The Serpent's Maw

MISSION BRIEFING
While sweeping this sector as part of a search-and-rescue operation, we were surprised by the sudden opening of a wormhole aperture, which swallowed the ship and deposited us here. Wherever ‘here’ is. We don’t recognize any of the local star positions, and aren’t detecting any known pulsars, so I think it’s safe to say we’re a long way from home. The good news is that we found the ship we were looking for, stranded on this side of the wormhole as well, although under attack from hostile natives. The bad news is that our systems suffered serious damage during the transit, and the wormhole is destabilizing. If we don’t want to spend the next couple decades trying to get home the long way, we’d better repair the ship and reach the aperture before it closes forever.

MISSION BRIEFING

While sweeping this sector as part of a search-and-rescue operation, we were surprised by the sudden opening of a wormhole aperture, which swallowed the ship and deposited us here. Wherever ‘here’ is.

We don’t recognize any of the local star positions, and aren’t detecting any known pulsars, so I think it’s safe to say we’re a long way from home.

The good news is that we found the ship we were looking for, stranded on this side of the wormhole as well, although under attack from hostile natives. The bad news is that our systems suffered serious damage during the transit, and the wormhole is destabilizing.

If we don’t want to spend the next couple decades trying to get home the long way, we’d better repair the ship and reach the aperture before it closes forever.

MAP SETUP
A) Player Deployment Area B) Lost Ship C) Wormhole Aperture (see Special Rules)

MISSION PARAMETERS
Objective	Reach the Wormhole: Fully repair all player ships (optional), rescue the survivors, and return home through the wormhole. At least half (round up) of the survivors must escape, or the Mission is considered a Failure.
XP Reward	Each player that successfully escapes earns 2XP. If all survivors are rescued, each player earns an additional 1XP.
Resource Reward	2 Information
Retreat Options	Players may only retreat through the Wormhole (see Special Rules).
Mission End	At the end of Round 10, all remaining players are stranded forever.
Destroyed Players	These players gain 1 fewer XP (minimum 0).

SUCCESS

Thank goodness we entered the wormhole when we did! We could see the aperture collapse behind us in real-time. Just a second or two later, and we’d have been left stranded.

FAILURE

Assuming we even survive this assault, it’s going to be a long road home…

Replay this Mission, or retire your Captain Card.

ENEMY SHIPS
Formation	Round	Bearing	Orders	2p	3p	4p	5p	6p
Aggressor Alpha	Setup	2	Attack	X			X
Aggressor Bravo	Setup	5	Attack	X	X
Aggressor Elite	Setup	Roll	Attack	X !		X !		X !
Aggressor Charlie	3	Roll	Attack		X		X
Aggressor Delta	5	Roll	Attack	X		X		X

SPECIAL RULES

Wormhole Setup: Place the Wormhole Aperture Token where indicated (see Map Setup). You may use a Planet Token in place of the Wormhole Aperture Token.

Player Ship Setup: Place 3 Disabled Tokens on top of each player's Ship Card, representing the damage sustained during the initial transit of the wormhole.

The player ships must be repaired to achieve full movement. While there is at least 1 Disabled Token on top of its Ship Card, a player ship must choose a 1-Speed Maneuver during the Planning Phase. Player ships also gain the following Action:

Action: Discard 1 Disabled Token from this ship’s Ship Card. Once all Disabled Tokens have been discarded, this ship may move normally.

Lost Ship Setup: Place the Ship Wreckage Token where indicated (see Map Setup), representing the Lost Ship. The Lost Ship is dead in space and cannot Attack, be assigned Maneuvers, or perform Actions. It has a Hull Value of 5, and can be attacked by enemy ships.

Place a number of Mission Tokens on top of the Ship Wreckage Token, equal to the number of players plus one. These represent survivors who must be rescued.

Rescuing Survivors: At the end of the Activation Phase, if within Range 1 of the Ship Wreckage Token, a player ship may lower all of its Active Shields and spend one or more Scan Tokens.

For each Scan Token spent, take one Mission Token from the Ship Wreckage Token and place it on that ship's Ship Card. When there are no more Mission Tokens on the Ship Wreckage Token, the survivors have been rescued.

If a ship carrying one or more Mission Tokens is destroyed, those Tokens are lost.

Wormhole Destabilization: At the end of Round 5, the wormhole begins to destabilize, the aperture flailing wildly across the map as it starts to collapse.

During the End Phase of Round 5, and of each subsequent round, roll one D6 and move the Wormhole Aperture Token to the corresponding position (see Map Setup).

Entering the Wormhole: A player ship’s base must overlap the Wormhole Aperture Token in order to enter the wormhole.