Crater Insurance (One Shot)

**Crater Insurance** is the first in-universe one-shot of Campaign 1. A team of pirate hunters handle an attack on the Space Revenue Service by the famed pirate crew the Red Talons.

## **Synopsis**

The episode opens in the call center of Crater Insurance. Kaelsea makes several cold calls regarding spaceship insurance. The first caller hangs up immediately, while the second caller engages in a longer if unfruitful conversation.

When Kaelsea hangs up this call, her coworker Bolme informs her that the call was traced back to the Red Talons, and that this moderately famous pirate crew seemed to be in the process of looting the Space Revenue Service records station on Ologoth.

Kaelsea brings this information to the attention of Director Pereshien, who assigns Kaelsea, Barynthe, and Harriween to stop the Red Talons. The Director instructs them to bring back no evidence and leave no trace, a policy Kaelsea cheerily describes as 'scorched earth'.

The team board the Indemnity and meet the final member of their team: the holographic lifeform #DIV/0. Together the four make the short trip to Ologoth and land to investigate the scene of the crime. The SRS is devastated; doors torn from hinges, offices ransacked, and casualties everywhere. They discover one pirate on guard at the facility entrance. The team ambush the pirate and discover that Garg is the Red Talon that Kaelsea had previously spoken to over the comm. They question him regarding the intentions of the Red Talons at the SRS. Garg explains that the Red Talons are seeking out debt records, but does not know much more than that.

Barynthe dispatches Garg and Harriween disguises herself as the deceased pirate in order to infiltrate the Red Talons' ranks. The remaining pirates are in the file room, rummaging through file cabinets and causing general destruction. Harriween, as Garg, lures four pirates one by one from the file room into traps laid by the rest of the team.

This strategy works well until the Captain of the Red Talons calls for his crew to sound off. It immediately becomes very apparent that there are at least four missing crew members. Barynthe chooses violence and combat begins between pirates and hunters. Kaelsea enjoys herself immensely with company-issued weaponry she has not had much chance to use at her desk job. #DIV/0 uses their spectral mechanical arms to crush all of the pirates in their vicinity. Captain Scar Yalta fires a junk launcher at Barynthe, who walks off the attack and proceeds to separate the captain from an arm and a leg.

Kaelsea's fireball sets off the SRS fire suppression systems. The sprinklers soak through all of the paper records and glitch out the computer records, which had almost finished deleting the Red Talons' files. The remaining pirates escape, leaving their captain at the mercy of the pirate hunters. Captain Yalta explains that someone has been targeting the family and friends of prominent pirate groups and manufacturing debts that are not owed. No one is responsible for pirate actions other than the pirates, but this has not stopped financial retaliation on those close to them. The Red Talons were attempting to rectify this when the pirate hunters showed up.

The team bring Captain Yalta back to Crater Insurance for further interrogation. The Director is not pleased that they have brought back not only evidence but a whole person, but grudgingly admits that there may be more to learn. Kaelsea and #DIV/0 adjourn to the Indemnity to write up the mission report and Barynthe and Harriween go for drinks. Mission accomplished.

## **Quotations**

* **Kaelsea**: "It's important to make everything in your life fun, even dry-swallowing caffeine pills."

* **#DIV/0**: "That's one way to deal with debt."
* **Kaelsea**: "Yeah! Just die!"

## **Trivia**

* This episode features the first appearance of guest star Nina Cruz.
* This is the first episode that does not contain a break.
* Crater Insurance is responsible for the telemarketer call that Old Bessie receives during the werewolf battle in Episode 2.