Game 1 Part 3 Lost Property

1.21.2189 Very late shift (the sun just a fraction above the horizon, the storms have temporarily subsided)

### Scene

**Outside, the sun has finally reached the last moments before it disappears for another 14 shifts. Though the mood is tense and the townsfolk especially weary, this is a time of the month that almost everyone puts aside to enjoy. Almost like a religious experience, many of the townsfolk gather out from the town gates into the open landscape so that they can see the sun's last light, while others find perches in tall buildings to get a bird's eye view.**

**(If they are still around) Even the raiders have let their guard down to witness the event.**

**Soon, the sun is just a radiant spot, its last rays bursting from the edge of the planet. And then, gone. Almost like a light switch, the final beams disappear and bring a sudden drop in temperature to the entire colony. Though there is still a warm glow in the sky, a noticeable mood has shifted.**

**Animal sounds start to echo across the land. Howls, chirps, chatters, and screams appear from all directions. Both small and large insects start to creep out of the crevices of buildings and rocks. With them comes a wave of glowing lights as their luminescence kicks in for the long night. Dusk foxes start to come out in large numbers even though they are hard to see. Their strange colored feathers bounce what little light remains and their eyes glow with reflection, but their forms are blurry and hunched as they creep in the shadows. Only the very small flutter species are easy to see as they drift upwards like fairies, only to make quick dives to snatch unsuspecting prey.**

* If the players had not fought the raiders yet, a small buggy from Victor's crew shows up to talk to Rakken. They tell him that they will lay in wait for McKracken's crew to go to their pick up point. There the Twin Cobras will strike and loot whatever it is that Dutch was planning on taking for himself.
* The raiders will leave the area without warning.
* If the players fixed the Power station and Egan reported on them, the raiders will have left right afterwards.

### Scene

**Dutch orders the rigs to be refueled and resupplied, and for the team to prepare to head out into the wastes again, this time to ply for salvage. He seems on edge, more than just his nerves from the raiders. He keeps looking at this watch, and looking at the night sky. As the team finishes up, he tells them to rest up. He will keep watch in the late shift.**

* A few hours later, a light show appears in the sky where a battle is breaking out between two spaceships. The explosions, lasers blasts, and glistening debris look like some kind of kaleidoscope. Anyone who decided to stay up late will notice it, especially if they are anywhere near Dutch.
* Dutch swears loudly and pulls out a communicator. He starts to yell numbers and letters into it, but doesn't get a response. Angry, he gets up and gathers the team out of their sleep.
* Dutch tells everyone that their first haul is sooner than expected. He orders them to get the rigs up and running and heading out into the waste in 15 minutes.
* If anyone asks him about the battle, he will say that the space above the desert here a frequent area for black operations on space ships and aeroships. He won't admit that he knows exactly what the battle is about.

**Almost as soon as the team gets the rigs in gear, a large flash appears in the sky, lighting everything up. Looking up, one can see a red and blue streak burning across the sky. Its angle starts to change drastically, sending it straight towards the surface. The salvage team heads out at full speed. Dutch calculates that it will take 6 hours to get there. Fast on the team's tail is the a expansive storm. It is a singular cloud bank stretching across the entire sky. A steady rain laden with thunder and lighting covers the land as the cloud overtakes the convoy.**

### Event: The Wreck

Time:

1.22.2189 Early shift (Early Night, the storms are regular now)

### Scene

**After 6 hours of breakneck speeds through the drenched desert, the team finally gets within sensor range of the wreck. Dutch orders the convoy to halt their approach until the security team clears the site.**

* **The security team goes to the wreck. Roll a Combat Sense test (unknown threshold, because its a ruse). The test will reveal nothing.**

**The vessel is a large cargo ship but there are no identifying marks on it. The ship appears to have almost made a landing but broke up at the last minute. The majority of the debris is clustered in a relatively small radius. The largest sections of the craft seem to have held together fairly well, including what looks to be the hold and the command deck.**

* Both the hold and the command deck are closed off by heavy bulkhead doors. They can be easily torn open by the manipulators of a construction mech.

### Location: Command Deck

**The command deck is torn to pieces on the inside by high speed rounds and there are a few corpses and body parts laying around. From what is remaining of them, their uniforms looks unaffiliated. The mainframe has been blasted to pieces, not leaving much to pick at for salvage.**

**There is only one person found alive. She is wearing a space suit and holding a pistol. She is heavily injured from shrapnel and bleeding all over the floor. She points her firearm the team, but cannot hold the gun up long enough to be threatening.**

* If the players try to talk to her, she will recognize one of the medics as part of Dutch's crew. She will explain to the players that she has an important data disk for Dutch and that he needs to get it at all costs. She says to not let it get into the wrong hands. She dies soon afterwards.

### Location: Hold

**There are many crates of different sizes, all of which could hold valuables inside. But standing out from all the rest is a compartment that used to be hidden under the floors but is now obviously exposed. Inside are twelve cryopods with twelve people inside. Two have been completely smashed and the occupants are crushed inside. The other ten seem to be operating on their own independent power supply.**

* The pods are locked with a powerful security device. They can be forced open, but doing so would fail to wake the occupants up properly and they will die a agonizing death.
* Trying to read any of the computers is difficult, but a Computer test (4) will reveal that the pods contain prisoners from an Aphrodian max level prison. All have life or death sentences. 2 or more successes reveal that they are brain hacked for suicide operations.
* And Investigation test (3) will reveal another secret compartment, this one filled with a wide variety of fire arms, heavy weapons, and munitions.

