With a ship outfitted and crewed, armed decently enough and with a substantial loan breathing down their necks, it’s time for the intrepid crew of the Azure Dawn to go looking for their first job. There’s a lot going on here, as this is the planet they’ve been on for a bit before the game starts, so they’ve got a number of patrons – and worryingly, even more rivals out for their hides.

The Planning Phase

Where Are We?

Normally, for a turn in Five Parsecs, the first bit is travelling – fleeing an invasion if there is one, deciding whether or not to travel, anything that happens while traveling, and then getting to a new world. Given this is the first turn, I don’t really see any reason to travel, so only that last one is relevant.

We’re on the world of Lycinis – this is Alexis’ homeworld, but for the rest of the crew, it’s just a stop along the way, albeit one that without access to their own ship (until now!) would take some doing to get off of. Rolling on the random world table, we get Null Zone, which means teleporters of all kinds don’t work. This honestly doesn’t mean much, which is okay!

We also don’t find out if we ditch our rivals, like we would if we were fleeing to a new world – they’re definitely here.

The bad news is, Lycinis requires a Freelancer License in order to operate as armed independent contractors. An attempt to obtain a forged license doesn’t turn up any promising leads, and fortunately the License is only two credits, which we’re likely to make back if we stay here for any amount of time.

Space Accounting

Upkeep costs us a credit as well – the crew’s gotta eat after all, but we make that back using the Star‘s purifier to sell clean water to a spaceport maintenance crew who values a clean source of water on the other side of the spaceport to their depot to occasionally save them the trip back.

Our debt on the ship goes up to 27 credits thanks to interest payments, and Estelle decides to spend a hefty three credits to fight that back down to 24. She’d like to hit the debt harder, but things being uncertain, she doesn’t want to put herself in the position of not being able to pay for her crew, meds for sickbay, or fuel to get out of Dodge fast if they need to.

Off to Work

Prior to the “thrilling gunfights” stage of a campaign turn, you can dispatch your crew on a number of different missions – digging up new patrons, training, trading, trying to find new crew members or just seeing the sights, tracking down rivals – or trying not to be tracked down by them – or fixing things.

I send Estelle off to go find a patron so there’s work to be done, while Garret and Trouble head off to show up in places far away from the ship, hopefully drawing our rivals attention away from what the crew is actually up to. We’ll have to deal with them eventually, but it would be nice if our showdown didn’t happen immediately. Alexis and Felix head off to do some trading while Viv, who is enjoying being back in non-artificial gravity and isn’t from around here does some exploring.

• Estelle: With a +2 bonus from the two patrons we have from character generation, and a very decent roll, we’ve got not one but two job offers – basically, both of our existing patrons are interested in hiring us!
• Garret and Trouble: Sometimes, drinking in bars and getting caught executing a “sloppy hack” somewhere counts as essential work – the various spotters, surveillance AIs and informants our rivals have looking for us get tangled up in dead-ends and recursive loops. For the moment, our rivals are off our backs, but it might not stay that way for long.
• Alexis and Felix: Two rolls on the trade table net us some interesting goods. Felix makes contact with an ex-Mercenary buddy of his, who gives him a line on some parts from a damaged gunship the insurance folks are calling a write-off and sending off to scrap. A ton of the parts will work for the Star and can be had for cheap – we get six credits worth of parts to repair future hull damage. Alexis hits some back-alley electronics markets she knows, and picks up a Sonic Emitter – this triggers a penalty to hit when shooting at someone at close range.
• Viv: Viv enjoys the ambiance of the world, visits a few galleries and cafes, and generally enjoys her downtime.

Now, onto the offered jobs:

The first job is offered by a Corporation and needs to be done this campaign turn. It comes with +1 credit in danger pay, and no particular benefits, hazards or conditions.

The second job is offered by the Local Government and can be dealt with in this or the following two campaign turns. Thankfully, we’re not yet in a position to disappoint anyone. It’s got +2 credits in danger pay, and again no particular benefits, hazards or conditions.

I decide that, contrary to what might be expected, the Corporation, Shrike Logistics, is Alexis’s patron, not Estelle’s. She’s done work for them in the past, when a deniable asset who, if caught, will likely be told to go on her way with a warning not to be around here again, is better than someone tied to the firm. And she’s been handy in making sure Shrike cargo containers tend not to get their locks cut off and the contents looted. The local government, the Lycinis Mercantile Confederacy, is Estelle’s contact – there’s a mid-level functionary who shares her political ambitions, and thinks they can benefit each other.

Given the time-sensitive nature of the job for Shrike, we go with them for now.

I’ve Got a Bad Feeling About This…

There’s more tables here, and these ones don’t necessarily go our way. The first is the Deployment Condition – how is the battlefield? In our case, it’s gloomy. Maximum visibility is a severely restricted 9″, though if you shoot, you can be shot at in turn. As it turns out, this will likely be the saving grace of this mission. There’s also the Notable Sights which is a twist on the mission. In this case, there’s an item worth a credit somewhere on the field.

