Campaign Turn 6 - Hesione

In a meeting with Austol Keast, Minister of Mining Administration and wealthy industrialist - one of his orbital mining bases has been having some troubles with overly roudy mining crews.  He doesn't want Unity administration to step in, so he wants the Crew to go in, find out what's going on, and put a stop to it.

The crew arrives on private transport, as only Mining Administration ships are allowed to dock.  They arrive to complete chaos - smoke fills the air, overloading the air filtration system's ability to keep up, and screaming can be heard throughout the compound.

Jaxx met with the crew of the Renegade Pigeon.  "Vonthos - your contact came through.  Austol Keast is a local bureacrat - the Minister of Mining Administration, overseeing mining operations for the Mining Guild.  He's also wealthy, and holds major holdings in a wide variety of companies."

"One of the Mining Guild's orbital mining bases has been having some troubles with overly rowdy mining crews.  He doesn't want Unity Administration stepping in - bad for PR, bad for profits - so he's hiring us to go in, find out what's going on, and put a stop to it.  He's providing our ride - only Mining Administration ships are allowed to dock there.  Pack up, we're leaving in four hours.  Kazi - you're staying behind.  Dig up what you can about Keast - he's promised us more work, but I want to know who I'm working for, and keep looking into those maps on the necklaces.  There's something odd out there, and it could be worth a lot of credits!"

The trip to the orbital mining base in the asteroid belt was uneventful.  The pilot gave a call of alarm when they arrived at the station - the station did not reply to his hails, but the automated docking process took over.  He was going to override, but Jaxx put a stop to it.  "Captain - This is what we were paid to do - dock, drop and dust off.  We'll call when we need pickup."

The pilot agreed, dropping the Crew off at the main hangar bay, which was sealed.  Base sensors showed that there were scattered fires throughout the base - fire suppression wsa in full swing, but the air everywhere but the hanger was full of smoke and Suppressomatic vapors.  "Breathing masks on for this.  Don't want any of that crap in your lungs."

Kitting up, the Crew moved in.  The opened a blast window to get a view of the interior, the smoke and fumes rolling in, and Miak and Ginerva took up positions behind the wall, covering the rest of the team as they made their way into the base.

Jaxx' motion tracker was picking up pings - absolutely necessary due to the low visibility.  They neared where the closest ping was, but it turned out to be a false alarm - a broken hose waving as it blasted some probably toxic vapors into the air.

Vonthos and Selene started to move up when two pings came forward quickly.  The first was what appeared to be a civilian woman, wearing Mining guild overalls.  The Crews' guns trained on her, and she stopped short and screamed.  Ginerva's voice came over their comms - "She's scared, but no threat."

Jaxx waved at her to continue past when another Mining Guildman came into view.  Unlike the first, he was caked in blood, and had a wild look to his eyes, and was carrying a shotgun.  Ginerva shouted out over comms "That one is mad - his brain is haywire."

Miak, Jaxx and Ginerva opened fire, Miak stunning the Psycho.

Vonthos fired at the Psycho, dropping him with two quick shots from his shotgun.  Jaxx called out "another ping incoming!" as a large space-rat scurried away, startled by the gunshot.

Vonthos, Selene and Vilem moved forward, Vonthos peering around a corner and spotting a pack of Psychos.  "Incoming!  Batch of them -shotguns, rattle guns!"  Selene and Vilem open fire, but due to the gloomy conditions, they both miss their shots.

The Psychos charge in.  One reaches Vilem and strikes with his blade.  Vilem parries, and kicks the Psycho's kneecap, stunning him and pushing him back.  The biggest and ugliest psycho fired his shotgun at Selene, missing.

Ginerva called out "Their minds are very wrong - it hurts to read them.  This is not natural."

Vonthos fired again, killing one of the Psychos.  Selene moved out into the open, lining up a better shot, and opened fire with her shell gun.  One shot killed a rattle-gun operator, but the rest of the Psychos remained.  Vilem ducks back under cover and fires, killing one of the Psychos.

The remaining Rattle Gun operator fires at Vilem, taking him out.  As he went down, he hit his Stim-Pack autoinjector, stabilizing him for now.  The rest of the Crew opened fire, their shots going wide due to the smoke and poor visiblity.

Selene continued to stand and fire, taking out one Psycho and stunning another.  The remaining Rattle Gun operator fires at Jaxx, stunning him heavily.

Vonthos takes out the Rattle Gun operator, but the rest of the crew missed their shots.

Finally, Jaxx lines up a solid shot with his hand flamer, burning the last Psycho.

They cleared the rest of the outpost, finding only bodies.  In the med bay, however, they found a broken box of Combat Serum, with two vials remaining, and extensive notes on experimental treatments that were being performed on the miners, to improve performance (at the cost of increased aggression).  It indicated that Stellar Ores, the company that managed the installation, was unaware of the experiments and that they were carried out at the behest of Keast.  This information would be useful to Stellar Ores, although it could put a big target on their backs.

Returning to the starport, they find an excited Kazi - She found more information on the maps and runes.  Jaxx went shopping, and got a good deal on a surplus Infantry Laser, while Kazi, Ginerva and Vonthos went out and gathered more information about their Quest.  Vilem went to the local hack doctor and had the Cyberhand they found earlier fitted, providing him a built-in close-combat weapon.

