Five Parsecs from Home, Session 7
Bounty Hunters
Anatole Costas appeared anxious for the dayly briefing to be over.1 “Cyril, take a look at the damaged combat armor from yesterday and see if you can get it fixed.”
“Captain, remember we have that Fixer I found,” Brad spoke up. His eager expression withered under VanDerkin’s glare.
“We’ll save that for when the bot can’t do the work,” the captain growled. “Uri and I are on bed rest today. Chen, you hit the firing range. You could use the practice. Costas—”
“I have plans,” Anatole cut him off. She met his eyes without giving anything away or encouraging him to ask.
Derderk shrugged and continued.2 “Cyril when you get the combat armor repaired give it to Anatole.” He glanced to see if she appreciated the resource assignment but her expression remained unchanged. He shifted annoyed in his seat. “Oh, and the blade we found, Cyril, I want you to keep that. After seeing that overseer bot at Sigil Mod waving it around I figured you could do better.”
“Acknowledged,” Cyril responded in a measured tone.
That had been hours ago and now Captain VanDerkin was alone in the galley. Life aboard a grounded starship was boring. He shuffled a deck of cards and tapped the deck’s edge against the table to straighten the pile. He was not playing a game, he just like the way the sound bounced off he blank walls of the galley.
There was paperwork that he could filing; even a small merchant cruiser like Enola Mirror generated enough virtual ink to float a digital tanker. Derderk cut the deck and shuffled the two halves back together. Idly, he wondered where Costas had gone.3 He liked talking with her.
He could check in on Uri, he thought, but he was in no mood to explore his deeply repressed emotions.4 It did not occur to him to talk with Brad Chen or Cyril.
A few cuts and shuffles later and Derderk surrendered to the inevitable and opened his tablet.
**
“The captain won’t care that we’re doing a mission without him?” Brad Chen asked, jogging to keep up with Anatole Costas. She and the bot had been waiting for him outside he shooting range when he finished his practice. She was wearing the newly-repaired combat armor and Cyril Nombre 663x was adorned with a fresh baldric supporting a blade. Anatole had not given him much information beyond needing to discourage some recent attention.
“He won’t care so long as we all come back,” Anatole said evasively.
“It would be helpful to know our objective,” Cyril pointed out.
“Shoot anything that shoots at you,” Anatole said. A few steps later she stopped and turned to the two following her. “Okay, cards on the table, this is personal. Not Mirror business. In my life before signing on with Derderk I managed to make some enemies. Not powerful enemies on the galactic scale,” she hastily added when Brad’s eyes widened in apparent awe. “But powerful enough that I needed to get away anonymously. Derderk provided the cover I needed. Unfortunately I’ve been found. A bounty hunter and his squad are here on Aolhamo and they’ve been asking questions. I’d rather they not be able to take me or any answers back to their boss.”
Cyril stood still. A command had not been issued so there was no need to react. Brad Chen nodded slowly. “The way I see it,” he said, standing tall. “We’re all Echoes. We have each others’ backs, or we have nothing at all.”
Anatole bit the inside of her cheek to keep her eyes from rolling. Still, she was glad to have him with her. He wasn’t much good in a firefight, but he did provide another target, er, distraction for the bounty hunters. She offered a smile of appreciation then pivoted on her booted heel before setting off again.
**
The central rail yard was the hub of commerce in this district of Aolhamo. Anatole’s sources indicated the bounty hunter, Manesh Taloth, had holed up here while scouting for information about her whereabouts. She looked out into the network of tracks and empty cars and hoped Taloth’s intelligence was not current. She sensed movement ahead and readied her blast pistol.5 Her trigger finger reacted before she completely registered what she was seeing and one of Manesh Taloth’s men went down. A moment later the side door of a boxcar slid aside and three figures leaped out. The sound of a firing Colony Rifle barked into the stillness and Anatole saw a second figure jerk and stagger backwards.
All three were quick to recover. The stunned hireling shouldered his own Colony Rifle and fired. His shot was answered by the duel explosion of Cyril’s shotgun and the hireling staggered back a second time, his left arm swinging limply at his side. The other two, Taloth and his assassin, fired blindly in Brad’s direction, but the young crewman had already moved.6
Anatole saw Brad appear over the roof line of a boxcar down the tracks. The assassin saw him, too, and raised his blast rifle. The young Echo’s training kicked in and Brad fired first. The assassin’s coat flapped and blood began to well just above his belt. He tried to return fire, but was off balance from his recent wound and missed. Nearby the hireling seemed to have fallen into a slight panic. He snapped off a shot in the direction of Cyril, opening himself to the bot’s return fire. Two explosions and the hireling fell face-first into the rough ground of the rail yard.