Our Objective is “Move Through” – I’ve got to get two crew members off the opposite board edge, or drive off all my enemies and have two surviving crew members who can do so at their leisure.

Next up is the number of opponents – this is a 2d6 and take the highest roll. Fortunately, I roll a three and a two, so we’re going to face three enemies – two regular types and a Specialist, who has some sort of different weapon.

Here’s where things go a little south. Our opponents are Corporate Security – we’ve found ourselves in the middle of an outright corporate war! This adds one additional enemy to what we’re facing, which is a problem, because that bumps us up to four which means one is also a Lieutenant – basically, they’ve got better combat skills and a melee weapon as well. These are also well-equipped and well-trained corporate troops, most of them ex-military. They’ve got +1 combat skill (+2 for the Lieutenant), Toughness 4 all around, and are rocking body armor that gives them a 6+ save and military rifles.

That specialist I mentioned? He’s got a “rattlegun”, which is an out and out machine gun. So my little band of unarmored (except Trouble) weirdos have to get across a field covered by professional soldiers with light machine gun supporting them. As a friend of mine said, “If this was an RPG, now would be the time for improbable hijinks.”

That 9″ visibility thing is going to be important.

There is some good news. The algorithm used to determine their movements is “Defensive”, which means they won’t be actively hunting my crew and will be in pairs of two. They’re also not particularly fast, and they’re in this because the job is a good one, not because they’re true believers, so they’re slightly more likely to quit the field than desperate fanatics or the like would.

I pick the Volk Troopers from Print Minis to represent some heavily armored faceless corporate thugs. There’s a special character in the same month’s set that’s just…a very big fellow carrying an LMG, so he’s in there as well.

Summing It All Up

So with all of this – what’s the job? Shrike Logistics has had several shipments waylaid or otherwise diverted from a nearby dockyard, and they need someone to get past whatever blockade has been set up and get word to their affiliates that they’re aware of the situation and are working to resolve it. Estelle’s crew has been hired due to Alexis’ reputation, but also because they’re cheap – no one wants to be the guy who spent everyone’s holiday bonus hiring some mercenary company and their assault carrier for what turned out to be a bunch of dockyard gang kids who just got lucky.

Unfortunately, that’s not what it turns out to be. Advanis Industries is making a move, and part of that is cutting off the flow of goods into and out of the docks. While it hasn’t escalated to outright war, there’s nothing leaving the port unless they say so. Beyond the port though is Alexis’ home turf, and as confident as the corporate security types are, they’re not dumb enough to head into a tightly packed residential sector and risk the kind of incident that will bring local – or Union – authorities down on them. All the crew has to do is get there.

The other mistake they’ve made is setting up two massive sets of floodlights for night-time security. There’s heavy fog forecast tonight, and all that will do is change the world from murky to blindingly murky.

The plan is to try to rush to the other side, staying in cover as much as possible, and if it comes down to fighting, Estelle, Trouble and Felix all coming down hard on one group to try to knock them out fast before their reinforcements can arrive, or make them decide that no paycheck is worth dying for.

The Battle

I set up the table on a reasonably sized battle mat, reminding myself to buy more (I have a problem) that looked appropriate for a dockyard, with our Corporate Security force set up in an enviable position – in cover, where they need to be, able to aim instead of moving into position. My group on the other hand skulks about in the shadows at the far end.

The first roll is to Seize the Initiative, which would allow us to shoot (except we can’t see!) or take a normal move action – we want that 2nd one, as our goal is to get to the opposite side of the board. We need to roll 2d6 and add the highest Savvy of our group to get over 10 – normally, we’d take a -1 penalty due to the Corporate Security types knowing what they’re doing, but Viv being a Feral offsets that – better hearing or the like I suppose.

I roll a 6 and a 2, adding Trouble’s Savvy of 2 to get a 10! The Advanis tactical comms network is suddenly hit with a very, very effective denial of service attack, swamping their local network and degrading their comms. While they sort out the issue, our intrepid crew use the opportunity to move forward, or in Viv’s case up onto the top of a pile of cargo containers, settling into an overwatch position (where Felix says she can’t get hurt).

Then it’s our Turn One proper, and we roll for reactions – basically, who gets to go before the enemy, and who after. We roll really badly, and only Garret can move before the enemy, hustling up the board and behind a cargo container. Fortunately for us, the enemy can’t see us, so have no targets to shoot at, and prefer to remain in cover, so stick to their positions. The rest of the team joins Garrett, sprinting up the board to get into position for the next turn. The now very much working Advanis comms network lights up – multiple targets spotted!