Game Turn Details

Step 1

1.  Flee Invasion - No Invasion

2.  Decide whether to travel - No Travel

3.  Starship travel event - N/A

4.  New world arrival steps - N/A

Step 2

1.  Upkeep and ship repairs - 1 Cr upkeep.  Pay 5 Cr for ship debt.  Accumulate 1 Cr of interest on ship debt.

2.  Assign and resolve crew tasks

Jaxx - Repair Hunting Rifle - does NOT succeed

Kazi - Explore - Found a merchant tent with some interesting trinkets.  Found a non-working Camo Cloak.  Got it for a song.

Selene - Train

Villem N/A Sick Bay although he can fight

Miak - Trade - a lot of blinking lights - got a Stabilizer!

Vonthos - Explore - Possible bargain.  Vonthos traded his Blade for a Cyber Hand

Ginerva - Trade - got more medical supplies.

3.  Determine Job Offers

PATRON - Wealthy Individual (Austol Keast, wealthy Bureacrat on the planet) Danger Pay +2 Credits; This or following campaign turn.

Persistant (follow beyond worlds); Private Transport (no rival follow); Busy (will get job following turn)

4.  Assign Equipment 

5.  Resolve Rumors: 

6.  Choose Battle - Patron Mission for Austol Keast

Readying for Battle - Patron Mission

1.  Determine deployment conditions

Deployment Condition - Gloomy - 9" maximum visibility, but characters that fire can be fired upon at any range

Notable Sights - Person of interest: Gain +1 story point.

2.  Objective - Fight Off

3.  Determine enemy - Criminal Element - 8 Psychos  Panic 1; Speed 6; Combat +0; Toughness 4; AI R (Rampage - ; Weapons 1B.  Bad Shots - shooting only hits on a natural 6

Rampaging enemies will move as fast as possible towards the closest opponent, and will always attempt to brawl.  rampagers with heavy weapons will stand still and fire if in sight of a target.

Regulars & lieutenant Shotgun + Blade

Specialists: Rattle gun

4.  Set up the battlefield 

Jaxx, Selene, Miak, Vilem, Vonthos and Ginerva went in.  Kazi remained behind.

For this game, I randomly set six Contact Markers, having them move as per Contact Markers in Bug Hunt.

1 - Keep Frosty - Remove contact marker; if less than 3, place on random table edge at least 6" from any of the Crew

2 - Panicked Civilian - they are running towards the landing bay.  Protect them!

3 - One Psycho appears

4-6 The Whole Pack appears

 

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Fight!

Seize The Initiative - Yes - Moved up and positioned around the exit from the landing bay.

Turn 1 - We moved into position around the bay, with Generva and Miak covering through a large opening.  Motion tracker indicated nearby movement - Nothing.  Stay Frosty!

Turn 2 - Selene, Vilem and Vonthos continued to move up.  While moving, two contact markers were revealed - the first was a panicked civilian, the second was a single Psycho.

Those that moved in the Slow Actions phase fired.  Miak hits & stuns Psycho.  Jaxx misses.  Ginerva hits & stuns again.

Turn 3 - Vonthos, Selene and Vilem move in Quick Action phase.  Vonthos fires and kills the Psycho.  Another contact marker moves into view.  Nothing.  Stay Frosty team!

Turn 4 - Vonthos, Selene and Vilem again move in Quick Action phase.  Vonthos spots the rest of the Psychos.  Selene and Vilem both open fire, missing.

The Psychos charge.  One reaches Vilem and Brawls, but Vilem pushes them back, stunning them.

The Psycho Lieutenant moves and fires at Selene, but misses.

Turn 5 - Vonthos, Selene and Vilem again win initiative.  Vonthos fires and kills one.  Selene moves into open, gaining a clear view of the horde and opens fire with her Shell Gun, killing the specialist.

Vilem moves back under cover and fires, killing the closest.

The specialist opens fire on Vilem with his rattle gun, taking him out (goof - should have used Stim Pack)

The rest of the crew fires and misses.

Turn 6 - Selene fires again, taking one out, and stunning another.  The specialist fires at Jaxx, stunning him twice.

Vonthos takes out one of the Psychos, but Miak and Ginerva miss.

Turn 7 - Jaxx takes out the last one with his flamer.

Hold the Field.

Post-Battle Steps

1.  Resolve Rival Status  - Psychos do not become rivals

2.  Resolve Patron Status  -  Added to Contacts

3.  Quest Progress  - N/A

4.  Get Paid - 5 Cr.  Paltry for a Wealthy individual.  Sigh.

5.  Battlefield Finds: - 83 - Vital Info/Invasion Evidence.  Add Corporate Patron 

6.  Check for Invasion: N/A

7  Gather the Loot:  Combat Serum - 2 uses.

8.  Injuries and Recovery: - Since I goofed, will use Stim Pack to make sure Vilem is OK.  He just sat out the rest of the fight.  Sigh.

9.  Experience: Everyone gets +3 except Vonthos who gets 4

10.  Invest in Advanced Training: N/A

11.  Purchase Items: Buy one roll on Military Weapons.  Bought Infantry Laser

12.  Campaign Event: One of the crew overheard something.  Add 1 rumor

13.  Character Event: Kazi - Overheard something useful.  Add 1 quest rumor

14.  Galactic War Progress: N/A