Martin's Fault - Turn 5

Genetically mutated creatures, capable of sniffing out a specific individual, that is not the sort of tech that is usually found on such a backwater world as Martin's Fault.  Too much risk of it spinning out of control, for one; and Karak Korps' use of it is tantamount to a declaration of war against Kotel Kommunications.  Indeed, within minutes of Kotel's RIT flying off, explosions could be heard in the distance.   What in all the hells is going on ?

Although Xoey had not seemed very active on the battlefield, she had been discreetly weaving through the chaos to recover the "headless chicken" that had fallen.

"You're not going to dissect that thing on board ?" asked Jen, wrinking her nose at the smell that exuded from it.

"Not my speciality", said Xoey, "I wouldn't know the mouth from the arse end, especially as they look pretty much the same.  It'll be worth a fortune on the black market though"; and it was, no less than 6 credits.  Xoey had of course exaggerated her ignorance (+1 Savvy from experience points).  The crew had also salvaged a plasma rifle from a fallen Kotel RIT operative, so it was a good haul.

To everyone's surprise, Prax was actually still alive [house rule : for being put out by a Gory Death, a character has to make three rolls on the Injuries table and take the worst].

"So, how ?", Jen asked him.

"Guess I don't really need that bit", replied Prax, referring to the large chunk missing from his shoulder, before passing out from the pain.  He would be in sickbay for a while (4 game turns).

A Kotel armoured car took them back to the Uncertain Precedent, ignoring the protesting shouts from Karak thugs as it narrowly missed them on the docks.  On the way, Divinia had received a call from the After Eden Fan Club.

"Let me guess", said Jen when she hung up.  "We can no longer count on Mr H's undying love, since his star player got eaten by a giant mutant spider ?".

Nor on his enmity, apparently, Kotel not having appreciated being dragged into open war with a rival corporation, and making him pay for it.  He might even be dead by now, Jen didn't really care.

In the following days, Karak henchmen gradually disappeared from the docks, carried away in a steady flow into the jaws of battle.  The rattle of gunfire and occasional explosions rocked the following nights.

Dart had taken really badly her flight from the scene of battle; she was literally beating herself up over it (Tough +1 from experience gains).  Jen distracted her by sending her out into town to sniff around, and she did stirling work, coming back with some very interesting information.  By coincidence, Xoey, who had been working the black market to sell her unusual haul, confirmed it through rumours that she had heard, begged or bought.

The gist of what the two of them had heard was this.  Something really bad had happened in the system known as The Threads, some sort of EM pulse of unimaginable magnitude.  Whatever had caused it, had hit a ship just as it was making a jump out of the Threads' Weak Point, throwing it way off course to arrive at Martin's Fault, in dreadful state with most of the crew dead and the others very badly affected.  A Karak Korps patrol happened to have picked them up, and was now illegally detaining and interrogating them.  Loose mouths let rumours circulate, and Karak Korps have been violently trying to shut them down.

"Tough luck for the Threads" said Jen, picking dirt from under her fingernails, as they all sat listening.

"I'm from the Threads", said L.T., who was up and about, although still suffering from her injuries.

"A whole solar system, it's a big place", said Dart, who was still under the weather.

"It's a small world", replied Jen, and that was settled.  The Uncertain Precedent had a quest.

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"We'll keep a look out", said Jen, referring to Misericordia and herself.  "Xoey, find a weak spot in their security and get us inside.  Let us know when it is done".

Inside, was inside the grim looking building to which, with the help of Kotel, they had traced the crew of the Threads ship, the Harvest of Yellow.  Kotel had found it thanks to the merchant ship's shuttle, which was standing outside the building under electronic camouflage netting.

"We get inside, grab the crew, and get them to Kotel", Jen had said.  Not the most elaborate of plans, but functional.  "They'll be able to trade what they know for their safety".

Xoey had no sooner cracked one of the security doors than L.T. beckoned everybody down.  "Karak guards", she hissed.  The she stood up and walked boldly through the door.

Karak guards, indeed, but all dead.  Quite gruesomely.  Wait, were those bites ?

"That", whispered Divinia, "must be the crew of the Harvest of Yellow".  She had gestured at a couple of armed men and women that had wandered into their line of sight.

"What makes you so sure ?" asked Xoey, nervously, already knowing the answer.

There was dried blood all over the front of their tunics...and around their mouths.

"I don't think Jen's plan is going to work", murmured Dash, drawing her beam pistol.

"Wait", said L.T., placing a restraining hand on her arm.  "These are my people.  Let's give them a chance.  Besides", she added, pointing at a camera that was panning back and forth in a very deliberate motion, "It seems that not everyone in here is shit-stir crazy.  Lets move through," [get at least 2 crew members off the opposite board edge, p.90] "the building and get to whichever room the cameras are worked from."

"Here are the specs", said Xoey, casting them onto everyone's PCDs.  "Look sharp, everyone".

 

;Abandoned
Lieutenant;62;4;1;false;-Blade,-Colony Rifle,Fireteam,Luck 2,Move M,Panic 3,Resilience 5;;
Crew Specialist 1 & 2;32;4;1;false;-Shotgun,Move M,Panic 3,Resilience 5;;
Crewmen 3 & 4;25;5;0;false;-Colony Rifle,Fireteam,Move M,Panic 3,Resilience 5;;
Crewmen 5 & 6;8;4;1;false;-Blade,-Scrap Pistol,Move M,Panic 3,Resilience 5;;

 

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

Deployment is Delayed (p.88), with Jenesis and Misericordia arriving at the end of a round on which a D6 roll is equal or inferior to the round number (p.88).

