EP1: This Sort of Way

[Antman9]

Beat 1b Summary
Location: Red Sun – Jubilee – Covenant Terraforming Moon Base
'VerseDate: 2521.07.0715

The crew manages to pull off a perfect landing, and given the challenging circumstances this is quite the feat. Captain Percy is rattled mildly, knuckles white from clenching the controls.

Percy’s Fly & Jinx Awards

• +1 PP
• +Complication: Rattled d6
• +Big Damn Hero Die (d8)

Cdr. Clay goes immediately into battle strategy mode, suggesting the crew address the threat first, civilians second. Milly seems a bit reluctant to go along with that plan, Gideon tries to get control of his lunch, Boscoe drips sweat at having to jump through hoops to keep the ship from falling apart, while Edmund tries to determine the level of threat they are facing. As the shuttle's landing gear touches down, the coms come to life, blasting the flight cabin with chatter from the Moon Base. The Proudhon does not respond to any com request. Communication with the Proudhon is still down, though external Shuttle sensors seem to be back online and recording data:

Moon Base: “Can you hear us? Hello? Yìndù Chálǐ Bàba Seven to unknown shuttlecraft, do you read, over.”

Complication 3: Com Static! d10 (communication with Proudhon INOP)

Synopsis

• Starboard Ion Drive INOP
• Unknown threat – Hostile
• Short range coms – Online, for the moment
• External shuttle sensors - Online
• Communication with Proudhon - INOP

Tabs
Edmund Longabaugh (Bounty Hunter)

• 1 PP

Cdr. Jesse Clay (Battle Strategist)

• 1 PP

Boscoe Farwell (The Janitor)

• 1 PP

Millicent Archer (Private Eye)

• 1 PP

Gideon Wainwright (Attorney at Law)

• 1 PP

Zhào Percy (Ship’s Captain)

• 2 PP
  2 Big Damn Hero Die (d8)
  Complication: Rattled d6

Ship: Proudhon

• 1 PP

Shuttle: Dà Gāisǐ Bānchē (Big Damn Shuttle)

• Complication 1: Starboard Ion Drive Malfunction d6
  Malfunction: Starboard thrust vector plate sluggish
  Malfunction: Ion drive thruster INOP
  Note: The "Malfunctions" listed simply let you know that some part of the ship is damaged/not working properly, and needs to be repaired/fixed (part of an active complication)

Translations
n/a

[Jack]

Zhào Percy, ship's captain.

"I need a vacation" Percy says under his breath, then waves the base: "Dà Gāisǐ Bānchē to Yìndù Chálǐ Bàba Seven, we're on our way with O2 tanks - suit up and get ready to open up an air lock. Over."

Percy looks over the routes. "Jesse, pick whoever and whatever you need to take out that laser's power source or those that shot at us, and then whatever's jamming comms. Everyone else, check your suits, grab as many O2 tanks as you can to take to the base."
Create asset: oxygen tanks (-1 PP) for people at moon base.
Shuttle distinction: Deep space ready, trigger: I knew that was gonna happen. Extra oxygen tanks, step up asset once [1d8] = 3.

Edit 1: "Over."

[Zhym]

Gideon takes a second to decide whether he's going to throw up, decides he won't, and suits up.

"Still better than doc review," he says as he grabs as many oxygen tanks as he can carry.

[Antman9]

Shìqíng Zhǎnkāi!

Moon Base Com Reply
"Dà Gāisǐ Bānchē, good to hear your voice. Best bring a cutting torch if you’re coming. Pirates welded our airlock shut, shot the hab walls up. Atmo pumps are slowly failing. Got maybe an hour before we lose pressure. They took our spacesuits. Over.”

[Jack]

Zhào Percy, ship's captain.

"Crapper." Percy waves the base again, "Yìndù Chálǐ Bàba Seven, how many people do you have there? Over."

Percy turns to Bosco, "Chief, how quick can you fix our starboard drive and plate, and do something to securely seal our airlock to a hole in theirs?"

"Jesse, do you need the shuttle to go deal with our trigger happy pirates?"

[FantasyChic]

Millicent Archer: Private Eye

"If need be, I can come with. I may be able to talk to them. Or if all else fails I know my way around a gun somewhat." she said confidently.

