Operation Prospero

Hurricane Miranda,aA hurricane of record-breaking dimensions, is approaching the Florida coast and the Bahamas, and is due to make landfall in less than six hours. A small Delta Green cell is convened at short notice at an airfield in the Florida Everglades, where a US Coast Guard helicopter is waiting for them.

They are quickly briefed on the following items by their handler:

* Delta Green has been aware for some time that the Parasol Corporation, a privately held pharmaceutical firm with its HQ in Philadelphia, has been operating a covert research lab on Devil Ray Key, a small island in the Bahamas.
* While Parasol counts the Department of Defense as one of its clients, and ostensibly meets US government vetting requirements, DG suspects it may also have links to another organization. This could be Majestic 12 or some other faction or conspiracy in your campaign.
* DG is particularly interested in Albert Melluish, a British biologist, who is on the Parasol pay-roll, and thought to be operating the research facility on Devil Ray Key.

## The Mission

DG wants the Agents to fly to the island ahead of the hurricane, and retrieve Melluish and any evidence of what Parasol is working on. It is possible the hurricane will do severe damage to the facility and / or Parasol will seek to evacuate personnel ahead of the storm. The agents have literally only a few hours to carry out their mission. It is imperative none of them are captured.

If required, they will be provided with assault rifles, SMGs, Kevlar vests, low light goggles and any other special forces paraphernalia the GM would like to give them. They will also be provided with explosives to destroy the facility with.

DG has commandeered a Coast Guard helicopter and two navy pilots to get the agents to Devil Ray Key. It is about 45 minutes’ flight time.

## The Storm

This scenario is designed to be played in real-time: in play tests, it has been completed in less than four hours. Hence, the agents have about 4-5 hours between sighting the island and the arrival of the hurricane.

## Devil Ray Key

Most of the following information is already known to DG, which has conducted satellite recon and some visual surveillance of the island – e.g. via a fake US Coast Guard fly by.

This is a small island in the Bahamas, secretly leased by the government of the Bahamas to the Parasol Corporation. It is no more than five miles long, and about 2.5 miles wide as its widest point. It is covered in dense tropical vegetation for the most part.

The main research base has the following (see map):

* Watchtowers with floodlights along an electric perimeter fence
* A separate building housing the generator
* A garage with two SUVs in it
* A boat house with a RIB and a jet ski
* A housing block with bedrooms, showers, a kitchen and a cafeteria
* A main block, composed of two stories, one at ground level, one underground, including research labs and offices.

A beach house, reached along a track, sits on the south side of the island, about 10 minutes by SUV from the lab. DG suspects this is Melluish’s abode.

Finally, there is a small air strip with a light aircraft in a hangar, about equidistant from both the lab and the beach house.

## What the agents don’t know

Melluish has been working with Prospero on developing a serum to strip out the fear reaction in monkeys, with a view to eventually selling this to the US military (this can be an alien or Mythos organism, perhaps based on an extract of alien tissue). However, he has been having second thoughts, but found he could not leave the island. Finally, he has decided to sabotage the experiment, letting some infected monkeys out of their cages. The rampaging monkeys have bitten some of the personnel at the lab, with unforeseen circumstances.

Melluish’s daughter, Cara, is also living on the island with him in the beach house. However, she has started a liaison with Dr Peter Tempest, the chief Prospero scientist at Devil Ray Key. She is now devoted to him. Tempest, however, is a double agent, working as a spy for another faction. In my game it was the Chinese government, but any well-resourcec campaign protagonists would do. Cara and Tempest planned to escape in the confusion of the storm. Tempest’s patrons want him to fly to Havana with a sample of the serum.

The main protagonists, Melluish, Cara and Tempest, can be placed anywhere on the island where it suits the GM’s dramatic purposes. The villa is a good place to find Cara. She is good at playing the damsel in distress.

## The Research Lab

At the lab, there were originally 15 other personnel, six security and nine scientists.

* One guard will be found half-eaten in the guard house (Forensics or Medicine to tell he has been eaten by other humans). CCTV is located in the guard house, but most of the cameras inside the labs have been damaged.
* Another guard will be found somewhere in the labs; he has gone out of his mind, and will be armed and dangerous. He may respond if contacted on the lab’s walkie talkie network. Psychotherapy to calm him down enough to learn something of what happened.
* Three scientists will be found dead and cannibalised inside the lab building.
* Four guards, and four scientists have been changed into primary stage serum creatures (Betas).
* Another two scientists have evolved further, into secondary stage serum creatures (Alphas).
* The two Alphas have left the complex by burning through the electric fence, shorting out most of the power in the process.

The power is out at the lab complex. Agents will need to access the generator to repair it (Heavy Machinery test).

Access to the research labs on the lower level is via security swipe card. Scientists are all issued with these. There are about a dozen rabid monkeys infected with serum on the lower levels (let’s call them Gammas). One idea is to have them lurking in the lift shaft when the agents use the elevator.

Accessing computers on the ground level, in any of the offices, will reveal:

* Melluish tried to resign from the project, and is being held on the island against his will.
* Tempest and Cara are having an affair.
* Tempest is secretly sending data off the island to another party.

Computers at the basement level contain details on the actual bioscience component of the project. Someone with a high score in Science (Biology) may realise the alien nature of the raw material being used. These computers can only be accessed in the basement level; they are not networked anywhere else.

Most of the serum samples in the lab have been destroyed. The only people now with ‘live’ samples are Melluish, Tempest and optionally, Cara. Tempest has some serum in a locked aluminium case, while Cara is carrying a syringe on her person.

## Elsewhere on the island

There are two Alpha grade monsters already out in the jungle. They have luminous blue eyes, which agents may notice. They are much larger than the Betas, and faster on their feet. They can attack at an appropriate moment – e.g. if agents use the SUVs to drive between locations.

There is a hidden satellite dish in the jungle not far from the lab (about 400 yards), and a concealed cable that leads back to the lab. It has been rigged up by Tempest, who is using it to upload data on the project to his patrons. SIGINT use may detect it.

At the villa, agents may discover Cara’s laptop. Computer Science to get into this, but it will reveal her relationship with Tempest (email traffic – 20 minutes of study).

## The Weather

Don’t forget the weather in this scenario, as this could be the agents’ biggest threat: it will be dark by the time they arrive at the island, and raining hard. Rain will affect visibility, which will continue to deteriorate, with appropriate effects on the use of firearms, driving, and flying a helicopter or light aircraft. In addition, buildings will begin to come apart towards the end of the scenario as wind increases.

Ultimately, it is up to the GM how bad the weather gets, but certainly it can affect the ability of the helicopter to stay in the air for long periods. If the agents get trapped on the island, the only ‘safe’ place to be will be in the basement of the research lab.

## Parasol

This is optional, but given the failure of the lab’s security to check in during the last 48 hours, Parasol may also send in its own team. I’d suggest 4-6 operatives in a helicopter arriving on-island about 90 minutes after the agents. Most will be heavily armed commandos, but include an IT expert and a medic.

## Credits

Operation Prospero was written by Stuart Fieldhouse for the 2016  shotgun scenario contest.

Published by arrangement with the Delta Green Partnership. The intellectual property known as Delta Green is a trademark and copyright owned by the Delta Green Partnership, who has licensed its use here. The contents of this document are © Stuart Fieldhouse, excepting those elements that are components of the Delta Green intellectual property.

Operation Prospero is not available here under CC-BY-SA.