Terrorists, Aliens, Megacorps, Politicians - A New Campaign Of An Old Classic

[dulux-oz]

Sic 'em, Rex!

[LordEntrails]

Reprogramming the robots was easier than I feared. Decided to wipe them clean and start over. Thought that was better than trying to insert a ‘not’ or another logical switch to give us what we need. Took more time, but I think I got it right. Thing about field programming a robot though, you don’t get a chance to run any real testing on them to make sure they do what you think you programmed them to do. Guess we will find out soon enough if I did it right or not.

So, we cleaned out the place and took the Kurabanda their present. They were quite happy to put the pirate to death and it cemented their good will towards us. Then we geared up, and headed out to Slave City One. Stupid name. Didn’t take a direct route, and landed plenty short and humped it in. Planet tried to kill us again, some sort of floating-flying tree whale thing that attacks with a high energy beam. Too many alpha predators in this place. Something’s off.

Somebody’s ego named this place. Not even a dozen prefabbed buildings and a shuttle pad surrounded by an electrical fence. About 50 pirates keeping a similar number of prisoners. Most of them indigs, but a few frontier races as well. There’s also an indigenous village half a click away. And a farther away a mine that they take a dozen or two slaves to each day. These indigs are like pyramids, tetrahedrons to be precise. If they were a little more stout and equilateral, then you could use them like caltrops as their would always be a pointy part sticking up no matter how they landed. Makes me think about that joke about how you make a vrusk swim!

Everyone else seemed set on trying to figure out how to sneak in and free Jameson and Grod. I still want all the pirates dead. But 5 against 50, not going to happen. Daniel and the others did a kick-*** job with the caltrops. Convinced them that the pirates might not be the emissaries of the gods like they thought. And we took two of them back to the outpost, it hadn’t been visited yet, and showed them the victim. Got them riled up I say!
Took those two back to the village and now the whole village is riled up! Really mad, now it’s something like 105 against 50. Their going with or without us, so we’re going in, full on combat assault. No plan ever survives first contact with the enemy. History and Jazz tells me that. But here’s what we scouted;

The place is about 40 by 60 meters. Each corner has a guard tower with a robot sentry, we assume the same as the two we jacked. 3 barracks, in the corners, two on opposite corners have heavy weapons on the roofs which are not manned at night. The fourth corner has the processing building. There is also a large stockade for the prisoners and a couple of block cells nearby. Just inside the gate is a garage, commissary and something else. Then a large administrative building and a smaller one.

So, we got the hundred indigs, we’re going to come at it at the main gate. Marvin and Johnny 5 are set to take out the flanking guard posts if and when they open fire on us. Myself and Jazz are going for the main gate. I’ll see if I can defeat the lock, Jazz will blow it if, and when, I fail, and Daniel will fry it as a last resort. Then we flood in. Baboo and I will head to the gun emplacement near the front. Jazz, Kat and Daniel will go to the one in the back. The indigs will head to the three barracks and the stockade.

After that we will make it up as we go. We’ve told the locals to stay out of the other buildings for now. We don’t want them damaging any computers or the subspace radio. Plus not sure they could handle any automated defenses. Jazz’s team will be near the stockade and cells so maybe they can find Jameson and Grod. I might go for the northern towers to see if I can deactivate and capture those robots. But more likely we will have to destroy them with heavy weapons fire. Eventually we have to get Kat into the admin building and I want to check out the garage for more vehicles.
Seems simple enough to survive contact. But can a hundred and fifty, assuming the slaves are freed, take out fifty armed pirates? Nope, don’t think so. But we have to get those heavy weapons and the guard tower neutralized, then we can help kill pirates.

I’m not a soldier. I should not be so calm. Death will be everywhere tonight. There is no reason to think it won’t claim one of us, or myself, but that is okay. It's acceptable because this is my decision, my choice. Any of us could just choose to go live a full life with the Ul-More or Kurabanda. Or even the Edestekai. But that’s not what I want. I want to purge this strange planet of the Star Devil’s. And if I die trying, well, it is worth trying.

[LordEntrails]

There are stories that go back into the mists of time, perhaps the earliest ones are from the humans, but the Yazarian’s have claims just as long. “Fragging” is what these stories are about. This is the vile and cowardice practice of rolling an explosive under the bunk of some supposed ally you don’t like. It’s how you get rid of some lieutenant or captain that is too stupid for your own good. How you make sure some fellow soldier who does stupid things that might get you killed can’t do those stupid things anymore.

Is it the same when you do it to a declared enemy? Ones that have tried repeatedly to kill you. Ones that will shoot you on sight? Well, pirates, especially the Star Devils are villainous and killing them with vile methods is simply justice. Assaulting a heavily defended outpost, with ten times more armed pirates that your team is no cowardice.

We got their front gate disarmed and unlocked. We started taking fire once we opened the gate though. But we made it to the two heavy weapons emplacements on the roofs mostly unchallenged. The roofs of the barracks. The barracks full of vile pirates who had sentenced themselves to death. So yea, we dropped some fragmentation grenades through the weapons hatch into the middle of the rooms. Just like a dangerous dumb-*** officer, these pirates were done for. They were’ sleeping in their beds, they had half a minute’s notice or so. The sentence was death, we carried it out with the best means possible.