[Marullus]

Cdr. Jesse Clay, Hardened by Battle


KALIDASA (XUAN WU), New Kasmir; during the war...
It was always quiet in space, but this was a planet with atmo, and it was too damn quiet. It was a colonist distress call that brought the Alliance starship; they were just here to help people in trouble. A dirty Browncoat trick. Jesse led his unit of men down to the building, relief supplies in hand rather than weapons. He sensed it - the emotions of the triggerman at the moment of the deed. He yelled and dove for cover but the explosives took out half his men, their shredded body parts scattered over the lush green landscape. Memories of rage and sorrow that have no words...

Jesse snaps from a moment of reverie as the Captain addresses him. He passes an appraising eye over the crew with him. Not one of them with the training that each of those Marines had. He points. "Fine, Milly, you're with me. Edmund, too. I'll need both your eyes and feet. You'll need Boscoe and the lawyer to focus on the trapped folks."

He snaps open a weapons locker and lifts a Alliance-made M32 Launcher from it, slinging it over his shoulder. After a moment's pause, he reaches in and takes a case of high-explosive rounds and a shoulder strap, bringing that as well. He remarks to Milly and Eduard with a clipped tone and a haunted look behind his eyes, "Grab what you can use. Get on an atmo suit. I'm not feeling kind to pirates."

(Spend PP to create asset "High Explosive Rounds (d6)," invoke War Stories trigger -- step-up Veteran distinction to d10 for the scene.)

[Rusty Tincanne]

Boscoe Farwell

Jimsutton; Alliance ship, Longbow Class; during the war...
"All hands on deck..." All it ever meant was more people underfoot, continually distracting him, not that the work would be better. Bosco remembered being thigh deep in the engine-coolant conduits because the pressure gauge was either faulty or the entire gǒu niáng yǎng de engine was about to implode. Damn browncoats.... Then there was a low grinding sound, the likes of which sent chills down your spine and inner thighs when you've been around engines as long as Bosco had.

Bosco instinctively balled himself up inside the access panel when the flames erupted. It was so loud he wouldn't hear for two days afterwards.

Bosco slid free of the access panel. If his pores hadn't been so scarred, he would have been drenched in sweat from the flight. He looked at Jack. Captain, you said it would be a cinch. "No risk," you said. Almost burnt up seems to contraindicate such a notion. He remained ont he floor a moment more, breathing.

I'll git right on it. You want the drive plate or the air-seal first? Seems getting them-folks to us is higher priority for them, but being able to git outta here is higher priority for us. Personally, I am for making sure we can make it home, but its your call.


Sorry for being MIA. Real life has been a bear lately, and while I like watching sci-fi, I am not good at BS'ing my way through all the terms. Add in the Chinese and 'Verse-specific terminology and I am having to do research for this game! And that is without the mechanics... Do I need to suit up for fixing the ship?

[Quaid Slauson]

"Pirates with a ship-targeting laser?! Nío fèn*!!" exclaims Edmund. Then he trails off with, "I wonder if, um, er, ... it will come to me."

"I'm on it, Jesse." Edmund shoves an entire Fruity Oaty Bar into his mouth and then grabs a suit and a rifle and ammo from the lockers. Then he starts thinking about the Captain.

Too tired. Need help figuring out how to roll for challenging Percy's Complication...

*cow poop

[FantasyChic]

Millicent Archer: Private Eye

Millicent walks over towards the others to grab her own suit and takes a gun for herself, a handgun-type firearm, her own personal preference, before meeting up with the others.

Her mind goes back to when she was first starting out as a private investigator, she didn't own a gun at that point and the case she was working on turned violent and left her nearly dead.

She shook her head, now was not the time to dwell on that, she had to remain focused. She connected to her sister "Becca, I want you on board to help with the crew, but stay out of danger. Listen to the others on board if they ask you to do something."

[FantasyChic]

Rebecca Archer: Angsty Teen

Rebecca rolled her eyes, Yes mom.." she said sarcastically. She leaned back in her chair and went on her phone to message her friends on social media.

[Jack]

Zhào Percy, ship's captain.

Percy looks at Bosco and smiles, "Risk? Remind me to tell you about a heavy-bulk-transport aerobrake I once did because of some momentum miscalculations."

