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.