A Light Shining in Darkness
| MISSION BRIEFING |
|---|
| We’ve received a priority one distress call from USS Pharos. They were heavily damaged after a hostile encounter while exploring this region and managed to limp into an asteroid field for cover, but now they’re dead in the water. Repairs are currently underway, but they’ve taken casualties, so they’re shorthanded and could use some assistance. Your task is to aid in repairs and protect the ship against any hostile action until they can get themselves back up and running. Good luck. |
| MAP SETUP |
|---|
 A) Player Deployment Area B) USS Pharos C) Asteroids x6 (Random Layout). Each Asteroid must be Range ≥1 from the board edge and Range ≥1 apart (see Asteroid Drift). |
| MISSION PARAMETERS | |
|---|---|
| Objective | Assist the Pharos: Reach the Pharos’ position and protect the ship until their systems can be brought back online, then escort them back across the Federation edge. If the vessel is destroyed, the Mission is considered a Failure. |
| XP Reward | Successfully completing the mission earns each player 1XP. |
| Retreat Options | Captains may retreat from any Federation edge. |
| Mission End | At the end of the round when the Pharos exits the board, or is destroyed. There is no time limit. |
| Destroyed Players | These players gain 1 fewer XP (minimum 0). |
SUCCESS
Great job recovering the Pharos, Captain. We can take it from here. She’ll be towed back to drydock where we can perform proper repairs and her crew can be offloaded for debriefing. Thanks to your efforts, they get to go home to their families.
FAILURE
The loss of the Pharos is a major blow. A lot of good people were lost, along with all the data that they had obtained about the region. Seventy-eight souls aboard, Captain. That’s a lot of funerals…
| ENEMY SHIPS | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Formation | Round | Bearing | Orders | 2p | 3p | 4p | 5p | 6p |
| Pursuit Wing Alpha | 2 | Roll | Hunt | X | X | X | ||
| Pursuit Wing Bravo | 2 | Roll* | Hunt | X | X | X | ||
| Pursuit Wing Charlie | 2 | Roll* | Hunt | X | X | |||
| Hunter Squadron | 5 | Roll | Hunt | X ! | X ! | X ! | ||
* Each of these Formations must begin at a different Bearing.
| SPECIAL RULES |
|---|
USS Pharos Setup: Place the disabled ship model in the center of the play area. Until the disabled ship's systems are repaired, it may not Attack, perform Actions, or be assigned any Maneuvers, but can still be targeted and attacked by enemy ships. It does not receive Damage cards (see Tracking Repair Progress). For dice roll purposes, the disabled ship has an Agility Value of 2.
Hunt Orders: Ships with Hunt orders are only interested in pursuing and attacking the disabled ship, to the near-exclusion of all other targets.
When choosing a maneuver, ships with Hunt Orders use the disabled ship as their target.
During the Combat Phase, they will attack the disabled ship if they can, unless the disabled ship is further than Range 1 and there is another target they can attack at Range 1 instead.
Beaming Over an Engineering Team: Once within Range 1 of the disabled ship, at least one uncloaked player ship must disable all of its remaining Active Shields in order to beam over an engineering team to assist with repairs. This counts as an Action.
Tracking Repair Progress: Once the engineering team is aboard, at the start of each subsequent Planning Phase, take one Mission Token from the supply and assign it to the disabled ship. The number of Mission Tokens indicates the progress of the repairs.
Taking Damage: If the disabled ship suffers one or more Critical Hits from an attack, remove 1 of the assigned Mission Tokens. If it has no Mission Tokens assigned, assign it 1 Critical Hit Token. If the disabled ship gains three Critical Hits, it is destroyed.
Completing Repairs: Once five Mission Tokens have been collected, the disabled ship is repaired. Remove all Critical Hit Tokens. It may now be treated as a regular ship model with the following stats:
| USS Pharos (Captain Skill 1) | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Attack: 0 | Agility: 2 | Hull: 3 | Shields: 2 |
Since the patchwork nature of the repairs were intended simply to get the ship mobile, all available power has been diverted to engines and shields, so the ship cannot attack.
Moving the Pharos: At the start of the Activation Phase, before any ships move, players may perform any Speed 1 or 2 maneuver (except Come About) with the Pharos.
After successfully completing a maneuver, the Pharos gains an Evade Token; it does not otherwise perform Actions and cannot perform Attacks.
Escape!: Once the disabled ship has been repaired, players may attempt to retreat. The repaired ship must retreat off the Federation edge of the play area during Round 5 or later. Any ship that retreats before Round 5, or retreats from a non-Federation edge of the play area, is considered destroyed.
Asteroid Drift: During each End Phase, the Asteroid Tokens drift towards the right-hand edge using a 2 Straight maneuver template. When an asteroid crosses the right-hand edge, roll 1 attack die. On a Hit or Critical Hit result, roll a D6 to determine the row on which to replace the Asteriod Token, touching the left-hand edge. Otherwise, remove it from the play area.