Good things come in threes…

Campaign Turn 3–5 on Five Parsecs from Home

As the crew is ready to set out for Hulker territory, it turns out one of the job listings from the starport is looking for exactly this kind of devil-may-care individuals to venture into that godsforsaken place. The bunch take the corporation asking for plant samples up on their offer. Can’t hurt to get paid a little extra, can it? (which amounts to +1 credit of danger pay)

Naturally, as soon as the crew disembark from their transport, they run into a gang of Hulkers who’re being supported by a K’Erin warseeker. Apparently, it’s considered good luck to find the most intellectually disadvantaged punching bags this side of the galaxy and hang around them hoping for a fight. Sarge remarks that once more, K’Erin turn out to be more trouble than they’re worth. In the quickly ensuing firefight, the crew heeds their leader’s advice and doesn’t let the brutes get close. The K’Erin is eventually taken out by Worgen’s laser. However, the navigational computer on the crashed ship hasn’t survived re-entry into the atmosphere and is cooked. The crew pick up the requested plant samples and turn to leave when they are accosted by a group of Raiders led by a mercenary. Their last encounter with the scavengers still fresh in their minds, the crew quickly come to the conclusion that this isn’t a chance encounter. As the ragged ambushers close in on the crew’s transport, acid rain suddenly breaks from the eternally cloudy sky and forces everyone into cover. Priestess is almost dissolved into a puddle when she is caught flat-footed, but finds an overhang to slip beneath at the last moment (-1 Story Point). Eventually, the crew manage to take out the entire rag-tag outfit with well-aimed shots. Annie in particular shines as a crack shot, sending more than a few bullets straight between unbelieving enemy eyes.

Still, Sarge and his subordinates don’t have any time to celebrate as their latest firefight has attracted Hulker reinforcements. This time around, they arrive without any alien hangers-on, but bring along some Clingfire pistols instead. Although evening is settling in and visibility drops precariously, the cognitively challenged brutes charge into the fray with unabashed fervor, leaving the crew to try and find cover where they can just steps from their transport. The Priestess bears the brunt of the attack, being shot at by both dreadful pistols and only being saved in the nick of time by an intervening shrubbery. Worgen has picked up a power claw from a fallen brute but apparently hasn’t had the time to get used to the weapon yet, as he almost pays with his life for a headlong charge (-1 Story Point). Fortunately, the Hulker itself is as surprised as the attacking feral while it stumbles into the claw and disembowels itself in the process. Having escaped complete annihilation by the proverbial skin of their teeth, the crew decide to hightail it out of the Hulker’s home turf and return to the Yesteryear, worn, dirty but just a bit more selfassured. P-37e informs the rest of the team that while the nav comp wasn’t in any shape to be of use, it had pinged another downed craft upon its doomed descent. The robot has managed to pinpoint the other wreck and suggests making a beeline for it. With groans and more than a few curses, the crew agrees but requires some rest and hot food first. A few of them go to train, trade or take a stroll, but all of them get a good night’s sleep.

The corporation is duly impressed by the crew’s success in their first mission and promptly suggests a more permanent business arrangement. In addition, some of the scrap the crew managed to collect from the downed ship seems to contain rare alloys that sell for a pretty penny on the market, earning them a financial windfall. Unfortunately, someone immediately blabs about this to the authorities who in turn show up en-force to demand their cut in “transactional taxation”. To top it all off, P-37e has to admit that it misplaced its scanner bot during their sojourn into Hulker territory, fearing the small assistant might still be somewhere in the shipwreck.

With all signs (and 6(!) Quest Rumors) now pointing them in only one meaningful direction, the crew arm up with new and shiny and also slightly repaired gear for their final foray into the unknown wilds of Sebastus IX in order to find the navigational computer they so desperately need to be rid of this planet and its rather persistent tax collectors.