Five Parsecs from Home: Turn 20 - Quest Ambush!

 Campaign Event: Holmes gets AI implants, Mao to stay on Deon B if I don't pay a story point to keep him. I am ignoring these as the narrative works best as this battle directly following the last battle. All gear gained from the tasks this turn will also not be used, and I might even ignore it existing. 

Character event: Mao has a hobby, gain a story point...to spend on him staying in the crew!

Phillips was stowing her pad into her pack when the ringing of molten metalsand out. She threw herself from the platform using her boosted arm. However, exposed on top of the scanning facility EARL was not so fast. Two holes seared through his outer coating. Familiar looking figures approached from the West. Was this whole thing a set up?! Luckily Mao, Holmes, and Carrick had remained in covering positions, just in case. 

Carrick took fire from the rear, some laser blasts and a couple of shots from a hand flamer. All were wildly inaccurate though.

Carrick returned fire, getting close enough to the soldier with the hand flamer to pin him down. Meanwhile Mao, Holmes and Phillips opened fire on the other fire team, killing one of them.

Getting the drop on the enemy again, Carrick charged them down and tore one apart with his shotgun.

This left him exposed, however, and he fell to some accurate laser fire!

The rest of the crew advanced and opened fire on the two remaining figures. They both went down. This must have been some kind of ambush. A trap set again by whoever was behind the disappearance of the colonists. 

EARL was moving, just unable to shoot any weapons. He would need repairs. Carrick picked himself up and admired the new holes in his coat. He was going to be just fine. Gathering themselves together, Carrick noticed the enemy hand flamer laying on the ground. This would do nicely! 

Back at The Pelican Phillips connected her tab to the system. After a thorough search of the ship's databases it became clear that the ships blocking exit from Deon B belonged to the Nova Cartel, a ruthless organisation prone to slave trade and the trafficking of illicit substances. Was it really as simple as a group of settlers being grabbed to be sold as slaves? 

Ulrich Nolan was not convinced. "Their leader was a former slave. I wonder if this was the reclamation of original property." 

Jiang Min interjected "There is a facility to the north where Nova Cartel is known to operate. It is often overlooked because people come and go here so often. We should head over there."

Activities Day 2024 - WW2 homebrew rules.

 Well, it is official. My simple to read and understand, homebrew rules are dreadful. I will have to revisit them ready for next year. They provided a quick game, but it ended up boiling down to one German shooting it out with one Brit, with the German being the last man standing. The whole thing was kind of lame and the rules made no sense. We adapted them as we played. 

I want some kind of objective system in place I think. I feel like I want morale. I also think I want to have it divided into fire teams or something. 

I also forgot to bring my roads. I will have to look for them. Most of my 20mm terrain is boxed away, hidden though. 

My rules reward pouring fire onto one individual figure or gun team. New round, any hit markers are removed so you start again. I will see what I can come up with. Maybe you remove one hit marker at the end of the round. Also, NCOs/officers have literally no impact on the game other than having an SMG which has more firing dice at close range.

Target in cover? Remove one firing die from the firer. That was pretty okay. No impact on saving rolls though. Part way through the game we decided that if you are caught in the open then you have one saving die removed, that started people dying quicker and made us hug cover more. 

I forgot to bring my MG34 team who were already set up. That was kind of lame. The rules with MG teams meant they were hard to work with. I will rework them.

The last man standing. A pyrrhic German victory...

In reality I will put these rules away, then get them out in a year's time and forget every change we made!

Five Parsecs from Home: Turn 19 - Vigilante tussle.

Character event: Estelle Phillips argued with crew and did no task during this campaign turn.

Campaign event: LOCKDOWN! No leaving Deon B for two turns. Crazy that I rolled this again. I can't think of a narrative reason for the UCS and Collective to be fighting over Deon B. The Lockdown will remain in effect, but it is from the unknown enemy. 

The displays aboard The Pelican came to life. A serious looking newsreader announced: "This is now the third civilian craft brought down above the planet. Anyone trying to leave would be advised to remain grounded until further notice. We are not sure what or who is behind this".

Scans from the surface would prove less than useful. There was, however, a deep space scanning outpost in the northern hemisphere. It was worth a try. A number of other now-stranded ship crews pooled some credits as an incentive for anyone to go and get the scan data. Sara from Leyte Logistics knew the place well and warned the crew that a group of vigilantes used it as their base of operations and defended it fiercely. 

The crew advanced from the south, in two teams to cover each other. This place looked like a good place to use as a base of operations. It just needed some agricultural areas and would be great. 

Seizing the initiative the crew took cover around a building at the top of a crest. EARL fired off a grenade, the blast immediately killing one of the vigilantes. 

The remaining vigilantes advanced to cover, firing their military grade lasers, sizzling the sand around Phillips and Holmes. Luckily no shots were close enough to cause damage.

Phillips took cover behind some logs while Holmes fired off some bursts, taking down another vigilante. Mao and the others took cover behind some containers. 

