Martin's Fault - Turn 3

What exactly is the link between the After Eden Fan Club and the mysterious and dangerous Mr H ? Is it the latter, rather than the former, that is pointing the crew of the Uncertain Precedent at Karak Korps ? 

Karak Korps bullies can be found throughout The Fringe, mostly as law enforcement contractors, but why have they brought in some tough guys onto such a low grade world as Martin's Fault ?

 

"You are sure that is what he said ?" L.T. insisted.  Divinia nodded, placidly.  The bystander she had talked with, had overheard excited chatter from the Karaks.  Their HQ were getting some sort of heavy flak, from leaking intel.  Some weird but serious incident in The Threads.

"The next time I tell you to stay behind Xoey, you stay behind", yelled Jenesis.  The hissing from the severed pipes on the life support system underlined her anger.  You couldn't leave a ship alone on a planet like Martin's Fault, where vegetation, if not enemies of one kind or another, could almost literally pop up out of nowhere.  Xoey's error was going to cost them in repairs, at least 3 creds. 

"Come on boss" said L.T. under her breath. "Whatever we are doing here, we are doing something right".  She pointed her chin at the delegation that had come to them from the town.  Sure, the information had cost them, but the townsfolk had come through with the location of military-grade salvage for their ship, and Xoey had been over the moon until her dressing down. 

"Another low-price upgrade for The Uncertain Precedent...maybe they are trying to move us off world ?  At the rate we are going through our supplies, we'll soon have to", she continued to grumble (2 Credits for upkeep).

Money was indeed getting a bit low, so Jen used just enough to keep their loan from increasing.

"Please...Jen...I think I'm going to pass out", murmured Xoey.  The captain just smiled cruelly.  "Think on that the next time you disobey orders", she replied, casually.  It was not however just casual cruelty.  Xoey would be in other fights and needed to look after herself [+1 XP allowing her to move up to Reactions 2].

Dart had taken her broken machine pistol apart, bought some new parts, put it all back together again and shot the neighbouring ship's annoying barky dog to prove it was working again.  With Xoey and Jen on combat training, nobody felt tech-smart enough to try to repair the Insta-Wall they had in storage, it would have to wait.

 

Divinia's nerves had been severely rattled during the scrap with Karak Korps, and she wasn't up to much.  Misericordia fawned on her, much to Jen's amusement and L.T.'s disgust. She organised a visit from the After Eden Fan Club, an actually quite impressive show out.  There was cake and there were presents - one fully functional Insta-Wall, because of course After Eden fans know the right end of an arc-spanner.

After that, no-one saw L.T. for a couple of days, but Jen wasn't worried.  That was her style and, anyhow, she could hardly fit back into the polite society of Martin's Fault after recent events.  She turned up eventually, a beaming smile over her face.  "You don't usually see these for sale", she laughed.  "3 Creds for a Hot Shot Pack ; I should swap trades, sell to people instead of shooting at them". 

"Useful.  Really.  The only person on board who has a hand laser is Misericordia", replied Jen dryly, "and I don't see her sticking an HSP underneath it".

"Always the pessimist", L.T. replied.

Jen had been busy, but she knew she should have kept a better eye on Prax.  He had made himself look like an idiot in the fight with Karak Korps, and now he was riled and looking to prove himself.  Not a good thing for someone with his temper.  It was late afternoon three days later when he came sprinting back to the ship, in high spirits, blood over his face and knuckles, but wouldn't say anything about it, other than looking smug.

So it had to wait for the following morning, for the crew to wake up and see a squad of Karak Korps mercs, led by an officer with an impressive black eye and obviously broken jaw.  They might have simply strutted up and down the ship berths a couple of times looking angry; but no, Prax saw them and joyfully gave them the middle finger, then pointed at the officer and drew his kukri across his throat.

 

"Fantastic", Jen told him.  "Feel better ?  Wanna pick a fight with someone our own size, next time round ?".

In fact, come to think of it, Jen should perhaps have kept a better eye on everybody.  The whole crew had gone spending mad, and The Uncertain Precedent was down to only 4 credits !  "What the...."

