Five Parsecs From Home (1e) Week 1

Fleeing from the brutal crackdown decreed by governor Mantis on people that are not up on their taxes, our drifters (see session 0) meet in a back alley of the mega-city Nemain. They don't want to be pressed on the local guard to make up for their debt. They read on each others eyes the fear of being at the end of the rope. Sakir, a paranoid and resourceful enforcer tasked by a fringe religious group to scout the galaxy for ancient artifacts, suggests to the pair a temporary refuge. He knows the location of an Ashtari Cult den. After all, they also worship artifacts and their religion is in good terms with Sakir's fringe cult. The other two, agree. Mostly to rest for a while and also for the chance to sample the infamous gasses that the Ashatari inhale to have visions of archeological sites.

Sakir

Once in the den they relax. Perhaps a little too much. Echo, the quiet and lethal bounty hunter, wrecks a sofa with her power claw while whole-body-shaking enthralled by the drug. An altercation with the bouncer ensues.

Echo

Christa, using her negotiator skills calms down the situation. Her being almost three meters tall due to genetical modifications also helps convince the bouncer that the sofa has just a scratch. Judging by her looks, who can tell she was once a diplomat for a deep space mission on a quest to earn the goodwill of orange aliens (those deemed by the Unity Empire as too dangerous to colonize)?

Christa

Sakir has a vision of a vast surface honeycombed with openings that leads to a spinning sphere, polished against the blackness, reflecting a single star. Some hours later, when the high fades, Sakir suggests that they all band together. Beating the dragnet alone is a hopeless proposition, but if they pool their resources and weapons, and do some odd jobs, they might gather enough scrap to rent a starship and flee to a tax-friendlier planet. Having nothing better to do, the others agree.  The group decides to hire some help, a goon who goes by the moniker Havoc:

WEEK 1 ACTIVITIES

• Christa guards the armoury and does an inventory of its state. 
• Echo, relying on her contacts from bounty hunting, tries to find a patron. Needs a roll of 1 or 6 in her case, but fails. 
• Sakir gauges the mood of the streets and goes to see the sights. Rolling a 27 he hears of an opportunity. There's rumors of an mission that needs experienced hands. He decides to offer the group's services.

OPPORTUNITY MISSION 

The mission is related to factions. The ashtari trust Sakir and task him with a Scout mission against the Counters Guild. The Counters are officials that maintain the galactic exchange rate between goods and services that allows for extensive bartering in the galaxy. The Ashtari want to know next month's rates in advance in order to  speculate. They task the group with a raid on some of the private info terminals that the Gild have around the planet to regulate trade. The objective is to infiltrate a warehouse and access three terminals that have been recently updated and have the latest rates. 

The layout of the facility

The warehouse is guarded by hired muscle armed with auto rifles and guns

The raid will take place during the night shift.
The only workers onsite are spider bots quietly shifting merch around

Since Sakir is the one that made the group coalesce and is the liaison with the Ashtari, he becomes the de facto leader. In game terms this means that a leadership die will be rolled each turn to see if he can grant extra activations beyond 2 figures (pg. 16 in FiveCore). 

Objective... the coveted terminals

The alarm goes off and the guards are alerted

Christa advances boldly in the center, trusting the lethality of her blast rifle

Echo is more cautious. She hides in the shadows.
Covered by Havoc, she tries to close in to use her claw

Havoc makes one of the guards flinch and scramble for the nearest cover

Sadly, another guard puts Christa out of action

Emboldened, the guards advance to meet the intruders

Sakir, the leader, sizes the opportunity, flanks them and lobs
one of his demolition charges. Always a risky gamble

The explosive bounces twice randomly and...

KABOOM!! A guard is knocked down and the other
flung against the wall of the warehouse by the expansive force

A firefight turn is rolled and the group benefits from its superior positioning.
Two guards knocked down

Sakir advances and ties down the unconcious guard

Havoc imitates his leader and binds the other guard. Only two to go

They still have fight in them.
A guard steadies his weapon against the terminal and opens fire

But Sakir's return fire is more accurate and puts him out of action

The remaining guard is knocked down
while crouching behind another terminal

Mission accomplished!
The group accesses the three terminals and copies the exchange data

POST MISSION

LOOT: The asthari are satisfied with the info. They give the group some bionic parts (loot roll 34) but when Sakir gets them implanted they cause in him spatial instability (at the beginning of each turn he has to  move 1" in any direction). This is a real bummer since his hunting rifle cannnot be fired with precision if he moves. Bionics also reduce recovery time by 1 week.

INJURIES: Christa got a really bad deal. She would have been permanently injured (roll 82) were it not for the nano-doc which the group frantically uses to cure her.

DAMAGE TO EQUIPMENT: None.

CAMPAIGN EVENTS: The group hears a rumour.

CHARACTER EVENTS: Sakir picks an unusual hobby. Intrigued by the seemingly miraculous nano-doc (which is unheard of in his cultist community), he begins to study traumatic anatomy. He fills the motel room which the group shares with animo-manequins, anatomical bots that can simulate any kind of wound. The others are not happy having to dine next to these gruesome toys.

ENEMIES:  After the raid, the Counters Guild review the security cameras and are able to identify who is behind the incursion. The Counters Guild are now sworn enemies of the group. This is bad news since the Guild is a branch of the Unity Empire.

FACTION WARS (from Every Star an Opportunity)

• Ashtari Cult (5) -  PASS 
• Tuner Society (5) - PASS
• Suneaters (4) - FAIL - Strength reduced to 3
• Counters Guild (3) - FAIL Strength reduced to 2

The leaked exchange rates damage the reputation of the Guild. The markets are very shifty and veteran merchants smell foul play. The ashtari make a killing. All trading grinds to a halt. 

The Sunaeaters are scientists obsessed with inventing a more efficient method of space jumping. They publish a proposal to extinguish a star to test a new design. Public opinion regards them as baloney crazy.

SETTLEMENTS EVENTS (on a roll of 1, taken from Every Star an Opportunity). YES. One random faction gains strength. The Sunaeaters recover the lost prestige after their leader Rygar Z'tann does a daredevil stunt with his own spacecraft and reduces the jump time to Nemus to hours instead of days.

The FiveCore Skirmish (1e) rules are excellent. The best ranged combat rules I've ever played. The only difficulty for me was understanding what the designer meant by the hiding mechanic. Now, though, it clicked. If you are blasting away you are obviously not hiding, you are open to return fire. One useful application of hiding is the way Echo advanced from cover to cover keeping her fire and trying to close in to brawl. Another use is to curl up behind cover until help arrives from another sector of the playing area. 

This is the status of the group after Week 1: