed part of the name stands for Multiple Independently targetable Reentry Vehicles. I love this missile so much I named it after myself.”

Merv’s MIRVed Missiles are single use missiles launched by your ship’s missile outfit. This missile has the capacity to hit multiple targets within a 2-6 space radius provided you have line sight. Merv’s MIRVed Missiles cost $2,000 credits each. The damage for each type of missile outfit varies as follows:

Tier I – can hit up to two targets doing 1d4 damage to each ship hit this way (you may choose to hit one target multiple times causing 2d4 damage).

Tier II – can hit up to 3 targets doing 1d4 damage to each (you may choose to hit one of the target multiple times causing 2d4 or even 3d4 damage to it).

Tier III – can hit up to 5 targets doing 1d4 damage to each (you may choose to hit some of the targets multiple times).

“Also, I know that there is a lot of deep space travel going through this sector. If someone needs energy rods I have my robotic minions fill them from my fusion reactor at the going rate of 1,000 credits per energy rod.”

If you ever need anything, you know where to find my lab.