"Ship first. Then we fly, low to the ground, to the base. Maybe after we've burned thru the base's outer airlock door, their clamps will still be functional, so we can easily connect and let their people into the shuttle; but if we have to dismantle their gorram door, I want you to Gyver something so they can get into the shuttle without suits."

Percy walks over to Gideon. "Mr Wainwright, I'm going outside with the chief. Please keep an eye on the sensors, especially comms with Proudhon and Jubilee, and liaise with the base - but don't give too much info in case their distress call is mala fide. If there are too many to take with a single trip, I want you to start figuring out some triage options."

mala fide: in bad faith; with intent to deceive

[Zhym]

Gideon is still trying to figure out how put his helmet on when Percy asks him to man the sensors and comms. He sets his helmet down, visibly relieved.

"Understood, Captain," he replies.

If he has a moment before the others set out, Gideon will check his tablet to see if there's any chatter on the Cortex about what's going on here.

[Antman9]

Shìqíng Zhǎnkāi!

Moon Base Com Reply
"Dà Gāisǐ Bānchē, 9 with us at this hab. Other hab coms are down, unresponsive. Status of those folks unknown. 23 total when Pirates attacked. They must have crippled our long range antennas too, no communication with Jubilee. What is your ETA? Over.”

[Zhym]

Gideon Wainwright, Attorney at Law

Gideon searches for the button that allows him to respond. This one? No...oh, maybe it's the one right there by the speaker grill. He tries that one.

"The captain and crew are on their way," he answers. "How are your people doing? Is anyone injured?"

[Antman9]

Act 2: Meat Popsicles
Location: Red Sun – Jubilee – Covenant Terraforming Moon Base
'VerseDate: 2521.07.0730

With the Dà Gāisǐ Bānchē safe, for the moment, on the lunar surface, the crew get right to work divvying up tasks. Cdr. Clay wastes no time in worrying over negotiations. His first stop is the weapons locker: Alliance-made M32 Launcher and High Explosive Rounds. Per the captain’s orders he recruits Milly and Edmund and orders everyone to weapons and atmo suits. The laser fire came from that crater, and Cdr. Clay isn’t taking any chances. He means business, and has no intent, whatsoever, in taking names. He gathers his crew and exits the airlock, making a b-line for the large crater east of the base.

Milly makes a call to her little sister prior to heading out with Cdr. Clay.
“Becca, I want you on board to help with the crew, but stay out of danger. Listen to the others on board if they ask you to do something."

Becca’s reply is short, sarcastic, and less then reassuring.
“Yes mom..”

Captain Percy puts Gideon on the coms and follows Boscoe out to see to the repairs on the shuttle. He means to ensure his crew’s safety before that of the corporate employees. The decision is sound. Can’t save anyone, not even themselves, with a busted shuttle. Gideon fumbles with the coms panel and eventually finds the right combination of buttons.

Gideon Com Call to Moon Base
“The captain and crew are on their way. How are your people doing? Is anyone injured?"

Once he’s made his call he pulls out his tablet to dig around for chatter on the Cortex. Nothing suspicious about Jubilee or her moon Covenant, or of any pirates seen or working in the area, can be found in the public forums and other readily available sources. Edmond turns to the law databases; searching corporate case logs he finds something of interest. One year prior, the corporation, Industrial Corporate Products Inc. (ICP Inc.), based out of the White Sun system, filed an injunction against an individual by the name of Sans P. Mortimer. The injunction states one Sans P. Mortimer tried to stake a mining claim on Covenant based on prior ownership. Mortimer couldn’t produce valid Alliance documents validating his claim and was ordered to cease and desist any and all mining activity. Mortimer’s operation was forcibly removed by Alliance officials just prior to the ICP moon base being established. A bit more digging on backwater chat boards reveals that Mortimer vowed to get his revenge against ICP Inc. That was almost nine months ago. After that all chatter dies out.

Moon Base Com Reply
“Dà Gāisǐ Bānchē, One bloody nose, one security force with dinted pride. Other than that we are holding, for the moment. Atmo pumps are struggling to keep up though. Over.”