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The Karak Korps mercs only dispersed when Mr H. sent the promised transport to the ship.  Two armoured personnel carriers with pintle mounted flame-throwers will have that effect.   Jen left Prax behind on the ship, thinking that maybe being alone with his enemies roaming outside would give him food for thought.  She decided against showing him how to activate the ship's minigun, and instead had Xoey put it on remote.

The trip lasted a little over an hour of standard Earth time, and away from the settlements, the jungle was, well, alive.  Tendrils of it sneaked over the pitted road even as they passed, and on numerous occasions the flamethrowers had to clear the way.  Divinia said she could hear the trees screaming when that happened, and maybe they did.  It was eery and unnerving, but at the same time Jen found exhilirating the wind in her hair, when the APCs managed to get up speed.

"This is where you get out", their driver said.

"You're not taking us to Mr H. ?" asked L.T., obviously impatient to meet a man she had heard a lot about, from a different perspective.

"Of course.  Those of you who live.  The Roid Gangers are down there", he pointed.  "You don't have to kill them all.  If you wound one, the others will eat him afterwards, so spare your ammo".  He wasn't joking.  Not at all.

The scene is very dense jungle.

The driver didn't mention that the Roid Gangers had a hostage; no doubt they considered him already dead or devoured.  Saving him wouldn't hurt the crew's reputation (Person of Interest : +1 Story Point).

The aim is to reach the suprisingly solid building that rears above the combat zone (2 crew members with no enemy within 6", during 2 consecutive rounds).  From there it will be easy to draw the Roid Gangers in and pick them off, especially as wounding them will be enough to ensure their demise.  Now that you think about it, it is not impossible that the jungle will eat the wounded.

This is another Bitter Struggle, to the death for these drug-enhanced lunatics. 

 

;Roid Gangers
Lieutenant;54;3;1;false;-Blade,-Scrap Pistol,Fireteam,Move M,Resilience 3;;
Ganger 1;32;4;0;false;-Scrap Pistol,Fireteam,Move M,Resilience 3;;
Ganger 2;32;4;0;false;-Scrap Pistol,Fireteam,Move M,Resilience 3;;
Ganger 3;17;5;1;false;-Blade,-Scrap Pistol,Move M,Resilience 3;;
Ganger 4;17;5;1;false;-Blade,-Scrap Pistol,Move M,Resilience 3;;
Ganger 5;28;5;0;false;-Shotgun,Move M,Resilience 3;;
 

 

The crew can attempt to Seize the Initiative but at +0 (Hired Muscle; Roid Gangers).

Battle Events (p.116) will occur on the 8th and 12th turnovers.

7 Story Points are available and can be used during battle to reroll a die (p.66).

All Stars of the Story options (p.67) are still available, should things get hairy.

If Achieved Objective, the enemy may Give Up (p.114) allowing the crew to also Hold the Field.

 

There is +2 Cr danger pay; but if the mission is a failure, the vengeful Mr H. will become a Rival.

 

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Mr H's driver showed good knowledge of the terrain in choosing the drop off point, as the far better armed crew of the Uncertain Precedent were able to engage their adversaries with clear lines of sight.

 

The Roid Gangers were a tough mob, but with only scrap pistols as firearms, they had a hard time of it.  Divinia was worried about two approaching her isolated position, but some good long range shooting from Jen, and some swift reactions from Dart, kept her cosy.

 

The crew made it to the central structure, although L.T. did not see that knife in the back coming...

There followed a series of hard fought hand to hand combat, with Roid Gangers getting shot down each time they were disengaged.  By now the gangers were barely holding on, and it was only a matter of tracking down the last of them.

The crew were no doubt too cocky, for a Roid Ganger surged out of nowhere, bringing his heavy hammer down on L.T., who was already exhausted and defenseless from the previous running battles.  Everyone was too busy to have noticed...except for the civilian they had just rescued.  "Look out !" he called, and that warning definitely saved her life.  The crack of the hammer rung through the sudden stillness of the forest, but it had landed on L.T.s leg instead of on her head [I used the Story Point gained from the civilian rescue, to reroll a Gruesome Fate result for L.T. on the injury table !]

The crew both Achieved the Objective and Held the Field although they were too busy tending to L.T. to rummage around much.