Five Parsecs from Home Turn 8: Unity

In which the crew are hired as security for one side of a late-night sit down between some unsavory individuals, but have to make their way through a Unity cordon enforcing a new curfew. 

Unity Enforcers (all Unit9 stls)

But first: 

Mireille has a brief visit with Mandy in sick bay. Shortly thereafter, he's seen leaving with his meager possessions. Later, she goes looking for the thugs who have been harassing her other new crewmember, Kangal. She finds them, and also ends up on the losing end, losing her Distraction Bot for her troubles. 

Yodel has another crack at the dueling pistol she's been working on, and finally gets it fixed. 

Hob and Ulf go off trading. Hob finds a Med Patch; Ulf buys some Dazzle Grenades, but later discovers that they've been decommissioned. They might be salvageable, though. 

Sally strikes up a fast friendship with a fellow in a bar who turns out to be an expert on small medical devices. When she mentions that they have a malfunctioning stim pack on the ship, he excitedly offers to have a look at it, and ends up fixing it for free! 

Anja, initially sent out to keep the team's rivals off their tail, ends up running into an old friend with underworld contracts, who as it turns out has been tasked with finding an unaligned party to act as security for one of two high-level bosses in an important meeting. A significant credit bonus is on offer. 

Consulting her captain briefly, Anja agrees, and everyone returns to the ship. As they are gearing up, however, they get word that the Unity shipping blockade has been extended into a general curfew. Mireille, still recovering in Sick Bay, is undeterred, confident that her team will be able to make the meet stealthily and on time, even if no ground transport is available. 

She did not count on Unity's heavily-armed patrols of enforcers. 

Moving swiftly through the streets, the team are caught completely flatfooted by an equally-stealthy patrol of Unity Enforcers! Seeing a heavily-armed group roaming the streets after curfew is all the enforcers need to move directly to violence. Yodel is barraged by fire from the enforcers' rifles, and sends her reeling, only her stim-pack keeping her on her feet. She and Anja run for the cover of a nearby apartment building. 

Hearing fire erupt on the left flank, Ulf waves the rest of the team forward, and they rush to cross as much ground as possible. Kangal cannot resist the opportunity to recover some items from an overturned crate in the middle of the road. 

A second enforcer patrol takes up firing positions behind a billboard. As the team appears in their gunsights, they also open fire, sending ricochets flying everywhere. 

Seeing that stealth is no longer an option, he orders Hob to return fire, and they each drop one of the enforcers. Sally looks on, ashen-faced. Kangal runs for the meager cover of a refueling station. 

To the south, two Enforcers wrap around the apartment building, while their sergeant heads the other way, intending to cut through the ground level. Knowing they are about to become encircled, Yodel and Anja careen through the front door of the building, just as the sergeant pulls open the door at the end of the hall. Yodel's laser flickers and the sergeant falls backwards, her body armor smoking. 

The pair then rush for the stairs, hoping to lose their pursuers in the apartments. 

The quick and violent exchange causes one of the remaining enforcers to "run for backup". His partner, on the other hand, squares his shoulders and charges around the building after his quarry. Meanwhile, a last, shotgun-toting specialist stalks a line of road barriers, unwilling to leave cover to close to firing range. Seeing an opportunity, Ulf yells at the crew with him to make a run for it! 

They all make it, despite a last-minute fusillade from the shotgun specialist. 

The other half of the team are able to escape as well. Yodel jumps from the roof of the apartment building, gliding gracefully to the ground, whereas Anja sighs and leaps rather more gracelessly, trusting her hardy stature to help her survive the impact of a two-story fall. Sally runs north, as the enforcers call the encounter in. 

The team barely makes it on time to the rendezvous, but suffer no further setbacks. They return to find payment, and an all-points-bulletin about their escapade; though they have not yet been identified, the crew of the Zouave is now on law-enforcement's radar. 

Later that morning, Mireille receives an open invitation for a meeting with an entity called the Orialis Group. 

Five Parsecs from Home Turn 7: Cultists

 

In which the crew are hired to escort an esteemed academic to investigate an alien monument that may or may not be a hoax. 

But first: the crew disperse for their usual post-mission activities: 

• Yodel stays on the shuttle, tinkering with her dueling pistol, but can't seem to get it working again. 
• Mireille, minding her own business at what is fast becoming her favorite watering hole, strikes up a conversation with a smuggler who is able to sell her some military weapons: a boarding saber and two infantry lasers! 
• Hearing this, Hob finds a fixer working for an erstwhile resistance group who is desperate to get their hands on any kind of weapons; Hob's happy to hand over some of the team's more basic gear for an influx of hard cash. 
• On his way back to the shuttle bay, Ulf finds a stim pack hanging half out of a Dumpster - it looks like it might be fixable. He doesn't tell anyone where he found it. 
• Sally goes off to a far quarter of the city to draw attention away from the rest of the crew, and comes back unscathed. 
• The two new crewmembers get in trouble again. Kangal comes back pretty banged up, having been jumped for his colony rifle. The gun won't be missed but the bipod attached to it was useful. 
• Mandy returns looking pale and jittery, claiming that he ate something bad. They both end up in Sick Bay. 

