The A.B.E.L.

Protocol
The PCs have been getting some much-needed rest and relaxation on a space station,
and as they go about their business one or more of the PCs gets caught in
malfunctioning airlock. The PCs narrowly escape, but several NPCs are ejected into
space without suits.

An hour later, another PC is trapped in a section of the station that fills with toxic gas—
caused by another malfunction—and barely avoids being killed. The station’s operators
are now extremely worried about the possibility of a system-wide failure or a saboteur
on the station, and they ask the PCs for help.

Upon inspection of station logs and security footage, a single man is observed near the
scene of both incidents. Security picks him up for questioning. While being questioned,
the man is nervous, but insists that he’s innocent. A power unit in the interrogation room
explodes, and the man escapes.

A manhunt begins, with the PCs assisting station personnel.

During the hunt, the PCs investigate the station’s computer system and uncover
evidence that suggests that the airlock and gas malfunctions were computer-related.
Isolating some specific code, they see that both malfunctions were apparently
assassination attempts against the missing man.

Unbeknownst to the PCs, a rogue AI is loose in the station’s computer system, and it has
tracked the man to an area near the station’s reactor core. The AI has initiated a reactor
meltdown in order to kill the man. The AI plans to download itself into a life pod and
escape before the station is destroyed.

The PCs will need to capture the man to find out why the AI has targeted him, while at
the same time stopping the core meltdown. When the man is found, he again protests
that he’s innocent; the PCs must convince him to tell them the truth.

When they do, he will confess that he killed his brother, his scientific rival, over a recent
discovery. At this, the AI will stand down and allow the man to be taken into custody for
the murder: It is a personality imprint of the man’s brother, created as an insurance
policy in the event of his death, and it was seeking revenge.