Turn Two sees marginally better reaction rolls for the crew – Estelle and Trouble can both act in the “Fast” phase, before the Enemy does. They move up to bring themselves into range – but behind cover, and open fire at what they definitely perceive as their biggest obstacle to success (and indeed, continued life) – the Specialist with a rattle gun. Estelle opens fire with her Beam Pistol, needing a 5+ to hit, and her shot goes wide. Trouble follows suit, firing a hail of sharpened tungsten rounds into the concrete barricade and the man behind it, rolling two 5’s – so hitting both times. He rolls a 5 and a 6 to wound, beating the enemy’s toughness of 4. The security guard’s heavy armor stops one of the rounds, but the other find a weak point, and he goes down as a casualty.

Now it’s the enemy turn though, and thanks to her laser light show, Estelle is very visible.

With all the enemy units aiming and having +1 (or +2) combat skill, they’ve got much easier target numbers, and a fusillade of disciplined fire comes back at Estelle. Of the three shots at her, two hit, and one gets past her toughness. If she was anyone else, she’d be down as a casualty, but she’s the Captain, which means she has one point of Luck. At the very last moment, she ducks behind a cargo crate, living to fight another day.

Now it’s the turn of Felix and his cadre – and also, I’ve just remembered I need to add the shiny bit of tech I rolled up as the Notable Sight. It’s near Alexis, so she goes for that while Felix and Garrett decide that, with the boss in trouble and Operation Sneak-By-And-Don’t-Get-Shot blown, it’s time to move onto Plan B, which is to inflict as much damage as swiftly as possible before the Advanis’ superior training can turn the tide. Viv similarly decides, based on muzzle flashes, that 3 v 2 is worst than 2 v 1.

She aims and takes a shot at the Lieutenant – it’s a long shot that would need a 6+ (5+ for aiming) and she misses. Garrett fires at the officer’s buddy, and also misses. With his choice of targets, Felix fires his Blast Rifle at the Lieutenant, hoping to take the biggest remaining threat out. He needs a 5+ to hit, which drops to a 4+ for his combat skill, and thankfully, his shot connects. Rolling a 3 to wound would normally fail, but the Blast Rifle adds one, which equals the Lieutenant’s toughness. His armor doesn’t save him, and he too goes down as a casualty.

Now that we’re at the end of the round, the enemy rolls for Morale, rolling a d6 for each casualty. Rolling a 2 and a 5, we have one roll at or below their threshold (1-2), so the security guard who just saw his boss’s armor plating and half his chest get blown apart decides that he’d like to see retirement and bails.

Turn Three is looking okay for Team Azure Star, but we do poorly on the reaction roll again – a single 1 and a bunch of 5’s and 6’s, which means only one character is going to be able to act before the enemy. More importantly, one of her rules as a Feral means if you only roll a single 1, that must go to the Feral. So an over-excited and eager to redeem herself Viv takes our team’s one opportunity to take out the remaining baddy before he can try again for the captain and…

Connects!

Rolling a 5 to hit and a 6 to wound – and getting past the armor – the last member of the Advanis security team goes down – and our crew has punched through the blockade and can bring the news that help is coming to their patron’s associates on the other side of the docks.

 

After the Battle

After the battle, we roll to see if Advanis Industries decides to hold a grudge and become a rival – we roll a 2, so thankfully they don’t. There is a benefit to the detached professionalism of corporate wars. And now the most important part – we get paid.

Shrike Logistics is feeling a little sheepish about the whole “Woops it turns out these were heavily armed professionals” thing, and we get our maximum of 6 credits, plus 1 for the pre-negotiated hazard pay. Alexis convinces her contacts to throw in an extra credit for the tech she snagged as well. We also did some poking about the battlefield afterward – what with the pressure decidedly being off once the security team was taken care of – but find nothing of value, the blockade meaning that most of the bottled up cargo had been lost to the elements, gone off, etc. We do however find a boarding saber and some grenades in a strongbox near the corporate security position.

We’re all uninjured, which is great, and there’s experience to be had. Everyone gets +3 for having survived and won and Trouble gets +1 for being the first character to inflict a casualty. We’re not quite at advancements yet, but Trouble is close. We could also send our crew for Advanced Training, which adds some pretty significant bonuses, but at the moment that’s still a little rich for their blood – starship debt first! We could also purchase a roll on the military weapons table for three credits, but Estelle is feeling okay about their equipment right now and again – debt is looming.

Now we’re onto…more tables!

This time, the Campaign Event table. Very unfortunately, the ship’s life support system is on the fritz, and this needs to be fixed before she’s space worthy. This uses up three of the six credits worth of spare parts Felix scrounged up this turn. We also randomly roll for a character who isn’t a Bot or Souless (sorry Trouble) to have a Character Event. Alexis comes up – her first time in a genuine hostile shooting match with professional enemies is probably cause for self-reflection. She gets a letter from home, which reassures her that she’s doing the right thing, gaining +1 XP.

And that’s it! Onto the next turn…another day.

 

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