CODENAME: NORTHERN LIGHTS

Incoming Encrypted Transmission...

SOURCE: $$REDACTED$$ // PROTOCOL: BLACK

TARGET: Transport Vessel Njord's Whisper,
running silent en route to the Jovian
Trojan belts. Intercept solution attached.

TIME CRITICAL: Tracking solution degrades in
20 hours. After that, the Whisper is gone.

OBJECTIVE: Board the vessel.
- Extract hard-line data logs regarding the
  "QNA" (Quantum Neural Array).
- Purge the QNA unit. Total neutralization.

ADVISORY: Vessel appears dark. Thermal
signatures suggest automated defenses are active.
Crew considered compromised by Class-3
contaminants (AI/Logic Virus).

RoE: No witnesses. The Copenhagen Protocol is
in effect. If it thinks, kill it. If it moves,
break it.

What This Is

Northern Lights is the introductory scenario for the FREE//FALL public playtest. It is a boarding action in the Void: hard vacuum, a dark ship, automated defenses, and something in the crew decks that the contract politely calls a contaminant.

The job is written to teach the game by playing it. Over one session your Crew will roll their first Action Pool, learn what a Target Number feels like when the airlock won’t cycle, discover why Binding heavy armor before an EVA is a commitment, and — statistically speaking — fill at least one Harm Slot.

Who It’s For

• Players: No prior knowledge required. Reading the core rulebook introduction is enough; the GM will handle the rest. Everything below this page’s briefing is for the GM only — stay out if you want the ship to surprise you.
• GM: Run it straight from the scenario pages. The scenario assumes the core rules of the FREE//FALL v7 playtest and uses gear from the standard catalog.

Northern Lights is a demo: it ships with up to five ready-made operators and runs out of the box — no character creation, no prep beyond reading the GM pages. Pick a contractor, check your seals, and board.

The Deal

Somebody with a PROTOCOL BLACK clearance wants a dead ship boarded and a machine erased. The pay is real. The advisory is thin. The Copenhagen Protocol means that whatever the QNA is, the people paying you consider it a Post-Human Threat — and contractors who ask questions about THESEUS Foundation business tend to become line items in someone else’s after-action report.

Check your seals. Load your software. Bind your armor. Try not to bleed out.