The fate of the moon base crew, at least those that may still be alive, now lies in the rough-and-tumble hands of mechanic Boscoe Farwell. With a bit of luck, and the no-nonsense tactical advantage of Cdr. Clay, this crew may just come out shinier than they came in.


Laser Recon/Elimination Crew

• Cdr. Clay
  Milly
  Edmund

Shuttle Repair Crew

• Boscoe
  Gideon
  Percy

COMPLICATIONS
Complication (Proudhon): Com Static! d10 (Proudhon long range communication Cortex INOP)
Complication (Percy): Rattled d6
Complication (Cdr. Clay): ??? (possibly for his Flashback)
Complication (Boscoe): ??? (possibly for his Flashback)
Complication: Starboard thrust vector plate sluggish d6


Synopsis

• Starboard Ion Drive INOP
• Starboard thrust vector plate Sluggish
• Unknown threat – Hostile
• Short range coms – Online, for the moment
• External shuttle sensors – Online
• Moon Base folk running out of atmo pressure

Tabs
Edmund Longabaugh (Bounty Hunter)

• 1 PP

Cdr. Jesse Clay (Battle Strategist)

• 0 PP
  Asset (Act II): High Explosive Rounds (d6)
  Step up Distinction: Veteran d10
  Complication: ???

Boscoe Farwell (The Janitor)

• 1 PP
  Complication: ???

Millicent Archer (Private Eye)

• 1 PP

Gideon Wainwright (Attorney at Law)

• 1 PP

Zhào Percy (Ship’s Captain)

• 1 PP
  2 Big Damn Hero Die (d8)
  Complication: Rattled d6
  Asset (Act II): O2 Oxygen Tanks

Ship: Proudhon

• 1 PP

Shuttle: Dà Gāisǐ Bānchē (Big Damn Shuttle)

• Complication: Starboard Ion Drive Malfunction d6
  Complication: Starboard thrust vector plate sluggish d6

Translations
n/a

[Quaid Slauson]

Edmund Longabaugh, Bounty Hunter

Once Edmund has his space suit on and weaponry secured, he falls into line behind Cdr. Clay. Before getting far, he turns on his radio to help Percy refocus:

"Captain, I don't care much for being shot down, but dat is, without a doubt, tha gentlest, safest crash landin' I could ever hope fer. And I knew we'd be okay, 'cause you were puttin' yer heart into it, and you ain't done with Goodness yet. Now we're still here, the shuttle's still here, the moonies're still here, and gopher-headed laser-faces are still here.

"Now Jesse and Milly and I are goin' to re-secure some clear skies. I 'spect to be meetin' some new friends of yours when we return, right?"

Edmund finishes his soliloquy by letting off some of his own tension, "And don't walk into any ruttin' traps!"

Roll to counteract Percy's Rattled complication:
Ed's Social attribute [1d8] = 1 and Ed's Treat skill [1d8] = 6 and Ed's Belief signature asset [1d6] = 3
6+3=9

[Antman9]

GM Sets the Stakes

Treat Percy
Rattled [1d6] = 6 Difficulty [1d6] = 5
Stakes: 6+5 = 11

OOC: Wow that was a really good roll.

[Jack]

Zhào Percy, captain shaky.

Percy walks around the shuttle, ostensibly to check the hull for damage from the landing. Out of sight of Bosco, he puts his trembling hand on the hull.

Recovery roll fails, but it steps down Percy's rattled complication to a d4, removing it.

Listening to Edmund, he smiles. "Thanks Ed. If those gophers get to be too much to handle, send up a flare."

Thankful for his crew, and the shuttle's suspension and automated stability systems kicking in during the landing, Percy breathes out, and relaxes. He walks back to the port side, looking at the big crater and the habs.

[Marullus]

Cmdr. Jesse Clay, Gun Toter

Jesse snaps together his armor suit and looks over the other two with him. Farm boy and rich girl. Best use ingenuity over discipline and skill... he thinks. He uses an armpad screen to make sure his sensor data has synced. "So, we have our bearings from the sensors. They're shooting lasers and jamming comes which means two things - they have big noticeable equipment, and they need to squat nearby to run it, because they blocked remote wavelengths. First we need to find it. Then we blow the fuck out of it. THEN, we see how talkative this d-bag is."