The next day Mireille's Wapcaplett, Vendetta and Prang contact offers them another job. Rumors are floating around that a cult has formed out in the sticks, in one of the private mining collectives. This cult is alleged to be centered around an ancient monument constructed by a long-dead alien civilization. The WVP contact wants the team to escort a staff xeno-archaeologist to the site and determine if any of this is true, as any ancient alien artifact may prove to be immensely valuable. The cult is known to be armed and dangerous, so the crew can expect the team to encounter resistance. 

Because the mission will take place in a populated area, WVP insists that only four crew members participate, and adhere to a strict time limit so that neither local authorities nor itinerant journalists are alerted. Given these constraints, the corporation is willing to include a significant completion bonus. 

Keeping her reservations to herself, Mireille accepts the job. 

Dangerous Cultists! (Unit9 stl, special guest appearance: Wolfgang Amadeus Wolf by Corvus Belli)

Dr. Arasaka, Xenoarchaeologist (Unit9 stl) 

The Scene of the Investigation

The crew split into pairs and make their way swiftly to the site. Soon, however, Dr. Arasaka is spotted by a group of nearby cultists, and the mission turns hot! The team is outnumbered almost 2 to 1, but the Cultists are armed only with short-ranged and makeshift weapons, and so are cut down en masse in their futile attempt to protect their shrine. Sally, meanwhile, is able to identify the curious object nearby, and determines it to be a Cybermask holo-spoof, presumably used by the recently-deceased cult leader to lure the credulous into his service. She shuts it off and packages it up, knowing it can fetch a fine price from the right buyer. Nearby, in a pile of rubble, Ulf finds a full set of spare parts for the Cybermask, along with a brand new Blast Pistol. He grins and tucks it into his belt. 

The Tragic Consequences of Fanaticism

Pleased with the result, WVP pays them a staggering sum. The credits are starting to roll in... 

Five Parsecs from Home Turn 6: Sand Runners

In which the crew of the Zouave are hired by Wapcaplett, Vendetta & Prang to clear some pests out of a building...

But first: 

Back from their last mission, the crew take some much-needed R&R. Yodel finds a cool dueling pistol in an antique shop. It's been deactivated but she thinks she can get it working again. Ulf hits the gym. Mireille meets a fixer who will find them jobs for a nominal fee; Mireille tells them that they are fine for now but will get in touch if work with their current patron dries up. 

"Reno", Unit 9 .stl

Sally comes back with a new friend in tow! Mandy Reno looks like he's been around and could be useful, so Mireille agress to take him on. Hob makes some contacts of his own, but refuses to elaborate. Mireille wonders if he is starting to feel a little too comfortable on this world? 

Kangal gets into a fight in a local bar. He wins, barely, but the rival crew of Raiders swear revenge on him and his shipmates. 

The next morning Mireille briefs the team on their next mission. The crew has been hired as exterminators! Frakking has caused local geological instability, which has pushed the resident Sand Runners from their dens. Some of these Sand Runners have overrun a research complex, and the exterminator they sent in has gone missing. The team need to emplace a lure in the middle of the complex, which will disperse through the HVAC in the facility and render the sand runners docile for future dispersal. If they can find out what happened to the exterminator, there will be a bonus! 

Their WVP contact tried to insist that the crew to go in with light weapons only, to minimize damage to the facility, but Mireille talked them out of it (whew!). (-1 Story Point). 

The Exterminator: 

Kumiko Sage, PrintMinis .stl

A pack of (juvenile) Sand Runners: 

Squig Herd, Games Workshop

The team ready their equipment and weapons. Sally is given the lure to attach to the HVAC. 

As they are about to go into the facility, though, the new guy Mandy has second thoughts. Mireille has Yodel stay behind to talk him down while the rest of the team start the mission - now significantly short-handed. 

Fortunately Mireille's sensor bot lets the shorthanded team sneak into the building without being detected. 

Ulf spots a group of small Sand Runners at the end of the hall. Seeing an opportunity target, he opens fire on the biggest one, just as Hob shouts, "No! Not that one!" As it falls, the team hears desperate screeching echo throughout the facility, as Sand Runners everywhere converge on the control room! 

Chaos erupts in the control room as the pack of beasts hurl themselves at the crew. They fire wildly at the sand runners but only manage to stun one! 

