Five Parsecs From Home

Aryn accompanied the crew back to the Enlightenment. On the way, a cagey exchange of information turned into a much more open conversation when Aryn revealed that she could introduce Jaryk to a local Sector Government official, who occasionally hired trusted mercenaries to carry out specific ‘off the record’ tasks, and she would do so if Jaryk explained who they were and what they were doing on Nacia’s Landing. So he did, and she did, and the following day Jaryk took Aryn and Leela to meet the official in question, Mela Rosson, who did indeed have work for the crew. The pay was ‘negotiable’ but Mela was a far more skilled negotiator than Jaryk, and he came away feeling at though he would have preferred a fixed price.

The job was urgent, requiring completion before sundown, so the crew quickly assembled at the Enlightenment and set about preparing their gear for the job. Sadly for Jaryk, those preparations were interrupted by the presence of a number of gangers who were clearly assembling in a circle around the crew’s landing pad. Jeff and Jim’s scanners alerted to the threat early, and they recognised the gang as the very same that they ran into in the markets when they first arrived. It seemed a minor fracas at the time, but it could be no coincidence. Brat Gangs often sought out the opportunity to induce trouble, in order to get into a decent scrap under the guise of ‘revenge’. That way, if it went wrong, their rich parents could work the system to prevent and formal action against them.

The bots alerted Jaryk to the threat, and he signed to each of his crew (with the exception of Aryn who was exploring the ship’s hold and out of Jaryk’s eyeline). As one, the crew drew their weapons and made a move into cover. [Successful seize the initiative roll]. The Brats were almost as quick to react and were the first to open fire. They landed some hits on the crew, but failed to do any significant harm. The worst being K’Vani who was pushed out of cover and into the open. Jase’s trusty shotgun put one of the Brats down. The Brat Leader’s Gene Dog charged into the stunned K’Vani and gnashed with its teeth and scraped with its claws, but K’Vani was just about able to gather herself, draw her blade, and put an end to the beast before it shredded her.

Aryn emerged from the ship’s hold, wielding the enormous rattle gun that was stored within.

” You know how to use that thing?”, enquired Jaryk
” Sure, child’s play”, Aryn responded, and she proceeded to spray bullets in the direction of two Brats taking cover behind the landing pad wall. [The Rattle Gun has been in the hold for a little while now, and with 3 shots I’ve been waiting for a suitable model with a heavy weapon to use it!]. None of the shots found a target, but the hail of fire did serve to reduce the incoming fire and provide some cover.

Weathering the initial storm allowed the ensuing gunfight to become more tactical, which played into the crew’s hands. The balance was tipped when K’Vani charged into the Brat leader and carved him up with her Glare Sword [the weapon’s “Elegant” trait allowing the re-roll that won the fight – it would have gone very differently otherwise!] and Aryn, continuing her hail of bullets, managed to dig a brat out of cover and put him down. Once the crew had the advantage of numbers, they systematically destroyed the rest of the gang with minimal risk to themselves.

The crew re-assembled and took a breath. Jaryk sent Jeff and Jim out on patrol in case any more of the local scum decided to have a go. This return to the Patrol Bots’ factory programmed duties raised the hackles of Aryn, but Jaryk assured her that they did this willingly, and the bots had ‘agreed’. But had they been programmed to agree? It was enough to satisfy Aryn for now anyway and she seemed happy enough to service the rattle gun which was still smoking from the punishment it had just dealt.

Sadly, whilst the fight wasn’t a long one, it meant that there was no time to complete the job for Mela Rosson. Aryn reluctantly offered to go to Mela to explain, but said not to hold out much hope of any more job offers in the near future.

Jaryk returned to his ruminations about crates, military weapons, and personal trinkets….

[I had deliberately set up this encounter to be more of a challenge i.e. having the Brats encircle the unsuspecting crew rather than start at the opposite end of the battlefield. In hindsight, I shouldn’t have allowed the crew to seize the initiative and therefore get immediate cover. I think that undid a lot of the risk in the setup. Oh well, we move onto Campaign Turn 8 next, and I can now use the Escalation Rules and the Elite Enemies from the “Trailblazer Toolkit” PDF expansion for the game. This is all designed to make the game harder for an established crew. And the enemies do look at lot tougher, so watch out crew, things are escalating!]