Void Engineers

**The Interplanetary Interdiction**

## History

In 1963, a UFO crashed in Alabama. The pilot was wounded in the landing, and walked away, but the wreckage was left behind for anyone to find. "Anyone", in this case, was the Bright Riders, a cell affiliated loosely with the Ku Klux Klan specializing in dealing with supernatural threats among various minority groups. The wrecked components were brought to a machine shop in town and repaired as far as possible, which was not far given that they were based on principles unknown to human science. This suggested to them that it was otherworldly in origin, a fact later confirmed when the recovered pilot tracked the pieces to them.

This was a wake-up call to the Riders. Not just in the sense that there was life on other worlds, but also in the sense that the differences between people they had fought over were largely meaningless compared to the differences between humanity and others. The first Black member of the Riders was inducted a year later, and rumor has it that the Riders were active in the Civil Rights Movement.

The Riders would have been just another cell, except that the grapevine brought them word of another alien landing in New York. Deciding that they needed to protect Earth from an alien invasion, they set out and captured the spacecraft. Upon hauling it back to their clubhouse, the Riders heard about another ship in California.

Putting out feelers among the hunter community, the Bright Riders found that there were only a few organizations, mostly other cells, holding a Vigil against aliens. Earth was obviously not well defended against the impending invasion, and they would need something more. They turned to their two captured UFOs, carefully cataloging all of the components and devices. They put out a call to the other alien hunters to form a Compact. And when their bounty on a live alien was claimed, some light torture uncovered the secrets of operating the Starships in their backyard.

The Riders, now rechristened as the Void Engineers, decided that their first priority was to capture some more ships. After all, two (or rather one, after an accident) was not exactly a formidable fleet. And so, the next time a ship arrived in orbit, they tracked it back and captured some more ships.

Today, the Void Engineers operate a small fleet out of all corners of the globe. Their captured craft range from personal suits of power armor to the alien equivalent of luxury cruisers. And their goal is simple: to ensure that neither soldiers nor spies arrive on Earth.

## The Enemy

The Enemy, simply put, are aliens. Anything that is not native to Earth needs to be kept off of Earth. While there are certainly aliens who have no hostile intentions, and even aliens who are harmed by the invading force, it's too great a risk to allow them to immigrate. Any alien could be a sleeper agent; until a reliable method is found for determining a being's intentions (let alone possibilities like hypnotic suggestions or unknowingly-carried attack vectors), no alien can be trusted.

The Void Engineers do have occasional conflicts with other supernatural beings. Witches in particular are prone to accidentally summoning things from beyond the material universe, and some Engineers call for expanding their remit to include beings from various dimensions adjacent to Earth.

## Hunters

You were a stereotype of the "citizen's border patrol": viciously racist, narrow-minded, and prone to spouting conspiracy theories. When you heard that there were space aliens invading the Earth, you felt vindicated. You're working on the attitudes that the rest of your cell doesn't like, but it's hard to drop them when they keep saying the same thing about aliens.

When you came out of the Navy, you never again felt quite comfortable on land. When you heard that there was another Navy looking for new hands, you jumped at the chance. Now you're more of a pirate than a seaman, but damn it's nice to be back on a ship.

As a kid, you loved watching that show about boldly going where no man had gone before. You dreamed of being a science officer on a starship at the edge of the Klingon Neutral Zone, and now your dreams are coming true. Well, you're an ensign, and there's no Neutral Zone (and no actual Klingons, for that matter), but you're still on a starship.

The others would kill you if they knew you were the daughter of an alien. It's really not fair; you're as motivated as anyone to fight the Empire. More motivated than some of them, since you actually know what they do when they land on a planet.

### **Go get ten of your friends, if you have any. We'll still be here when you get back.**

[Image: A heavily muscled man climbing into a suit of futuristic-looking armor. On its shoulder is painted four stripes: three up, one down, and on its chest is painted the symbol of the Void Engineers: a stylized rocket in front of a ringed planet. Beside him is an androgynous person, standing at attention, in a Starfleet-style uniform with the symbol as an insignia.]

## Branches of Service

The **Combat Division** (informally called the Redshirts, or less often the Ministry of Peace) calls for bringing the fight to the aliens, both to be proactive about the threat and because the aliens are the only reliable source of Starships. They deal with fighting aliens directly, and are trained in capturing ships with little damage to the vehicles themselves.

Free Specialty: Any Skill (Piracy)

The **Engineering Division**(informally called the Blueshirts, or less often the Ministry of Truth) attempts to retro-engineer captured Starships as well as maintaining the existing fleet. They have made some advancements on adapting Starships to some of the hostile environments accessible from Earth, but the workings of interstellar travel are still largely a mystery.

Free Specialty: Science (Reverse Engineering)

The **Intelligence Corps** (informally called the Ministry of Love, or less often the Joy Division) tries to understand the plans and motivations of the invaders, and occasionally comes under fire for suggesting that the Engineers should negotiate with some of the aliens for technology, information, and occasional truces.

Free Specialty: Subterfuge (Disguise)

The **Command Division** (informally called the Goldshirts, or less often the Ministry of Plenty) organizes engagements and logistics. While most of the leadership of the Void Engineers are Command, the branch also includes a number of low-ranking clerks responsible for making sure things run smoothly.

Free Specialty: Expression (Inspiring Speeches)

## Status

\*: You have signed on with the Void Engineers, and can operate alien technology. You may purchase the Starship Endowment.

\*\*\*: You are a veteran of several battles, and the Void Engineers support you on shore leave. Gain two free dots in Resources.

\*\*\*\*\*: You are a member of the Admiralty, such as it is. You gain five "floating" Merit dots, which you may reassign at the beginning of each chapter. The Merit dots may be assigned to any non-Style, non-supernatural Merit the Void Engineers could reasonably grant you. Starship is an obvious choice, as are Contacts, Staff, and Retainer; but they might have trouble granting you Status, Mystery Cult Initiation, or Giant.