Correcting their fire, Hob and Ulf manage to down most of the first wave, but one last Sand Runner leaps over a supply box and slams into Ulf, sending him careening down the corridor. He doesn't get up. Sally, seeing the second wave bearing down on her, decides that discretion is the better part of valor, and backs away from the console, firing wildly. Mireille moves to intercept them, blasting away and waving her sword, to draw their attention. 

The lead Sand Runner leaps on Hob, but eats a knife for its trouble. A second Runner catches Mireille on her arm, just as she brings her sword down on it. She goes flying, but seems unhurt. Sally finishes off the last Runner as it turns to go after her captain. 

Ulf rolls to his feet, a smug grin on his face. "No furry mouth with legs is gonna stop me," he proclaims. 

The team find the exterminator technician hiding in a shipment of starship parts, which Ulf and Hob happily carry away before any corpo shows up. Mireille escorts the tech offsite, and the crew return to the ship. The WVP agent pays them five credits for their efforts. 

Once back at the Zouave, Mireille finds a notification: Unity has halted departures and arrivals from the starport for the foreseeable future. No matter; Wapcaplett, Vendetta and Prang has another job for them already. And Yodel has cracked the encryption on the comms device they found on the dead mercenary, those few weeks back; it seems he was hired by a shadowy criminal organization whose members follow a strict code of criminal ethics with something like Zealotry... The data includes an address that may indicate a dead drop, or a gang-affiliated hideout. Only one way to find out, Mireille muses, but work before pleasure, as they say! 

Five Parsecs from Home Turn 5 - Psychos Part 2

All figures Corvus Belli 

Crazy Starcrew pilots!

Some more starcrew

Kangal Gesurat
Figure: "Bran do Castro", Corvus Belli 

One of the big corporate players on this world, Wapcaplett, Vendetta and Prang has contracted the crew to flush out some more Psychonauts from their hideout outside of the city. Ulf raises an eyebrow at this. "Seems like there's a lot of that warp sickness going around," he muses. 

The crew take a short break before embarking on their next mission. Hob manages to trade some bits of scrap he salvaged from somewhere. Mireille finds a trainer. Ulf gets into a nice chat with an old sea dog, swapping stories of adventure and woe, some of them true. Sally is approached by a corporate headhunter claiming to represent Gottlieb & Loh, but she takes his card without making a commitment, knowing that they are already engaged with a competitor. 

Anja comes back with a new friend: Kangal Gesurat. An ex-Ganger from an industrial world, Kangal learned young how to be swift with fists and feet. Mireille offered him a job on the spot, which he gladly accepted. 

Yodel comes back with a wistful look in her eye. Has she met someone? 

The Job: 

Wapcaplett, Vendetta and Prang send the crew the coordinates of the hideout. There's a time limit: word has leaked of the op, and some nosy Journos are on the way! WVP want to avoid bad press and so the crew have to 'neutralize' the targets before the cameras show up (5 turns). Also, no area of effect weapons can be used. 

The crew land outside of sensor range and make their way in on foot. 

Once again, Mireille's sensor bot spots the Psychos before they are spotted in return, and so they are able to move up into good ambush positions. Sally starts the engagement by taking aim at the Psycho specialist with the MG - but misses! 

The Psychos spring into action! Neither the machine gunner nor the wild fire from the other Psychos' pistols find their mark. The crew are in a better position, though, and down two of the onrushing Psychos. 

Undeterred, the remaining Psychos close into close combat! Yodel jumps down from an outbuilding to snap a shot at one of the charging maniacs, and fells her just before she is able to reach Ulf. The other, however, meets Anja at the edge of the woods, and slips a blade under her guard. In her haste to parry, Anja goes flying back! Sally's shots start to connect, but the machine gunner stands her ground. She misses her target, however. Mireille starts closing the distance to the specialist to help Sally. 

Unwilling to let her boss take fire for her, Sally drills the specialist and finally finishes her off. Meanwhile Hob runs up and blasts the remaining Psycho in the back, as she turns to face Kangal. 

The battlefield falls silent. 

Mireille finds a stim-pack in the cluttered mess of the habitat module, as well as an encrypted data chip. 

The crew rush to Anja's aid, and patch up a deep gash in her left leg. Despite the severity of the wound, it doesn't look anything that a medkit can't heal, with time (2 turns, in fact). 

The Wapcaplett, Vendetta and Prang rep transfers 4 credits to the Zouave's account, but a short sharp visit by local officials claws back three of those in fees and taxes! 

Kangal asks to talk to Mireille in private, and shares with her his misgivings about the brutality of the recent operation. Mireille sympathizes and agrees with his request to sit the next mission out.