Five Parsecs From Home

The crew debriefed and rested back at the Enlightenment, and considered their next steps. The mission, whilst successful, hadn’t given them any solid leads about what to do next. They were clearly on a trail of some kind, but for now it seemed to have gone cold. The down time was put to good use however. The crew made themselves useful around the spaceport and were able to earn enough credits to pay off the debt for the ship. This was a key part of Jaryk’s overall plan. One less tie back to anyone who could pin him down. One less thread for his father to pull at. He felt free at last. Little did he know that his father was very well aware of where he was. Leela had seen to that. High Admiral Jervis Tarff continued to allow his errant son to pursue his foolhardy endeavours…for now.

The bots had managed to repair the Glare Sword. It was an elegant weapon, for a more civilised time, and K’Vani was allowed to replace her basic blade with it. It wasn’t quite as good as the sacred weapons of her homeworld, from which she was banished, but it would pierce armour and draw the blood she so craved to spill. Despite their best efforts, the Blast Pistol seemed beyond repair.

One day, K’Vani returned from the markets with some news. An overheard conversation, a cornering of an informant in a dark alley, and the sharp end of a newly refurbished Glare Sword later and it was revealed that a local punk gang had been hired to guard an old supply dump on the southern fringe of the port. The job had clearly been instigated quickly, a bunch of punks would be no long term solution, but it was the sign the crew were looking for.

They made their preparations…

The crew got the jump on the punks. They were sitting around, smoking and drinking, and doing a really poor job of doing anything that remotely resembled guarding. It wasn’t clear which of the containers was supposed to be being looked after. They quickly jumped to attention though as the crew moved in, and drew an assortment of decrepit-looking weapons.

[The mission objective was “Search”, which involves placing an objective marker on each piece of terrain, and the crew being able to trade a combat action for a search action. On a 5 or 6 they find the loot. If they fail then that terrain piece is empty. It is therefore possible for them all to be empty and the mission to fail. There was also a marker for “Shiny Bits” worth 1 credit, placed 2D6+2″ in a random direction from the centre which can be picked up for an action. Punks won’t move into combat with an enemy with a higher Combat Skill than them, and only hit shooting on a natural 6, so i decided to modify their AI a little and have their strategy to be to move in but shoot from cover]

The battle started as a cagey affair, with each side taking pot shots from behind cover as they slowly met in the centre of the compound. The crew were clearly the more competent soldiers, and better armed, but the punks had the advantage of numbers and therefore not to be taken lightly. The superior shooting skill gradually took its toll, and the punks started to go down.

Remarkably, at some point during the battle, K’Vani disappeared. Jaryk feared she had been downed by a lucky shot from one of the punks, but they were to find her later outside of the compound having gotten ‘lost’ with no memory of how it happened. Very strange indeed…

The other main drama was when patrol bot Jeff charged into a punk who, in a surprising display of skill, feigned a swing of a tire iron before slamming a hidden knife into the bot’s torso three times, severing internal circuitry. [Punk rolled a 6, Jeff rolled a 1, that’s three hits!] Jeff hit the floor in a shower of sparks. That damage was going to take some repairing..

Jase’s shotgun took his revenge on the punk that downed Jeff, and quickly only the enemy leader was left. Jaryk shouted an offer to spare him if he fled, but the leader yelled back a string of abuse by way of a refusal, and came in for an unwinnable fight. One blast from Jaryk’s hand cannon and the lead punk was reduced to a pile of bone and viscera that even the Sand Runners may turn their noses up at when they came scavenging later.

The crew searched the battle field, and found what they thought was the prize the punks were employed to guard. But the crate was full of scrap that, whilst it might fetch a few credits in the markets, was not what they were looking for at all. Thankfully, Jaryk made the crew search every last container, and in the last one they made a very interesting find indeed. There was a person inside, bound and gagged, and looking very much the worse for wear!

[And, my friends, we will introduce you to her before the next round!]