Phillips took more fire, hunkering down behind the logs. 

EARL sent another grenade over, Phillips jumped the logs and opened fire, Mao flanked the vigilantes, firing and Holmes took more long range fire...all of which was effective and accurate. The threat was gone. All in a day's work for some. It was always nice when everything went to plan with neither a close call nor a near miss.

Accessing the scanning information was simple enough to EARL. The craft were clearly non-military, but had been retrofitted for extra-atmospheric combat. There were no markings and the ident-codes were not stored on any of EARL's databases. Perhaps they would be recognised by The Pelican's computer. Phillips ripped the data onto her tab to take back to port. One step closer to knowing the truth.

Five Parsecs from Home: Turn 18 - Search for the Settlers!

In game admin: Brenko fell in love and gained a story point. EARL was just dented. Holmes was killed...but then I realised I can use story points to reroll rolls. I rerolled it and he survived. I have 13 story points so really no one should be dying at all for ever... I will start burning through them just to make it so I have to use them sparingly again. 

Abandoned and overgrown this place hadn't been actively cultivated in a long time. Derelict settlements like this were to be found all over the galaxy. Anyone looking to lay low could easily find a place like this to hole up in for a while, and rumour had it an organised, armed group of unknown origin had been seen scouring places like this recently. Phillips, Holmes et al. had seen the images and recordings. These armed folks were the same who had attacked them while searching for those flight records a while back. This was a good sign, and meant there might be more to this disappearance than met the eye.  

The presence of some cargo containers might have been a good sign, but likewise might have meant nothing.

Two groups of armed figures approached the settlement at the same time, cautiously advancing, covering each other.

The crew split a different way. EARL and Holmes wouls cover from the rear while Brenko would move from cover to cover before entering the main building. Phillips, Carrick and Mao would advance together as a mobile fire team.

Having gotten the drop on the opposing, armed men Mao, Carrick, EARL and Holmes all managed to get themselves into well covered firing positions which would cover the main building. Phillips and Brenko would advance up.

Having lost some initiative the opposing force advanced slowly, keeping out of any long shooting lanes. They were well trained and moved with a fluidity and professionalism that spoke to their training. These were not thugs or gangers. Something was afoot.

One of the soldiers opened fire on Holmes, sending him ducking further behind the stacked logs. A close call! 

The other enemy fire team ran around the overgrown plants and opened up on Phillips but their fire was tentative, inaccurate and missed her. 

Mao, EARL and Phillips all began shooting over at them. Grenades, shotgun shells, automatic fire showered the fire team, killing two of them and sending one diving for cover. 

Carrick and Holmes fired over on the other flank, taking out another enemy. It would appear that while these men were professionals, they had been utterly surprised. Professionals perhaps, but lazy? Complacent? They were learning a hard lesson, being taught by the teacher of lead and energy. 

The other two figures decided to beat a hasty retreat and call in reinforcements. The need for overwealming firepower was obvious and would help, although by the time it came, this location would be compromised, and the mission, perhaps set back indefinitely. 

With the area cleared, they began searching. Brenko and Phillips forced their way into the main building with Holmes and Carrick looking through the others. There was nobody to be found. There was, however, plent of evidence that people had been squatting here recently. This abandoned place was not so abandoned. A little later Sara from Leyte Logistics arrived and she had brought friends. 

"Let me introduce to you Ulrich Nolan and Jiang Min" she said. "Ulrich and I were with the team who helped the settlers relocate originally. Jiang has been our Liason with this particular group for a couple of years now. Contact stopped so we went to see and they were all just gone. There had been signs of struggle."

EARL approached with an auto rifle, picked from a corpse. "THESE HUMANS WERE ENCOUNTERED BEFORE."

The bodies were investigated further. It was clear they were well armed, well trained and well paid, but who exactly they were was a mystery. After some serious discussion it was decided that the crew would investigate just exactly who these people were before making another attempt to find the missing settlers. Perhaps some extra information would help make the search easier. 

"I will be coming with you" Ulrich Nolan informed the crew. 

Five Parsecs from Home: Turn 17 - Another Lead

Beggar's Hole. This place was what passed for a major settlement on Deon B. A street, some landing pads, a few buildings. This planet was dotted all over with small, illegal settlements but every once in a while someone with a UCS charter manages to eke out enough of an existence to create something worth naming. 

Beggar's Hole was such a place. Enzo Vangelos lived here. He was an information broker. If something was happening on Deon B, there was a good chance he knew about it, or knew someone else who knew. He was willing to meet with the team but they had to help him first. Enzo had gambling debts and was essentially under siege. The gang members would wait him out if they needed to.

The crew advanced up the road. Enzo was holed up in the green domed building at the far end of Beggar's Hole. Various gang members had seen them approach and had gotten into defensive positions. The leader, armed with a sniper rifle, hung back while all the others paired up in various hidden spots around town. 

