Five Parsecs From Home

“Leaving so soon?”

Jaryk turned slowly and placed the crate he was carrying carefully on the floor. He cursed under his breath. Another half an hour and New Pallas would have been a shrinking sphere in the rear viewports of the Enlightenment. This was bad timing.

“Petev! I was just coming to see you!” Jaryk lied.
“Sure, sure you were. Well I saved you the walk then don’t you think?” Petev grinned with a pearly white smile that only money could buy.

Petev Liamson was a patron that Jaryk had met upon his arrival at New Pallas, and he had been systematically deprioritising his jobs ever since. Call him paranoid but whenever someone can work the word “dangerous” three times into one sentence you tend not to get overly excited about the “opportunity” being sold to you.

“Look,” Petev continued, “ I know how it is. I know more than you think I know. You want to be on that old ship of yours, away from New Pallas, and as far as you can get from your responsibilities. Am I right? I think I am close, yes? I understand and I can help you. I am a busy man. I have two small jobs that need doing. Do them for me and I will pay you well AND give you some information. That crate you were holding? The one that, shall we say, ‘fell off’ of a government convoy? Something doesn’t sit right with you does it? I have some detail on that particular cargo. After the job, before you leave, I will tell you what I know. Come talk to me tomorrow.”

Jaryk met Petev’s eye with a cool gaze of his own, desperately trying not to appear as surprised as he felt inside. He simply nodded and returned to loading the crates.

After a disturbed nights sleep, Jaryk met with Petev to get the job detail. Get into an old communications outpost, insert a disk into the mainframe, and initiate the file upload. The system would then beam the data off-world. Jaryk knew better than to ask what was on the disk, or where the upload was going, better not to know. They key detail of concern was that the outpost was infested with giant bugs. Of course it was…

[This is the last of the initial patron jobs that we picked up at the beginning of the campaign, and this was the last campaign turn in which we could complete it. Additionally, this patron is “busy” meaning we can do another job for them in the following campaign turn. So two jobs for Petev! This one is a “Deliver” mission]

The crew set about their work. Jase and Leela hit the training rooms whilst Jeff and Jim were sent to explore the markets, using their scanners to record anything of note. Jim heard word of another patron looking for a mercenary crew to undertake work for them, but Jaryk wasn’t looking for any more reasons to extend their stay. Jeff reported seeing the same stranger that gave them the tip-off about the raid on the corp compound, but couldn’t determine what he was up to. Jaryk and K’Vani went out to see what they could trade. They picked up a shotgun (useful against the bugs they would soon be facing) and also some high class food and drink which could be used to impress a guest should they need to.

Geared up, the crew made for the communications outpost ready for a fight. Upon arrival, the mainframe and transmitter were clearly visible atop a building in the centre of the compound. Jaryk set in motion a plan similar to the one that worked well against the Krorg. He would dash for the transmitter, with K’Vani watching his back. The others spreading out to separate the enemy. The next few minutes were a cacophony of gunfire. As the bugs charged in, they were met with a hail of bullets. Large and easy to target, the crew were able to force them back repeatedly but putting them down proved difficult. They were tough! Patrol Bot Jeff was the first to kill one of the giant bugs and that hardened the crew’s resolve. These things were killable!

Jaryk climbed up to the communications mainframe and inserted the disk. The transmitter clicked into life and the antenna turned to face a specific point in the sky. It took only seconds. As the nearest target, the bugs had closed on Jaryk’s position. As he retreated, a blast from his hand cannon put another one of the bugs down. K’Vani, in a rare display of firearm prowess, aimed and fired her pistol, killing another bug. It was going well. Jaryk gave the order to remain and clear out all of the bugs. No running away this time.

K’Vani felt the rush of blood she had been waiting for. She set her sights on the nearest bug, drew her blade, and prepared her charge. No crude guns for this fight – it was time for hand to hand. Then, to her complete dismay, her target exploded in front of her eyes. She turned to see Jase, still staring down the barrel of his shotgun, smoke pouring from its barrels. K’Vani glared furiously at him. But Jase simply shrugged and moved on.

The fight ended quite quickly after that. The bugs, tough as they were, not able to withstand the barrage of fire, and not intelligent enough to seek cover. The crew were free to loot the area unhindered before reporting back to Petev.

[The crew found 3 credits worth of scrap, some stimm packs and a couple of guns. The stimm packs could certainly come in useful as they can stave off death if a character would otherwise be downed as a casualty. 5 credits in total from Petev as well. He was true to his word after all!]