Martin's Fault - Turn 1

Weapon Licensing is in effect, all weapons are purchased at +1 Cr.

A Scrap Pistol is sold to offset Upkeep Costs.

After discussion and a vote, the crew decide to pay off 6 Cr of their ship debt.  After interest on the outstanding balance, they owe 19 Cr.

The crew have no rivals to interfere with them (yet !), and already have patrons.

 

Jenesis uses the down time to stretch her legs and run through a long set of combat exercices (+1 XP).  She has Divinia scrub down the ship and miraculously, the "wax-on, wax-off" movements steady her mind and focus her body (+1 XP).

 

Xoey heads to the small but lively market looking mostly for ship parts, with Dart watching her back.  Pleasant surprise, on the dusty shelves of a stim-card trader, they find an old manual for their Armadillo class freighter, annotated by an expert hand (+1 XP for Xoey). On the way back, Dart steals stuff from one stand, to barter it for a Flak Screen on another.  She calls it redistribution of wealth.

Misericordia leaves the starport to, hum, "explore".  Praxas goes with her, but she manages to shake him in the crowd, and the unfortunate warrior comes back to the ship with nothing to show for his efforts.  Misericordia herself comes back hours later with nothing more than a smile on her face and a bar tab.  She tells everyone she was following up on a rumour, but that nothing interesting has come out of it yet.  Curiously, she also has more precise information on their first job, which will go down that very afternoon.  Time to saddle up.

It turns out that Misericordia's contact, Max Apocalypse, runs a bail bond agency.  He specialises in the toughest cases, which also means he is in business with some particularly ruthless bounty hunters, who are likely, if unpaid for their efforts, to leave their patron in a permanently nasty state.  Max only gets his cash when the presumed culprit gets to the courthouse.

 

It so happens that the criminal sitting in his jail cell has something on the police force of Martin's Fault.  The trial deadline is today, and on the unique dirt road that leads from the bail bonds office to the courtroom, are a bunch of nervous looking police officers, all off-duty but openly sporting their weapons.

Max's current flame - the one he would like to replace with Misericordia - is not only a lieutenant on the police force, she is also part of the posse set up to do the dirty.  She has already confessed to Max that her hands are not particularly clean.  For Max, this is an opportunity to kill two birds with one stone.  Well, maybe not kill, the bail bondsman is not that infatuated with Misericordia....

--------------------------------

The scene is a run-down town, with a main street at the end of which is the courthouse / town hall / saloon.

The Six After Eden are up against some Enforcers (Hired Muscle).  They are made up of a Lieutenant (Military Rifle, an extra +1 T as a priority target, see below), two patrolmen (Military Rifle) and a specialist (Hunting Rifle). 

The stakes are high for the police, and this will be a Bitter Struggle (enemy Panic rating drops by 1).  Their Roster turns out as follows :

;Enforcers
Police Lieutenant;51;5;2;false;-Blade,-Military Rifle,Fireteam,Move M,Resilience 3;;
Patrolman 1;21;6;1;false;-Military Rifle,Fireteam,Move M,Panic 1,Resilience 4;;
Police Sergeant;43;5;2;false;-Hunting Rifle,Fireteam,Move M,Panic 1,Resilience 4;;
Patrolman 2;21;6;1;false;-Military Rifle,Fireteam,Move M,Panic 1,Resilience 4;;
 

This Lieutenant is definitely something, having shaped some pretty raw material into two well-coordinated fireteams.

Each fireteam will set up d20" from their table edge, randomnly on the left or the right side of the main street, seeking the closest cover to that set-up point.

The escorted criminal can be controlled by a figure that is adjacent and neither Shaken nor Gone to Ground.  A controlling figure can move the criminal with him.  It is only possible for there to be one controlling figure, however, between two turnovers.

Should the criminal not be controlled when a turnover occurs, he will make a Q5+ check with three dice and use all successes to move to the closest table edge.  He cannot be targetted by either side.

The Uncertain Precedent's crew Achieves their Objective if the criminal reaches the courthouse doors, on the opposite side from their entry edge.  When this happens, any remaining enemy may Give Up (p.114) allowing the crew to Hold the Field.

The crew can attempt to Seize the Initiative (p.112) but at -1 (Enemy : Hired Muscle).

The Lieutenant is Max's flame, and is a priority target.  If she is put out of action the team will receive +1d3 Cr, but not if she is Killed in Action.  The job itself pays out +2 Cr more than normal.

The planet is Overgrown so vegetation must be added to the battlefield of any encounter (p.73) 

There will be a Battle Event (p.116) at the beginning of the eighth turnover, and another after the twelfth.

Time to run the gauntlet...

________________________

The gauntlet.  The crew must get their guy to the chrome-plated courthouse in the bottom left.

Jenesis proved to be ineffective, as her plasma rifle completely malfunctioned on the first shot.  Someone must have been siphoning the batteries to test the ship's engines...

Dart made a wide outflanking move to the east of the main street, keeping the enforcers under pressure.  Misericordia moved up the center, getting as good as she gave, with her screen generator saving her from a well-aimed shot from the enemy lieutenant.

On the western flank, Archimedes dragged their unwilling prisoner along, preceded and covered by a somewhat ineffectual Xoey, and a far better Divinia Trix, who put the police sergeant down and then broke his nerve.

The Lt turned out to be a real pain in the butt, escaping the pincer movement in the centre to come and challenge Archimedes.  As he dashed towards the main street, she followed up and was only prevented from shooting him in the back by the presence of Xoey.

This seemed to annoy Dart.  She had already put one of the rookies out of action, but now she came right up on the other, laying on the ground cowering from incoming fire, and shot him between the eyes at point blank range.  Surprisingly nasty work.

Made it !  The criminal will stand trial and spill the beans, surely surprising everyone with tales of widespread law enforcement corruption on Martin's Fault.  Shocking !

The crew of The Uncertain Precedent both Achieved their Objective, and Held the Field.  Dash must have scared them, as the Enforcers did not become Rivals.

5 credits were earned from this mission, and bits and pieces of police tech plucked from the corpse were worth another credit.  Max Apocalypse was doubly pleased with the lesson dealt to any that would cause him trouble in the future, and brokered an excellent deal for them for discounted ship parts.

Everyone picked up 3 XP and Divinia, who scored the first casualty, 4 XP.  Jenesis' time out proved to be beneficial, as watching how everyone else fought helped her better understand her team (+1 Reactions).