I’d like to claim that the sights were off on the recoiless rifle I manned. Couldn’t hit ****. Fortunately Jazz had the other emplacement, with a heavy laser. Running on facility power he cranked that thing to the max. Simply melting one of the towers before with the help of Johnny 5 and Marvin taking out the other three.
From there we really just had to clean up two roaming combat robots while the indigs took care of the third barracks and those pirates that had been elsewhere. Not as easy as it might sound. But we got it done.

Jameson wasn’t to be found, but he had been there. And we think we found the body of Grod, but no way to know for sure. It looked like another indig, this one a new race, one the Edeskai called the messenger of the gods, was seen carrying off a human body over the horizon. But we weren’t in any shape to pursue. The human would live or die by the abilities of the Messenger, not by our hand, today. Makes one think it was Jameson, but we just don’t know.
Maybe this Messenger was what the Ul-Mor referred to as an Old One? I mean if not then we would be up to five sentient races. Four seems hard enough to believe as it is.

Anyway, this place, Slave City One might as well be the pirate’s hoard from our perspective. Food, weapons, power, an explorer and another jetcopter. Maybe not as good as a military supply depot, but we’re not short on any essentials now. We may still be on a budget, but it’s a mighty fine budget now.

And that’s not the good part. At least not as far as Star Law is going to be concerned. Records of shipments, payoffs, front companies, politicians and bureaucrats on the Star Devils payroll. There is going to be a lot, and I mean a lot, of fallout if we can get all these records in the right hands quiet enough that the wrong people can’t start doing damage control.

And yea, there is a subspace radio. We haven’t made the call yet. Once we do we’re going to have to assume the Star Devil will know his base has fallen so we need to be certain we are ready and have a plan.

We’ve got options and we get to make the next play. Initiative is ours, we need to keep it.

[bigboom]

Nice! Sounds like I missed out on some pretty amazing action. Looking forward to the day when things are a bit more settled down for me so that I can rejoin!

[LordEntrails]

Nice! Sounds like I missed out on some pretty amazing action. Looking forward to the day when things are a bit more settled down for me so that I can rejoin!

We miss you. Though Kat rolled well for Jazz, a 01 for a crit hit on the first tower with the heavy laser set at 25 SEU (25d10). Bye Bye tower!

[dulux-oz]

... a 01 for a crit hit on the first tower with the heavy laser set at 25 SEU (25d10). Bye Bye tower!

Yeah, but you forgot to mention the 99 for a crit fail, sending the 25d10 laser shot into the nearby ore storage shed, igniting about 250,000Cr worth of ore and slagging it down to a worthless pile of molten goo. Bye Bye ore!

And no, that's NOT how you smelt ore

[bigboom]

Kat rolled well for Jazz, a 01 for a crit hit on the first tower with the heavy laser set at 25 SEU (25d10). Bye Bye tower!

Wow, that does NOT sound like Jazz!

99 for a crit fail, sending the 25d10 laser shot into the nearby ore storage shed, igniting about 250,000Cr worth of ore and slagging it down to a worthless pile of molten goo

Now THAT sounds like Jazz!


So basically, every time we roll a crit fail, dulux rules that the shot misses and destroys the most expensive piece of equipment/commodity we have within range? Is this why we can't have nice things?
(yes, I can hear my fellow players saying it right now: 'Stop giving dulux ideas!!!')


Good times!!!

[dulux-oz]

Wow, that does NOT sound like Jazz!




Now THAT sounds like Jazz!


So basically, every time we roll a crit fail, dulux rules that the shot misses and destroys the most expensive piece of equipment/commodity we have within range? Is this why we can't have nice things?
(yes, I can hear my fellow players saying it right now: 'Stop giving dulux ideas!!!')


Good times!!!

No, actually, they were firing practically over the top of the Ore Storage Shed, so when the shot missed (critically) then it was (one of) the most likely target(s) - plus there has to be some pain for f*cking-up so badly

[LordEntrails]

*lol* I didn't put it in my post because I don't want the GTF to know about it!

I mean really, who's to say one of the pirates didn't sabotage it? It's not like we saw the ore ignite, I mean it's probably that the missed shot caused it, but we don't know for sure! No point is adding fuel to the fire!

[LordEntrails]

Tried to track the Old One, or whatever it was that took Jameson, or at least we think it was him. Would have taken too long to track, but he headed west and the pirate’s map had an old city to the west, so we took the jetcopter and headed to the old city. Seems like the pirates weren’t very interested in the place. Guess there was nothing for them to take and sell.

Place was in pretty good shape, all things. Did find one home that looked lived in, maybe we beat him home. Not sure. But we did find a secret tunnel into some sort of complex. Not really sewers, more like a complex. Started out with apparently natural tunnels, though that seems unlikely. But then we got into artificial construction. With defensive systems, and an insane asylum.

The defensive systems were pretty much sonic based. That sucks, but we can deal with it. The insane asylum, that’s a treat. A bunch of old ones that just aren’t there. I wonder, maybe genetic clones? And isn’t there some sort of degeneration after multiple generations? I’ll have to ask the others about that.

But anyway, we came to meet the Inora, the Old Ones. Indeed they did take Jameson and have been treating him. His recovery will be long, but he is on the mend. They seem to be friendly enough. They clam the other races are their children, and that they helped them along. Sounds like genetic manipulation. I told you something wasn’t right.