Manesh Taloth had allowed his companion to draw Cyril into the open and sent two rounds at the bot. Anatole could not see Cyril but the bot’s indicator showed Cyril was still online. She ducked around the car she had been using for cover and raced along the tracks for a better vantage point.7
She and her team fired as the opportunity presented, but Anatole focused on reaching the ladder that would put her on top of a tanker car she had spied on a side track. She reasoned the manway nozzle in the middle of the upper surface would provide convenient cover in the ongoing showdown. Eventually she reached the curved shelter. From her heightened position she looked down on the yard. Brad and Cyril had been busy. The assassin lay motionless on the gravel near the fallen hirelings. Manesh Taloth was crouched with his back pressed against a steel flanged wheel. Anatole watched him quickly pivot around the front of the car to fire at Cyril. The shots went wide of the bot and Taloth returned to his crouched position.
Anatole took her time, squinting along her blast pistol’s sight. She felt her heart rate slow as she gently squeezed the firing stud. Manesh’s neck vaporized in a red cloud. “We’re clear,” Anatole said on the comm.8 As she crossed the tracks to regroup with Cyril and Brad she paused to check the bodies of the fallen bounty hunter and his crew. In the breast pocket of Manesh’s vest she found a data wafer. Anatole slipped it into her own pocket to review later.
**
Derderk was at the lock when Anatole came through, followed by Brad and Cyril. “Where have you three been?” he demanded.
Anatole gave a look to Brad and Cyril and they edged past their captain. Anatole waited until they were out of sight before giving her attention to VanDerkin. “I had some personal business to attend to,” she said.
“It’s not personal if you take my crew with you,” Derderk started to protest. He stopped when Anatole handed him a credit stick. “How much?”
“Six,” she said succinctly. “And in the bay there’s another part we can use for that upgrade to the Mirror you’ve been wanting.”
Derek VanDerkin rubbed his chin. “Are you okay now?” he asked.
Anatole gave a noncommittal shrug of her shoudlers. “I’m okay for the moment. We’re not hanging around Aolhamo much longer are we?”
The captain smiled slyly. “No,” he said. “Too much is happening to people who aren’t me here.”
Anatole Costas returned his smile and slipped a waver into his hand. “There’s a picture on here,” she said. “Do you know Manesh Taloth?” Derderk nodded slowly. “I got it from him,” Anatole continued. “The woman in the picture looks a lot like the one in the picture on your desk.”
Derderk’s eyes narrowed and his face went rigid. “Location?” he whispered.
“I don’t know,” Anatole said. “But there are coordinates in a text file on the wafer, too. I thought you’d want to know.”
Travel: Not traveling.
New World Arrival: N/A.
World Steps
Upkeep and Ship Repairs: Upkeep 1 credit, new ship total is 12 credits; Debt, N/A; Medical Care, pay 4 credits to reduce Derderk’s time in sick bay to only 1 campaign turn. New ship credit total is 8 credits.
Crew Tasks
Derderk: sick bay.
Anatole: Track Rival, success.
Uri: sick bay.
Brad: Train, 1xp, new total is 4xp.
Cyril: Repair Combat Armor, success.
Job Offers: N/A.
Assign Equipment: Repaired combat armor goes to Anatole; the blade found last campaign turn goes to Cyril.
Resolve Rumors: N/A.
Choose Battle
Check for Rival: No.
Select Job: Attack a Rival.
Battle
Deployment Conditions (d100): 62, Bitter Struggle, enemy morale is +1.
Notable Sight (d100): 94, Peculiar Item, +2xp.
Objective: Because Anatole tracked down the Rival, the objective is a Showdown.
Determine the Enemy (d100): Roll twice and pick the most interesting. 81, Interested Parties; or 12, Criminal Element. Choose Interested Parties (d100): 12, Bounty Hunters. Number of enemies is 4 (d6) + 1 (Campaign Turn 6 Character Event) - 1 (Easy Mode) = 4 enemies defined as:
2 Minions, Minion 1 has a Scrap Pistol, and Minion 2 has a Colony Rifle.
1 Specialist, has a Blast Rifle.
1 Bounty Hunter (Lieutenant), has a Shotgun and a Blade.
There is no Unique Individual.
Uri Glenchester is a “Feeler,” a human from a culture that extoles emotional experience above all else. Everything should be “felt” and “explored deeply.” Feelings should be shared with the collective and talked about in ritual drum circles.
Battle Round 1
Initiative Actions
Anatole: Optimal Shot successfully targets Minion 1, Hits and rolls damage for Kill. Anatole receives First Kill xp bonus.