### Scene

* Anyone outside or in a vehicle can test for Combat Sense (3) to detect the coming raiders. If players have a number of turns equal to the number of successes to get ready. Failure means everyone rolls for Initiative normally. A Fumble means the raiders get the first strike.

**From the north comes a line of large combat vehicles flying the flag of the Twin Cobras. Their approach was muffled by the storm. The trucks and buggies begin to encircle the wreckage from a distance while a handful of mechs and raiders on foot close in.**

* There are 3 mechs. Two are scrap mechs while the third is a combat mech. There are 6 raiders on foot. The vehicles encircling the wreck will make the occasional pop shot at the players, especially if they try to leave the vicinity.
* If the invaders are defeated, the players suffer too much damage, or the battle drags out too long, the ASA shows up.

**As the battle reaches its climax, there is a very loud noise, like a siren. The sky suddenly explodes with light, almost as bright as the day, as dozens of intense flares arc across the sky and descend around the wreckage. The raiders are surprised and start to move about erratically. The whistling of ordnance screams all the way down into their ranks into a fiery explosion. Over the hills comes a cadre of Aphrodian Nightmares, the elite mechs of the Aphrodian State Army, along with dozens of troops armed in full protect gear. Despite the nasty weather, a heavy bodied VTOL circles over head. The Nightmares and troopers make short work of the raiders that didn't make a break for it. As the area is finally secured, the VTOL finds a landing space near by.**

**Dressed in a very sharp military uniform and followed by another squad of elite soldiers, what appears to be the commander of this force strolls toward the wreckage. His armed guards are quick to keep their guns trained on everyone. Stepping out front, Dutch walks up to meet him. The two look impressive next to each other, clearly both have had plenty of experiences out in the field.**

**"My name is Commander Alexi Crass," he says with strong purposeful voice, "and on the orders of the Aphrodian State Army, this Ishtarian smuggling vessel disguised as a civilian craft is now evidence and property of the Aphrodian government. Any and all equipment, materials, or data retrieved from this craft are part of an ongoing investigation and must be relinquished to the state immediately. Failure to comply will warrant an arrest for obstruction of military affairs. I trust that you will take these statements seriously, Mr. McKracken. You should order you crew and security team to stand down."**

**Dutch smiles, drops his firearm, and raises his hands in defeat. "Its pretty obvious we don't have much of a choice in the matter." He carefully pulls out his sidearm from his jacket and also drops it to the ground. "For the state," he adds sarcastically.**

**The troops round up McKracken's crew and disarm them. The security team is order out of their mechs.**

**"I hope you found what you were looking for here on Venus," Dutch says, turning to Florence.**

### Scene

**The Aphrodian State Army had completely intercepted and shut down McKracken's operation. The members of his team were separated and interrogated. They were told that Dutch was a terrorist working for Ishtar. He had lied to his team about the salvage mission. They explained that the smugglers were moving illegal Mord suicide bombers and weapons into Aphrodian territory and that Dutch was their contact. Since Dutch was not explicit in his intents, and because Aphrodia is so compassionate, the team will not be charged with aiding a terrorist. In fact, the state has offered them a handsome reward for the trouble they faced being forced into such a despicable situation. However, any records from the last few shifts must be turned over the the state for evaluation. That includes any footage and recordings.**

* All the players are offered 10,000 marks each
* Raltor must pass a Psyche test (2) or he will decided to disappear back to the wastes before he gets a chance to be paid.
* Dr, Swayze must pass a Disguise test (2) or he will be found out. The other players won't know this and there will be an excuse for him to get away again....
* Florence can try to pass a Slight of Hand test (4) to hide her film and notes. Otherwise everything she has will be confiscated by the military. They tell her that her press pass has expired (which it hasn't) and that she needs to talk to the Office of Media to get it looked at. They tell her there has been an error and that she was never supposed to be approved for this pass to begin with, so she must either apply for a work visa (which she will be denied), or return to Earth.
* Moose will head back to his office to find a letter in his mail. Its dated from four weeks ago, but was only mailed earlier that day. The letter reads:

"I'm sure I'm the last person you expedited to hear from right now, but things are changing fast and I will need all the help I can get. I knew your brother well. We fought by each other's side many times and I considered him like flesh and blood. He talked about you a lot, told me things that convinced me that you would be the perfect man for this job. I knew that there was a good chance that the mission would go wrong from the get go, and I was even more sure that they'd be hauling me away regardless. So, to make sure that things keep in motion, I have a special gift for you. I'm giving you ownership of the company. All of it. Leave Gigatech. They're just shills who will use you up and throw you away. I've already arranged everything, all you need to do is sign the paperwork. I made sure that government couldn't touch the business while its in your hands. At least as long as you don't screw anything up. Hopefully you will figure out what to do with it. I'm sure if you ask Doc Mulden, something will come to mind." - Dutch McKracken.

"P.S. Sorry for giving you such a hard time, I had to see if you really had the metal."