Session Two — To Phobos!¶
Played: 2026-02-06
The Sagan is decelerating toward Phobos, two days out. The crew deals with the aftermath of the conduit failure, secrets continue to surface, and a quiet engineer turns out to be carrying something enormous.
What Happened¶
Ship Repairs and Suspicions¶
Kai and Chen tackled the intercom system, which had been damaged during the conduit failure. Chen installed a backup system on the bridge — practical and competent. But in the process, Kai noticed something that set him off: several systems on the Sagan appear to have been designed for aesthetics rather than functionality, creating single points of failure throughout the ship. The Sagan is barely a year old. Someone made choices during construction that prioritized how things looked over how well they worked.
Kai designed a new backup power conduit system (five successes on the roll). The build will take the rest of the trip to Phobos; installation happens at the station.
Victoria's Medical Rounds¶
Victoria ran baseline medical scans on the crew, starting with Azure — normal post-Talent use, nothing concerning. She called in the remaining crew for baselines.
Kyle Chen kept finding excuses not to show up.
Victoria eventually cornered him. Her approach was perfect: "I can tell you're hiding something. I don't really care what it is — I'm not here to reveal your secrets, but if I need to treat you for injuries, I need to have a full picture." Kyle's response: "You might see similar signs to what you might see in a kinetic who over-exerted themselves. The treatment is the same." An uneasy truce — she has what she needs medically; he keeps the specifics to himself.
After he left, Clarus informed Victoria that the pattern the medical scanner showed matched records of certain illegal modifications, specifically enhanced reflexes, strength, bone structure, and metabolism that were used during the early genetic engineering crisis in an attempt to create super-soldiers.
Kyle's Confession¶
Azure organized a visual inspection of the ship's exterior — an EVA that doubled as an excuse to get outside and talk. Kai joined him, and Kyle Chen made a decision: he used the opportunity to come clean.
The confession went to Azure alone, not the full group. A spy choosing his audience — go to the telepath first, the one who already suspects you, the one who can verify you're telling the truth.
The exchange was honest on both sides. Kyle confirmed he's Fleet Intelligence, here to observe and report on Leonidas and the mission findings. Azure reciprocated: the "Book Club" is cover for telepathic conversations among the PCs. Cards on the table.
They struck a deal:
- Azure will help Kyle try to train lowering his natural telepathic shield — Kyle's shield is strong enough that telepaths notice it, which is a liability for a spy.
- Kyle will help the Book Club practice their Double-Talk — he'd noticed the tells when they were having telepathic side-conversations while talking out loud.
Azure shared Kyle's confession with Rin, who responded by sending Kyle a message: "Consider this a boot to your head." Kyle asked her to meet for coffee the next day.
Meanwhile, Kai failed his engineering roll during the visual inspection — he was entranced by the beauty of the ship in flight. No consequences; nothing major was wrong externally.
Kai's Awakening¶
Kai's anger about the lowest-bidder construction choices boiled over. The lights flickered.
Azure noticed immediately. He asked Kai telepathically: "Are you kinetic?"
Kai said no, he didn't think so.
Azure's response: "Well, you could be a latent kinetic. Usually telekinesis manifests under times of great stress, danger, or — SURPRISE" — and threw a small object at Kai's face.
Kai caught it. Kinetically.
Azure took him to Victoria for assessment. Victoria — a trained microkinetic — approached it from her perspective: micro and macro kinesis are fundamentally different disciplines, and she offered training techniques accordingly. Kai then spoke with Leonidas, who told him: "Rule one: never kinetically reach into someone's body under any circumstances" and gave him a more macro-focused set of exercises.
Kai's take: "I don't believe these are two different things. I'm going to train on both."
Tanaka¶
Dr. Tanaka — the quiet fusion systems specialist — turned out to be something much more.
Azure had sought her out to discuss suspicions about the ship's hardware failures, wanting a private telepathic conversation to guarantee security. Tanaka declined the telepathic contact and took him to a noisy, private area of engineering instead. There, she gave him something unexpected: a specific prediction about events that would occur during the approach to Phobos.
The prediction came true exactly as described. Azure returned.
He asked again for telepathic contact. Tanaka's warning: "The one time I allowed a telepath to touch my mind, they ended up in the hospital screaming and bleeding from their eyes." Azure told her what he'd been through — the Talent Explosion, the death he experienced through a deep link, the shattering and slow recovery. He said he could handle it.
She consented. Azure held.
What he witnessed: two malevolent presences. A sense of being noticed, and that being deeply, fundamentally bad. A third presence — more neutral, waiting. Something enormous on the horizon, something that would dwarf even the revelation of alien intelligence. The experience was traumatic even for Azure.
Tanaka is a strong precog from a long family line. She came to tend a fusion reactor. The visions showed her, after she'd already committed to the mission, that the Sagan sits at the center of events she can barely comprehend. She doesn't want to be involved. She knows she has to be.
End of Session¶
The Sagan is in parking orbit around Phobos. Session Three begins with the crew shuttling to Phobos Station at 0900 Lunar Standard Time.
Artha (GM Awards)¶
| Character | Award | Reason |
|---|---|---|
| Kai | +1 Fate | The play on the shuttle (entranced by the ship in flight) |
| Azure | +1 Fate | Bringing the game to a halt with laughter — "I've already been the backup comms, you can be the backup generator" |
| Victoria | +1 Fate | Bedside manner (handling Kyle's medical evasion with professionalism) |
| Rin | +1 Fate | "Consider that a boot to the head" |
Quotes¶
"Backup intercom reporting for maintenance." — Azure
"Readouts say you should eat a meal and take a nap." — Victoria
"I'm a pilot, my job is to chart courses for ships, not footwear." — Azure