5 PARSECS FROM HOME CAMPAIGN TURN 7 : K'LADAN

CAMPAIGN TURN 7

You pay Cassie a visit in sick bay after you've paid off the crew. (You try not to think about the 10c that you paid to the Thieving Tax Office. Their only reply was to remind you of the +1c interest on the fine.) She's recuperating well. She tells you not to worry. You nod back, but don't tell her that you will, anyway.

Since you are determined to go after Markession, Nicks and Callista head to the loading bay for some target practice instead of going out hunting for patron jobs.

You and Korg go trading instead. You manage to sell 1c worth of debris and some water from the purifier for another 1c. Clean potable water is in demand anywhere it seems.

You barter and get a shiny alien trinket... which turns out to be some Upgrade Goop! You ignore Korg's disappointed look and tell him to upgrade his rattle gun so it'll be steadier and he can aim better.

Janus and Scrapper head out but only Janus returns the next day. He tells you he's found an info broker willing to sell some juicy rumours for 2c each. But you're focused on paying off those thieving taxmen so you decline.

You ask him where's Scrapper. He doesn't know. They got separated after she met someone and went off with him. Maybe she's still with him...?

You get back to your quarters only to find another comm message. From Scrapper.

She tells you since the ship is impounded and can't go anywhere, she's taking some time off to follow a friend who needs to rescue his friend who's gotten lost in a hostile wilderness on a planet that has heavy background radiation so speed is vital. She'll be back when she's back.

You curse and swear. Some things get thrown around.

When you calm down, you head off to check the equipment stash. Good thing Scrapper is impulsive. She's left her stealth gear and stabliser behind. Of course, she's never separated from her weapon. Ever.

You prepare to meet the notable Markession, who seems to be in the thick of whatever organ smuggling that's going on.

You pass Scrapper's gear to Janus. He'll be the team's designated sniper for this encounter. He nods.

You sneak on board an empty shuttle headed for the Customs facility out in the Belt circling K'ladan.

The first thing you notice when you get off the shuttle is a locked door...

BATTLE TURN 1

The crew break in the Customs docking facility. It’s a simple lock and Doc manages to crack the code. Janus looked bored and just wants to get on with it.

Markession must be pretty confident no one knows of his scam. Either that or he's careless. The crew enter into the docking facility and move into cover.

All the PEFs move, but the crew doesn't have LOS to any of them. They are jumpy. This is the first time there have been so few on a job before.

BATTLE TURN 2

PEF 2 moves out of the room. PEF 3 doesn’t move, while PEF 1 moves into cover.

All the crew move into position for combat. Doc and Korg get into position to shoot... and PEF(2) is a false alarm! 

Thankfully. At such short range, any combat would've been a bloodbath. At least now the crew knows where the pirate gang are.

BATTLE TURN 3

'Doc', Nicks and Korg move further into the facility. Korg sticks his rattle gun out, ready to shoot anyone that comes in sight. Janus settlesdown, backed up by the psionic, Callista. With his hunting rifle and superb marksmanship, he's in a good position. 

PEF 3 moves into cover. PEF 1 also moves into cover but is just in LOS of Janus and Callista. It’s Markession’s pirate gang!

Janus shoots first and downs a pirate with Callista's help. The pirates are not fazed. 

Another pirate moves up and fires a laser rifle. How did pirates get their hands on  fake Customs uniforms much less laser rifles?!  Thankfully, he misses. Janus cooly returns fire and shoots him down as well. 

The pirates remain steadfast. Markession must be a holy terror to hold scum such as these steady.

The Hulker brawler dashes closer to the crew, keeping to cover. but he didn't know Korg was waiting for him! Korg shoots. he hits, but the hulker is tough. Instead of going down, he ducks out of sight. 

Another pirate steps over the bodies of his comrades and fires at Janus. Another miss. Janus fires back and doesn’t. Another pirate dead! The pirates don't run. 

A fourth pirate moves into cover and trades fire with Janus until Janus shoots him down.

Markession finally steps up. He and Janus trade shots until Markession ducks back into cover. 

BATTLE TURN 4

The crew swiftly move closer to the pirates while remaining in cover. An easy task as no pirates are in sight. Korg and Nicks dash into cover, and 'Doc' takes position, ready to shoot the hulker brawler when he shows his face. 

Janus and Callista remain in place.

A pirate moves into cover, ready to shoot at the crew but he’s now in Korg's sight. Korg reacts first. All 3 of his shots hit and the pirate is dead. 

The pirates refuse to run even though more than half have fallen. They are tough. 

Another pirate trades shots with Janus. The pirate is the one who ducks back. 

The hulker brawler moves into view of 'Doc'. She shoots but doesn’t put the ganger down. He does duck back into cover though as he’s outgunned. Dang. In the heat of battle, 'Doc' forget her new alien weapon which would have put the hulker down. Instead, she used her familiar auto rifle.

The last pirate moves into cover. He’s not too eager to poke his head out just yet. 

Cursing and swearing Markession now moves into cover and fires at Janus as the wily swindler isn’t stupid enough to tangle with Korg. He misses though. 

Janus fires back and the near miss seems to freeze Markession in place. 

