Aurora: A Colonizing Mission

| April 4th 2016 | 

Thanks for checking out my blog. I have a new, much better looking version of this review here: http://www.boardgamebarker.com/blog/2015/12/21/aurora-a-colonizing-mission

The following is a short story created from a session of the board game Alien Frontiers. If you would like to know how this game is played or more about it you can read my full review of it here.

Todd’s life has been a mess over the past few years. He was born on a backwoods planet with little to no work and certainly no way off or to escape his daily grind of working in the mines for far too little pay. That’s why when the Quantum Legion landed and was looking for recruits he jumped, Todd has always wanted to be part of something bigger, make something of his life or at the very least not have to struggle every day just to get by. It was finally here his ticket off this rock and in just a few days after signing up they were departing Todd’s homeworld and on route to Aurora a mysterious new planet. Once aboard The Exodium the reason for the rush became apparent, the Quantum Legion was not the only faction seeking to colonize this new planet. Since the Green Baron overthrew the United Governments tons of these once forbidden planets are now up for grabs but that won’t last long. Aurora is a planet rich with alien technology and it is in a crucial location to serve as a trade hub for other nearby un-colonized planets that are rich in resources.  Whoever colonizes Aurora first stands to become very rich. Todd is part of an advance scouting and colonizing team that left almost right away, because speed is important they did not have time to wait for the rest of their fleet to catch up and they had to move towards Aurora with only three ships and one of their fleet’s alien technologies. 

A few months and many training missions later the Exodium arrived at Aurora but what Todd first saw was not what he expected, they are already behind!  Both the Green Baron and the Queen’s Loyalists arrived ahead of them and some of the orbital facilities around Aurora were full. the Quantum Legion would need a new plan, the communications team quickly discovered where there were some open docks and the Quantum Legion fleet split up to begin their work. 

Todd’s ship; The Exodium and the Quantum Legion flagship headed to the shipyard where they would use some spare parts to piece together another vessel. “It doesn’t have to look pretty it just has to work” Todd was told and in 3 weeks time their work was completed.  It was hard work, Todd started to think back to his old life, the simplicity, the familiarity he even started to miss it. The com next to his bunk rang calling Todd to report to his team leader, he snapped back to reality, this is his new life now. 

Todd’s new mission is simple, The Exodium along with the newly constructed ‘Raven’ are to head to the Alien Artifact drifting around the planet and secure a new piece of alien technology. Their mission is pivotal to the Quantum Legion’s success, the fleet’s scientists can easily figure out how the alien technology works, they worked with similar objects back on their homeworlds and can use it to gain the upper hand over the Green Baron and the Queen’s Loyalists. Todd ventured onto the artifact not knowing what to expect, there is a ship already docked there and as The Exodium slows down for a smooth dock Todd notices the Loyalist ship starting to get ready to leave. Odds are the Loyalists found something and will be back to pick it up, luckily the Quantum Legion already has two ships here and once the Raven docks they will both send parties aboard to retrieve the technology. That’s what they were told anyways but as they boarded the artifact Todd felt something he hadn’t in a long time…Fear. Perhaps the Loyalist ship left in such a hurry because they found something threatening, why else would they leave empty handed? Todd snapped to it and his party located what the Loyalists had found. It took both crews to get the resource cache on board the Raven, why had they left all these supplies here? Todd tried not to wonder, all the reasons he could come up with were bad.

Six weeks had passed and after resupplying and a quick mining mission The Exodium was heading back to the artifact. Upon approach they noticed the Green Baron had ships docked there….and one looked armed, they MUST have found something worthwhile if they brought this much firepower Todd thought. Once on board the artifact the boarding party of the Raven quickly engaged the Green Baron’s troops, since it was his second time on board the artifact Todd was put in charge of the team protecting the scientists. They had to work quickly, there’s no telling how long until the Green Baron’s men found them. Luck was on his side Todd found a long corridor that lead behind the Green Baron’s troops, they snuck past and secured the Orbital Teleporter. They were just about to leave when Todd realized the Green Baron’s ships were departing, did the Raven’s crew manage to scare them off? Or did they get what they came here for in the first place? Either way Todd quickly lead the scientists and the secured Teleporter down a faster route back to The Exodium. Todd was awarded a medal for his quick actions and courageous efforts, and was promoted to captain of his own ship. 

Three weeks later Todd’s ship was finished, he named it the Windrazor. While Todd adjusted to his new role as captain the Windrazor was only to run light missions to secure resources for the fleet. The Orbital Teleporter they found aboard the alien artifact was even built into the Windrazor and Todd’s crew began to master this new technology. The resource cache Todd helped secure months ago finally depleted and the Raven had room on board again, the Windrazor teleported to dock with the Raven at the alien artifact once again. This time it was a ghost town and with no other ships to slow them down they easily secured the Polarity Device and installed it in the Raven. 

With things on Aurora really heating up the Quantum Legion had to do something, every Colony they built on the planet was overrun by Green Baron troops and colonists. With the Green Baron harassing the Loyalist fleet so frequently they are an easy target. In Just another 6 weeks things on Aurora had drastically changed, the Quantum Legion managed to beat the Loyalists out of the Pohl Foothills and the Heinlein Plains. 
The Green Baron still controlled the majority of the planet and was only a few weeks from claiming the entire planet as his own. The Windrazor once again raced to meet at the Alien Artifact, their ship’s orbital teleporter is completely burnt out. The scientists aboard the Windrazor figured out a way to teleport an entire colony but it trashed the teleporter. Luckily for Todd there was another teleporter aboard the Alien Artifact and with no competition they easily secured the teleporter. 

Meanwhile the Quantum Legion’s fleet has been multiplying they are now 6 ships strong. The Green Baron just built his last colony on Aurora giving the other factions one week’s time to fight for dominance of the planet before the Green Baron has everything locked down. 

Todd awoke not knowing what the plan for the day was, had everything he worked towards been for nothing? Would they really have to pull out from the planet? Todd just received his instructions, he was to lead 3 other ships on an expedition to the Alien Artifact one last time, while the other 2 ships landed the Quantum Legion’s last 2 colonies onto Aurora. Todd’s mission was a bigger success than they had hoped. Not only did they secure a Data Crystal but one of the newer ships also found the location of an Alien Monument. Todd received word, the fleet was successful they managed to get both their remaining colonies onto Aurora. It is all up to the scientists now, they used the newly found data crystal to place a Positron Filed onto the Pohl Foothills and they used the new orbital teleporter to teleport a colony aswell as the polarity device to swap colony locations. They did it, the Quantum Legion managed to beat the Green Baron out of Aurora and claim the planet for their own! The Green Baron’s troops were so scrambled by the Alien Technology that they cut their losses and fled and the Loyalist troops were beaten so badly that they didn’t even stick around to see how things played out. 

For the key role Todd played in the colonization of Aurora he was offered a job as planetary mayor but turned it down and decided to remain captain of the Windrazor and continue with the Quantum Legion fleet on their journey for galactic conquest.