Brad: Optimal Shot successfully targets Minion 2, Hits and rolls damage to Stun Minion 2.
Firefight
Minion 2 vs. Cyril: Minion 2, 1 shot, Miss; Cyril returns fire, 2 shots, Hit and Miss. Rolls damage to stun Minion 2.
Specialist vs. Brad: Specialist, 1 shot, Miss; Brad has already fired this round.
Lieutenant vs. Brad: Lieutenant has 2 shots, Miss, Miss; Brad has already fired.
Battle Round 2
Battleflow Event (d100): 35, Spot Firing Position. Characters firing from this known position count opponents as being In Range and In The Open (to hit is 5+).
Initiative Actions
Brad: Move Up to known Firing Position.
Firefight
Minion 2 vs. Cyril: Minion 2 fires, Miss; Cyril returns fire, 2 shots, Hit, Hit, damage rolls Stun and Kill.
Specialist vs. Brad: Brad has superior range and fires first, Hits, damage roll Stuns; Specialist returns fire, Miss.
Lieutenant vs. Cyril: Cyril already fired; Lieutenant fires 2 shots, Miss, Hit, damage roll Stun.
Battle Round 3
Battle Flow Event (d100): 91, Covered Retreat, N/A.
Initiative Actions
Anatole vs. Specialist: 1 shot, Miss.
Brad vs. Lieutenant: 1 shot, Miss.
Firefight
Specialist vs. Anatole: 1 shot, Miss.
Lieutenant vs. Cyril: Cyril fires first, 2 shots, Hit, Miss, damage roll Stun.
Battle Round 4
Battle Flow Event (d100): Spot Firing Position.
Initiative Actions
Anatole Moves Up to the known Firing Position.
Firefight
Specialist vs. Brad: Brad fires first, 1 shot, Miss; Specialist fires, 1 shot, Miss.
Lieutenant vs. Cyril: Cyril fires first, 2 shots, Miss, Hit, damage roll Stun; Lieutenant returns fire, 2 shots, Miss, Miss.
Battle Round 5
Battle Flow Event (d100): 68, Open Ground, all characters going into Brawl count as being In The Open if fired upon.
Initiative Actions
Brad: Optimal Shot successfully targets Lieutenant, 1 shot, Miss.
Firefight
Specialist vs. Brad: Specialist has 1 shot, Hit, damage roll Stun.
Lieutenant vs. Brad: Lieutenant has 2 shots, Miss, Hit, damage roll Stun.
Battle Round 6
Initiative Actions
Anatole: Optimal Shot fails.
Brad: Optimal Shot successfully targets Lieutenant, 1 shot, Miss.
Cyril: Optimal Shot fails.
Firefight
Specialist vs. Cyril: Specialist fires, 1 shot, Miss; Cyril returns fire, 2 shots, Hit, Hit, damage roll Kill, Kill.
Lieutenant vs. Cyril: Lieutenant fires 2 shots, Miss, Miss.
Panic Check: Bounty Hunter remains steady.
Battle Round 7
Battle Flow Event (d100): 97, Separated, no Brawling this round.
Initiative Actions
Anatole: Optimal Shot successfully targets Lieutenant, 1 shot, Hit, damage roll Kill. Anatole also collects the Notable Sight for 2xp.
Post Battle
Resolve Rival Status: roll 1d6 + 1 = 3, Bounty still exists.
Patron Status: N/A.
Quest Progress: N/A.
Get Paid: 5 (1d6) + 1 (Easy Mode) = 6 credits. Ship total is now 14 credits.
Battlefield Finds (d100): 40, Starship Part (2 credits toward installing a starship component).
Check for Invasion: N/A.
Gather Loot (d100): 86, Rewards (d100); 18, Data Files with 2 Rumors.
Injuries and Recovery: N/A.
Experience and Upgrades
Anatole: 3 (Survived and Won) + 1 (First Kill) + 2 (Peculiar Item) + 1 (Easy Mode) = 7xp. Total now is 12xp. Spend 7xp to raise Combat to +3. Total now 5xp.
Brad: 3 (Survived and Won) + 1 (Easy Mode) = 4xp. Total now 8xp. Spend 7xp to raise Combat to +2. Total now 1xp.
Cyril: Bots do not gain xp.
Advanced Training: N/A.
Purchase Items: No.
Campaign Event (d100): 84, Rumors of War. Future Invasion Checks on Aolhamo are +2.
Character Event (d100): Affects Captain VanDerkin, 76, Feel Great, does not have to roll on Injury Chart next time.
Galactic War Progress: N/A.