The crew can attempt to Seize the Initiative, and have a +1 bonus to do so against Abandoned. (p.99).

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

1 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, except for It's Time to Go should things get hairy.

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

 

This mission also has a Secondary Objective.  The degree to which a Secondary Objective is acheived allows a number of rerolls during the Post Battle Activities which follow this encounter.  A maximum of one reroll is allowed per phase.

The Secondary Objective is to not badly wound or kill the Threaders.  The only way to achieve this is :

- cause the enemy to flee from the battle zone, either from a failed Morale Check, or by Bailing.

- cause the enemy to become Shaken by a Stun weapon, and then move a character into base to base contact before it recovers (remove the enemy figure from the battle zone in this case)

-  put the enemy Out of Action (or worse) during close combat, whilst ot using any edged weapon.

For each Threader removed in this way, one re-roll is gained.

 

The Threaders are split up into three groups, deployed in a random room or corridor.  If an enemy is in the same room, or an adjacent room to which the door is already open, they activate as normal.  Otherwise, upon their activation, roll 1D6.  On a 1-3, the activation is passed.  On a 4-6, the Threader may move.  Randomise the direction (door), unless the Threader chose a path last activation, in which case he or she will remain on it on a 3-6.

If a Theader in the room has already activated and moved this turn, the others will activate on anything except a 1, and will follow the other's movement.

The controlling player always decides how many dice to roll for the Threader's activation.  Fireteam can only be used if normal activation is.

For morale test purposes, the "table edge" is any room with outward facing windows.

 

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The team split in two, the aim being for one group to draw off the enemy, counting upon their apparent mindlessness, whilst the second group made for the control room via hopefully empty corridors.

The crew lieutenant decided to back-track, but in the confusion his men did not follow, whilst another pistol-armed crewman came through the door.  This seemed like the ideal moment for Dart, Divinia and LT to engage a firefight in the eastern corridor.  

Hit by a shot from a plasma rifle, one of the crew fled in terror, the sound of breaking glass being heard from afar.  Another burst of fire from Divinia unfortunately killed a pistol-wielding adversary, and this caused the third crewman, already badly shaken from the heavy fire, to bug out.

The corridor was now empty, but LT was at this point so worked up about not killing any of the crew, that Dart ordered her into a side corridor, to see if there was anything to be found there [Event : a random crew member may leave the table in order to investigate something, and gain a Loot roll].

Unfortunately, there was now a general movement of the Harvest of Yellow crew towards the western sectors, where Misericordia and Xoey were attempting to infiltrate.  The enemy lieutenant literally looped round the complex to fall upon them, along with a shotgun armed crew member.

A fierce battle broke out in the central room, ultimately leading to both Xoey and Misericordia put out of action in hand-to-hand combat.

Divinia and Dart, tending to the fallen, were slow to seize the opportunity and make for the control room.  This meant that Divinia ran into a knife-wielding crewwoman, who took her out in hand to hand combat.  Dart evened the scales by knocking her unconscious.  Bursting into the following room, Dart put down a shotgun-waving crewman and then followed up with a heavy blow to the back of the head that put him out of action.

By this time,the two remaining crew members were making their way back to the proximity of the control room.  Dart was alone, engaged in a desperate struggle with one of them.  Jenesis, who had been of little help during the entire engagement, was still too far away to assist, leaving her alone as the lieutenant burst into the room, eyes bloodshot.  In a running gun battle with the two adversaries, Dart made it to within a hair's breadth from the panel to the control room, which she prayed would be opened from the inside.

Things were looking bleak as Dash was forced to dive to the ground to avoid a shotgun blast, but she recovered [3 successes !], shot the Harvest of Yellow crew-member dead (unfortunately) and made it to the door.  The enemy leader, seeing this, fled through the shattered windows into the night.

The door to the control room slid open...

The crew of the Uncertain Precedent Achieved their Objective and Held the Field.  To boot, the Secondary Objective had been pretty much attained, with 5 of 7 Harvest of Yellow crew members fled or unconscious and quickly trussed up.  There was quite a bit of loot; 5 credits, a Karak Korp's needle rifle that no one had (fortunately) bothered to pick up during the insurgency, and a damaged hand cannon and fury rifle found by LT.  It was obvious this place was supposed to be heavily defended.

The price was not as heavy as feared.  Xoey was admittedly in very bad shape, with a crippling wound that required immediate and expensive surgical care, and she would be in sick bay for a good while [6 turns].  Divinia had her rattle gun all smashed up, but that was all, and replaced it with a shotgun taken from one of the fallen.  Misericordia had lost her Hand Laser, but otherwise suffered from only cuts and bruises, despite the beating she had taken.

A very tense scenario, with the activation system for the enemy working well (but definitely needing a complex with a lot of rooms).  The addition of a Secondary Objective was fun, and worthwhile, since the five rerolls helped a lot during the after action sequence.

This was also a fairly key scenario for crew development, as, with the additional XP acquired from training in the following phase, three crew members (Jen, LT and Misericordia) were able to attain Q4+, which will definitely allow more tactical options.