Augustus Holmes took cover behind a garage. The others were going to split up and advance behind the buildings. 

Two gangers held themselves back in reserve, ready to run over to support the others. Then there were two pairs, who would either advance to jump out on the crew, or who would wait in place for an opportune moment to strike.

Bullets ricocheted off of the garage, sending chunks of plascrete flying. Holmes ducked down, where was that fire coming from? While looking he saw something and fired off a few rounds. A figure fell into view, collapsing to the ground.

The rest of the crew caught up, hugging the cover of the garage and other building. One of the ganger teams advanced up, hoping to get the jump on the crew.

Instead Phillips and Carrick burst out of cover, Phillips threw a grenade which sent one of the gangers diving for cover! Carrick fired off some shotgun bursts, killing the other. This route into town was one step closer to secure.

Baratski and EARL took up positions on the edge of the landing pad.

Holmes advanced across the road while Brenko camr around shooting at the remaining ganger. 

The crazy ganger charged at Brenko, power claw ready to cause serious damage. Brenko drew her glare sword ready to defend. It was over quickly...one sliced up ganger. Meanwhile Holmes took fire again - there must have been a sniper somewhere! Baratski and EARL also came under fire. Baratski had to duck and dive for cover while EARL was already pretty safe behind some cargo crates. Another crazy looking ganger broke cover in an attempt to charge EARL.

A furious firefight errupted! EARL fired a grenade ad dangerously close range, tearing the ganger to shreds! EARL then fell, taking the force of some shotgun blasts. Baratski, while hugging the floor managed to get some shots off at another ganger, killing her.

 

Holmes' cover was not good enough. This time a shot struck true. That sniper had finally gotten his target!

With no more target, the gang leader repositioned to start firing on Brenko, Phillips and Carrick. He was too late as Phillips had already launched herself at full pelt to get behind him! A couple of blasts from the shotgun and the leader was down.

Baratski had another close call, managing to get the drop on the last remaining ganger, but coming close to punching his ticket at the same time! 

Enzo Vangelos was glad to have some breathing space now. While talking with the others he disclosed a possible location for the missing settlers. There were plenty of old, abandoned settlements where people could lay low and avoid attention. The big question was who was after them and why?

It was time to break this mystery wide open and find some missing settlers! 

Five Parsecs From Home: Turn 16 - Ambushed by rivals!

The Pelican was getting crowded these days. Mao and Forgrave, after getting out of medbay decided to use the resources around them to upgrade the living quarters on board. It was a pretty basic job but when all was said and done it looked pretty good. More room for activities. 

Meanwhile in a local watering hole the crew got into a few fights! Finlay Carrick, the new guy of all people! What happened to laying low and looking for new leads to find those missing settlers? 

After sniffing around a little Sara over at Leyte thought she had another lead for the crew. When returning to The Pelican to gear up they were ambushed! Those thugs who exchanged fists with Carrick were back for round 2, but this time armed to the teeth!

As the crew approached The Pelican they noticed that the landing port was deserted. This was unusual for as much as this place was a backwater landing pad on a backwater planet there had up until this point been quite a lot of activity here. Suddenly EARL detected lifeforms incoming, moving quickly. Suspiciously quickly.

The crew split into their normal fire teams. Holmes, EARL and Baratski circled around the building intending to take up positions in and around the foliage for a clear line of fire across the entire area. Brenko, Phillips and Carrick ran to The Pelican to take up positions behind crates and engage the advancing rabble.

Almost into cover and the shadows beneath The Pelican.

Fire started incoming from the rabble of punks who were running headlong at the crew. The fire was largely inaccurate but it was high in volume and made them duck for cover, rounds kicking up sparks and dust clouds from the ground around them.

EARL fired his first grenade, hoping to dispell the crowd and cause maximun carnage. The grenade overshot, bouncing off some cargo and exploding harmlessly out of the way. 

The incoming punks continued to rush forward, firing wildly! 

Wild fire kept missing, but was still too close for comfort for Baratski!

Carrick took aim and shot one of the punks, killing him with a few well placed rounds.

Some wild firing got closer to home, causing Phillips to duck behind cover.

EARL launched another grenade, causing some disturbance! One of the enemies dove for cover. Holmes shot another while Phillips killed yet another! They were dropping like flies.

EARL and Holmes took aim...

EARL's grenade finished the job this time! Dead punks. Holmes' shot from distance took down the final punk. There were no more left.

Local security arrived right on time to investigate and protect their citizens! In the aftermath of the attack a local corporate rep, who had been hiding inside, was impressed by the speed and efficiency with which the gang were taken care of. He took the crew's information to offer them a future job. Carrick also managed to get his hand on some military grade flex armour, useful for anyone using a heavy weapon! 

Later, while resting, the comm buzzed. Sara had another lead about the missing settlers. 

"Let's gear up!" Holmes ordered and began preparing their transport.