Introduction to The Ace of Spades Campaign

I am almost ready to start my The Ace of Spades Campaign but before I begin I want to give you an introduction to the campaign, giving a bit more information on the setting and what rules I'll be using.
The Rules

Bounty Hunter Julia Frostorm of The Ace of Spades

This campaign will be based upon the N.E.W. sci-fi role-playing game by EN Publishing. What I love about this system is that it is geared for games masters to create their own settings. This was important to me because I had a specific setting in mind when I decided to start this campaign. A lot of the background material comes from the setting for the old Fantasy Games Unlimited sci-fi RPG - Space Opera. However, I will also be adding elements from GURPS Space and of course, N.E.W. itself.
N.E.W. has various options for game play. My campaign will be using the cinematic rules. What this means is that the heroes (and only the heroes) will be larger than life and have a greater survival  chance than other NPCs. In game terms, most of  the PCs will gain a bonus LUC die and have increased HEALTH stats. Celeste, being an android, sadly, does not benefit from these rules. I will also be adding many of the new rules from the downloads section of the WOIN website that don't appear in the official rulebook.
The theme of the campaign will be space opera - science fiction with added fantastical elements such as psionics and laser swords. It is the type of setting found in Star Wars. The default Advancement Level (known as Tech Level in some game systems) for my campaign is AL:9, with AL:10 and very occasionally, AL:11 on more advanced worlds. So that means advanced Faster Than Light (FTL) travel, galactic exploration, thousands of colonies, transporters, instant FTL communication between the most advanced core worlds but less frequent in the outer worlds. Regarding FTL travel, ships use hyperdrives. Hyperdive relies on the concept of an alternate space where dimensions, distance, and time work differently. A vessel slips into this alternate space (named as hyperspace), travels to its destination, and then slips out again into normal space. All weapons found in the N.E.W. rulebook are available - projectile and energy being equally popular. Androids and robots are common and androids are accepted as being equal to humans, but robots are classed as second class citizens. Aliens exist in many forms and the most commonly encountered aliens were covered in my post, The Setting of The Ace of Spades part 2 (see here).
The default starting point for characters in N.E.W. is when they are at rank grade 5 but for my campaign, I increased that to rank grade 6. The reason why, is that I wanted the crew to have already spent time together before the campaign begins. Which also explains why I am not starting the campaign just after Kimberley Wells has recruited her crew. That would have been an obvious starting point but I wanted them to have had time to settle in, to know one another's abilities, strengths and weaknesses. So with that in mind, the crew have been working together for two years. I figured that was long enough for them to gel and to have a few adventures already to explain why they are all at rank grade 6. In addition, I gave each character bonus experience points so that they could increase certain attributes and skills. They are an experienced crew but not excessively so and against tough opposition they will struggle.
I want my campaign to be very narrative based to make it easier to read. Rules explanations will be kept to a minimum wherever possible and when they are required I'll type them in blue to help distinguish them from the story.
The Setting

Nurse Gwendoline Papillion of The Ace of Spades

In my campaign, the two major star-faring powers, the United Federation of Planets and the Azuriach Imperium, are on the brink of an interstellar war. This could have been the focus of my campaign but instead, it is something that will be going on in the background. My campaign will focus on the all female crew of the scout ship, The Ace of Spades. I have already posted full backgrounds on the 13 crew members. Being independent explorers means they can go almost anywhere and get involved in a wide variety of adventures. If you have read their backgrounds you can see there are many adventure threads just waiting to be explored further. For example, who was behind the space pirate attack that killed the male members of the original The Ace of Spades? Kimberley hired bounty hunter Julia Frostorm to help her find the answers. What is the story about Celeste's missing 21 years and why does she believe it is her mission to protect Kimberley at all costs? Is she really a Forerunner android? How long will Jeanette remain undercover as she keeps tabs on Celeste and when will BRINT swoop in to take Celeste back? Then there are members of the crew who are not beyond breaking the law. Kimberley is a smuggler, Rebecca is a cat burglar and Sharuna is a computer hacker. Any of them could have run-ins with the authorities. Plus, as assassins and bounty hunters, Celeste and Julia have made a lot of enemies in the past. Any of them or more likely, their colleagues, could come looking for revenge. Finally, there is Gwendoline, whose insatiable curiosity can lead her into all kinds of trouble. One thing is for sure, I won't be short of plot lines.
My starting point for the campaign is the year 2567. The crew of The Ace of Spades are resting on Achamandra (Eriel 1a), the UFP capital planet of the Phoenix star-sector far out in the rim worlds of the galaxy, when the campaign begins. I deliberately began the campaign as far away from the Terran star-sector as I could, whilst still remaining in UFP territory. This crew are independent explorers and have spent the past two years on exploration missions and are now taking a well earned break on Achamandra.
The opening scenario of the campaign is one that appeared in the GURPS Space Adventures supplement called Raid on Sterling. I have never played it before but upon reading it I quickly decided it would make an ideal starter scenario for my N.E.W. campaign. I made a few changes to it and converted it to the N.E.W. rules system. It is just the kind of mission that Kimberley would undertake and it ought to give all of the crew a chance to shine. I can't wait to get started.