Five Parsecs from Home: Turn 15 - Follow up the lead

When escaping the Collective invasion of The Moon of Tarnicus a number of refugees escaped aboard The Pelican. Among them was a Everlife Arms R-series loader droid who went by the name "EARL." Upon reaching Deon B most of the refugees disembarked, in order to find passage to a nicer place. Other remained. EARL decided to remain on board The Pelican and couldn't be coaxed off. As he was not posing a threat Holmes decided to let him stay and see what happened. It turned out the droid had quite the personality and many of the crew, Baratski especially came to like having him around. 

While in port Holmes managed to get in contact with the owner of an artifact they had picked up. An exchange was set and the crew found themselves the proud owners of a Nowak Weapons grenade launcher. This would be useful for clearing a crowd. 

Finlay Carrick was an old friend of Estelle Phillips. They grew up together in the undercity of Illustro's main conurbation. Fighting their way through their childhoods and adolescence Carrick started falling for Phillips. When she escaped that hell hole he followed but lost contact, until now. A fellow refugee from Tarnicus he stumbled upon our crew. With Phillips vouching for him they decided to let him tag along for a while until he found another adventure...or another skirt to chase...

After their chance meeting with Sara from Leyte Logistics and the discovery that her friends were missing, the crew decided to help. There were innumerable reasons for a small, peaceful, technically illegal community to be targeted and with help from Sara at Leyte and a little muscle and savvy, Holmes et al. thought they were up to the job. No-one wanted to fall victim to any kind of corporate/criminal/black ops shenanigans as said shenanigans usually ended up with death or worse, slavery.

The first option was to investigate the flight logs at the nearest excuse for a landing port . This could give some insight into who had been coming and going. Like most landing areas on Deon B this place was basic. A couple of pads, a control building, a fuel store. No roads, just tough vehicles. 

Taking precautions EARL advanced with Baratski and Holmes. The plan was for them to get into a good vantage point with solid cover. They would then watch the backs of Phillips, Brenko and Carrick as they advanced to the control centre to check the logs.

A handful of well armed soldiers approached the landing port, determined to prevent these strangers accessing any data. They split into three pairs, a formation designed to maximise their fields of fire.

Holmes took cover as the other team advanced in the shadows of some containers. The soldiers approached carefully, keeping in cover.

Holmes opened fire, pinning one of the soldiers down. This pair had decided to break cover and advance quickly towards the stacked cargo for cover.

The leader, armed with some kind of rocket launcher poked himself around the truck...

...pinning Holmes behind the rocks. In response Baratski and Phillips opened fire on the pair of soldiers knocking them both out of the fight! 

Carrick advanced a little and pinned another soldier with some well placed shotgun blasts. Phillips was trying to get some cover by the door of the control building. It was pretty ramshackle but it still had the data needed!

Holmes and EARL opened up, shooting bullets and grenades over at another pair of soldiers, killing them both!

The last remaining pair of soldiers stuck around. They fired over onto Carrick and Phillips, missing both.

Brenko, who had been quiet for far poked her head around the container and shot at the soldiers, taking one of them out.

Carrick then ran over to the last soldier and cut him down with some more blasts from the shotgun. Baratski ran over to the flatbed and discovered a stash of credits. Phillips entered the building to check the logs. 

After checking the logs there was nothing there. This was a complete waste of time! If they were taken off planet it was not from here. Sara would be frustrated. On the plus side EARL identified a stash of useful ship parts that could be used to upgrade The Pelican or to barter for actually desired upgrades.

While snooping around they also came across some body armour that looked like it was designed for stealth. 

Hopefully this would be useful and soon the team would be able to catch a break in terms of tracking down the missing settlers.