Five Parsecs From Home Turn 3 - Sandstorm (Not by Darude)

 Turn 3. 

After getting paid the crew spent some time exploring the city, making friends and generally enjoying being planetside. Sometimes you can spend too long in space and go crazy...some really do on the edge, some are not really human anymore. The bar at Pontague Docks was decent enough: drinks were cheap but of fair quality, the food wasn't bad, the clientele seemed to be a bit above that at less...legitimate ports. These small, privately owned dockyards were generally a good place to land, if you managed to get into one.

Drinks. Food. Music. Storm warnings. More drinks. More food. The screens over the bar gave a final warning about the incoming sandstorm. Mao looked at the others and got up to leave. Phillips stood lethargically and also moved to the door. If they wanted a bunk to sleep in tonight, they would need to leave now, before the sandstorm made even walking back to the ship deadly. That is the one thing they don't tell you about Launia when you arrive - lovely planet, deadly sandstorms.  

The crew left the bar, and despite the noise of the growing sandstorm, Pontague Docks seemed awfully quiet. There should have at least been the bustle of people leaving, in order to find a safe place to ride out the storm. It was already blowing hard, and visibility was low.

I rolled up that it would be "gloomy" with visibility down to 9cm. Although anyone who fires can be fired on from anywhere, provided they are in weapons range.

 

Concerned that something might be going on, Estell Phillips crept her way around some shipping containers, wanting to check if anyone was around, or if anyone mysterious was hanging around The Pelican. Brenko followed.

With the sandstorm really picking up, a cell of red-helmeted, well armed figures carefully advanced to find cover. They had scared off most of the locals, and were planning to ambush these offworlders on their way back to their ship. Most people wanted to wait sandstorms out in the comfort of their own space. It was doubtful that these people would be any different. A comm-link buzzed and the garbled, coded message clarified that this was the correct ship, and they were now weapons free. Someone was unhappy, and wanted an example made.

Baratski and Holmes rushed over to The Pelican, in order to get on board and make sure Lars was okay, while Mao followed Brenko.

The red-helmets managed to get themselves into a nice, defensive line, from where they would be able to cover most of the dock. Now they would wait for the crew to return to ship. 

With low visibility, the worrying advantage of their long-ranged weapons wasn't so bad. I didn't think any of my crew would survive until I remembered the 9cm visibility. This was the first time none of my crew managed to beat their reaction stat and act before the opponents. That wasn't a nice feeling.

Baratski found a sweet hiding spot by the water tanker, managed to see a shadowy figure through the dust and decided an attitude of shoot now, questions later would be prudent. Her shots rang true and the figure fell.

Her hand cannon is nasty.

Estelle Phillips managed to make another figure out in the storm and let loose with her shotgun, forcing it back.

Responding to the muzzle flashes the red-helmets opened fire but it went wide and was largely ineffective.

Brenko and Mao came up the middle, trying to find a good firing spot, and Mao managed to take down another of the figures. Probably just pirates or junkers, looking for a score. They would be easily driven off.

Holmes kept to the shadows under The Pelican and managed to fire at another of the pirates. As did Baratski. This one fell back a few paces and tried to find cover.

This figure is now double stunned. One more stun and they leave the battle, but aren't injured as such.

Baratski and Brenko manage to get the drop on the pirates again.

Oslan Baratski used her distraction bot to keep the plasma gun armed enemy occupied, while Brenko charged over in an attempt to slice him up!

Distraction bot makes one enemy not able to make an action for a round. Useable once per mission. It was useful here. Range of 12. 

The red helmets fired on Mao but again the shots uselessly hit the crates and durocrete around him. 

Holmes tried to shoot the plasma gun armed enemy, but he missed, damaging the shipping container nearby. The other red helmet had retreated further back to get into better cover.

Holmes had run out of cover in an attempt to flank the enemy, but he got caught out in the open. The plasma gun fired, and a superheated mess of energy knocked him down. He stayed down. 

Likewise the other two red helmets opened fire on Mao, sending him to the floor bleeding. Things were not looking good for the crew all of a sudden. Now that they were being tracked by this mysterious enemy, they were struggling to stay hidden. These pirates were certainly well armed, too well armed to be run of the mill pirates.

I forgot that Mao has a luck point. This means if he would be killed, he can spend the luck point and move 1D6 in a random direction. In the post-game I remembered this so just used it then to say it was just a flesh wound and he needs no time in sickbay. 

Baraski rounded the shipping container and blasted off some shots at the red helmet, sending her sprawling against the container, unmoving.

Brenko and Phillips decided to take cover and regroup. There were still three of these people out there, and they seemed to be well armed. Brenko was worried about having to close into sword distance.

Baratski charged over again, firing on one of the red helmets and killing him in the process. This meant they were cleared from this part of the docks and it was time to concentrate fire by the passenger jet. With any luck they could catch them in a crossfire.

Phillips and the enemy exchanged ineffective fire. Although it kept them distracted enough for Brenko to start charging them down, blade swinging!

This is actually when Phillips got hit and killed, but used a luck point to move 1D6 CM in any random direction. That luck came in handy.

At the sight of Brenko coming over, one of the red helmets flat out ran. He had had enough and ran back into the storm, hoping to disappear. The other bravely tried to shoot at her, but her sonic emitter caused enough disruption that he missed.

Slice! The final enemy who felt like sticking around collapsed into a pool of blood in three pieces. 

Once certain that there was no-one else to fight, the crew regrouped at The Pelican. Mao picked himself up and bandaged up his own wound. It was a glancing shot that shouldn't take too long to heal up. Holmes needed a little more care and would need to rest for a while, but his wounds were not life threatening. Who were these people? They seemed to have been wearing a uniform of some kind and were well armed with military grade rifles. They looked like HySys P70s.  While on bedrest Holmes managed to hack into one of their hand terminals and found a contract out for his crew. 

They decided to take one final job on Launia, get a payday, upgrade The Pelican and make like a tree and leave asap. It seemed their days were numbered here. The dock manager transferred over 1₹ for their troubles, and when searching the bodies they found three usable grenades. Unfortunately the crew the military rifles seemed to be genetically matched to each firer and were essentially junk now. Fortunately, there is a market for junk and they sold them for 2₹ which was welcome. Funds were looking thin after this fight so they would take whatever they could get.

This was an opportunity mission. I wanted to see what one was like. The bad pay was due to bad rolls and because it wasn't a patron mission there was no danger pay. I feel like I got lucky last turn with a high paying mission. I need a good score next mission (which is hopefully the patron mission I already have lined up) I cannot afford to get the ship taken. 

It has become clear to me that I need to improve their toughness. So I will be spending any XP on that for the foreseeable future. I wish I had worked that out last time. The luck came in handy twice this game though, which is also fine. The enemy had a panic rating of  1-2 and I rolled a couple of 3s so it was noticeable how they didn't break as easily. Here are their stats:

I was genuinely worried about their 24 range and basically not being able to close them down with my handguns and no combat armour or anything. Their AI is Cautious which means they don't move if they can make a shot, will try and stay close to max range, avoid brawling, and will try and move from cover to cover.