BATTLE TURN 5

'Doc' runs into cover, in sight of the hulker brawler. She snaps off a shot, sending the hulker prone!

Callista now dashes forward, taking 'Doc's previous position in order to support the crew.

A pirate specialist with a hunting rifle carefully pokes his head out and shoots at Janus. He's a good shot. Janus goes down!!!

Being caught out in the open and exposed by 'Doc', and not being able to get to melee combat with her, the hulker brawler jumps up and sprints for cover behind Markession. 

He runs into sight of Callista who shoots him. She misses. He fires back and downs Callista! 

Then he runs into sight of Korg and Nicks. They are so shocked at seeing Callista go down that the hulker manages to fire at Korg first. Korg shoots back, sending the hulker wisely ducking back into cover as he's outgunned. 

He’s a tough SOB!!

A pirate carefully moves into cover to fire at Nicks. But Nicks shoots first sending the pirate scurrying back out of sight and into cover. 

Markession takes his place and shoots down Nick!

Bellowing in rage, Korg fires back. He downs Markession!

Frustrated at her inability to down the hulker, Doc tosses a frakk grenade over the container sheltering the hulker ganger and the last remaining pirate. 

The hulker brawler is blown to bits!

The remaining pirate’s nerve breaks at last and he bails!

The Straight Arrows hold the field ... but at what cost?

AFTERMATH

You check on your crew members.

Thankfully, Nicks was only stunned. He grins and flashes his Robo-rabbit foot at you. You remember what you said about silly superstitions. So does he. But you're thankful he's okay and ignore his jibes.

And glory be, it seems like Janus is also alright. He'd thrown himself to one side when the pirate fired at him. The shot missed but he hit his head on the cargo locker, stunning him. Talk about lucky!

The only real casualty is Callista. The wound is serious, but her combat armour really came through for her. A little bit deeper... and she would've gotten a wound that could have crippled her instead of just putting her out of action for a couple of cycles in Sick Bay. 

While Nicks and Janus pick through the docking facility, you and Korg 'interview' Markession.

Amazingly, he's unscathed! His weapon is damaged... the shot that hit him probably hit his weapon instead. The wily swindler just faked going down! 

Too bad. With some 'gentle' persuasion from Korg, Markession soon spills the beans and tells you everything he knows.

Yes it's true Ventho & Samid are in up to their necks in organ smuggling. While organ cloning is legal almost everywhere, it's expensive. Organ harvesting (from willing or unwilling donors) is neither expensive... or legal in most places.

And yes, they were stupid enough to use the Blood Storm to oversee one of their organ shipments to the 'Church' of Fedafuce which is mainly a front for the 'miracles' that their front man Fravati is hawking on the tri-vids.  

The 'Church' uses the organs to 'miraculously' resurrect the dead... or almost dead. For a fee, of course. Markession's role in all this is simply to pass all shipments forward to the 'Church' here on K'ladan. With an unstable government, no one is going to look too closely the the 'Customs officials' on the Belt, or the 'resurrection miracles' the 'Church' is offering.

You shake your head. Seems people will do almost anything, legal or otherwise, just to make some money. Or in this case ... obscene amounts of money.

And the fracas with the thugs? They were just a local gang trying to muscle in on the action.

Markession and Fravarti are just pawns. It's the 'Church' of Fedafuce and Ventho & Samid that are the real villains here.

A quiet word from you to the Blood Storm outfit will see Ventho & Samid taken care of. You won't even bet a credit to see if they're still around after two cycles. 

Looks like the 'Church' is up to you.

As for Markession and Fravarti... they'll be taken of one way or another.

Nicks and Janus manage to bring back some debris (you groan), and a damaged  ripper sword and power claw. They're going to need some repair, but will come in handy if you ever tangle with some hulker type enemies again.

More interesting is what Janus found: a military ship part. You should be able to barter that off to reduce the cost the next time you upgrade The Straight Arrow... but after you get her out of the clutches of the thieving K'ladan Tax Office, you vow.

You head back to the ship.

During the down time, you take care of some routine stuff. 

You meet up with a new Patron who's interested in offering you a job. You also hear that Yuan Ying, an old arms dealer contact who owes you a deal, is here on K'ladan. 

You make an appointment to see her. Being the honourable sort that she is, she offers you some weapons to make good her promise to you. You return the following day with a hand cannon, shotgun and a machine pistol... and a grin on your face. 

* * * Encrypted Burst Transmission * * *

* * * Identity Agent Double-One-Eight * * *

* * * UNITY SecFor EYES ONLY APB, Circinus Sector * * *

Name : Markession, notorious swindler

Name : Fravarti, wealthy trader

APB: 

The above individuals are implicated in organ smuggling for Ventho & Samid trading house and the Church of Fedafuce.

Recommend agents apprehend these 2 individuals. 

Markession is locked up in the Customs facility on the Belt circling K'ladan.

SecFor needs to track down Fravarti.

The Blood Storm mercenaries have a vendetta with Ventho & Samid. No action needs to be taken there.

Recommend SecFor raid all Church of Fedafuce places of 'worship' in this Sector. 

The HQ on K'ladan will be taken care of.

Full report follows.

* * * END TRANSMISSION * * *