Sci-Fi Mercs: Phase 1 Episode 1

#### Character Appearances

This episode features the titular Sci-Fi Mercs, Puyo, Seban, Shane, and Val Dara and details their assembly and first commission together.

#### Meeting the Mercs

At the beginning of the session we are individually introduced to each of the characters as they begin to make their way to the ship where they will meet each other for the first time. Seban's introduction features him heading down from the Hollow's cafeteria after devouring a double cheese burger and salted caramel milkshake. When he arrives at the shipyard, he sees a rather unkempt man partially unconscious in a vent, he finds this unkempt man to be Shane, one of the members of the mercenary crew. Following meeting Shane, Seban approaches The Rust Bucket and quickly becomes acquainted with the crew's sniper Puyo and another rugged gun-for-hire type, Val Dara. The Mercs investigate their new ship and fill their time with idle icebreaking chit-chat before they are greeted by their first commission. There is some tension in the group, Seban and the other members of the group view Shane as just some druggy- something he makes little effort to argue against, whilst Shane takes an immediate strong dislike to Puyo upon finding out about his past association with the Federation.

#### Start

An overarching monitor in the centre of the ship fades in from black and for a few moments it holds a loading icon that displays the insignia of the Hollow. When the screen finishes loading, a feminine synthetic voice that mimics human speech can be heard over the speakers. The voice addresses itself as their A.I Companion, Sheila, who is to serve their will within her limits. *Sheila is the cheapest A.I available on the market, common for mercenary crews with throwaway ships and a lack of renowned.* Seban is quickly entertained by the idea of the crew having their own A.I to their disposal and begins to curiously stretch its limits. During his stretching of Sheila's limits he finds that the ship has a printer that can replicate most substances at the cost of credits. He then finds that the food sources replicated by the printer have no distinct flavour and taste like cardboard, disappointing him and the crew gravely.

After some time wasting, it is unanimously agreed that the Mercs would like to take on a job. Sheila briefs the crew with the missions that are available. The Wolfenstein have occupied a colony planet and is refusing to extract its military presence as they've been having regular Wolfenstein cargo shipments stolen in the planet's shipyards and airspace. They believe the innocent citizens of the colony to be responsible for the missing cargo however, the commissioner details that the colony is not responsible, and there is a large smuggler group who has been laundering the Wolfenstein technology. The smuggler group's base was in the heart of the jungle leagues away from the human civilisation making it near impossible for any non-experienced individual to retrieve the cargo and relieve the planet of the Wolfenstein's presence. The Mercs were commissioned with disrupting the smuggler group's operation so the Wolfenstein would depart the planet.

##### Arrival

Upon their arrival, the Mercs are integrated by Wolfenstein soldiers refusing them entry to the planet's orbit. The planet is under strict Wolfenstein occupation until they can reveal their rat and get revenge on the foolish kind that live here that dare to steal from the Wolfenstein. Seban ingeniously reveals that he has a history with the Wolfenstein and mocks an valid ID, his German accent is enough to convince the soldiers that the ship is valid for entry. The soldiers unrestrain the Rust Bucket and the Mercs are open for entry.

The Mercs link up their comms and there is little time for dilly-dallying as they follow the commissioner's tid-bits on locating the smuggler base. Sheila provides support to the Mercs by performing a minor orbital scan to reveal their destination. Not long after, the Mercs have visuals on the smuggler base and make their advance.

##### The Smuggler's Den

The smuggler base appears to be an abandoned shipyard or cargo lot. There are a decent amount of smuggler grunts posing as guards lingering around the cargo lot armed to the teeth. There are two warehouses at the very end of the cargo lot and the cargo lot is littered with a variety of different large shipping containers. The shipping containers appear to belong to a multitude of different organisations however there are a few marked with the Wolfenstein logo and coloured red. This was definitely the place that the Mercs were targeting with disruption.

The Mercs choose a stealthy path going forward and take pot shots at the guardsmen who lingered around the warehouse to little resistance, systematically clearing a path through the cargo lot until they reached a building that seemed to be a hub for the smugglers. After a firefight where the Mercs cleared most of the soldiers from the building, Shane grew impatient, using his green stim and rushing into the building, and stabbing the remaining guard viscously 6 times in the chest with his twin knives. Seban, following close behind, was appalled by the brutality of the act. However, despite the discordance between the team, it was clear that they worked efficiently as a combat unit, managing to clear the whole area in a matter of minutes with few, if any, minor injuries. After the lot was cleared, the Mercs finally had time to see what the smugglers had been smuggling here. They open one of the Wolfenstein containers to hopefully find a root of the problem revealing a *Wolfenstein Knight*. They stagger back as the Wolfenstein Knight's eyes become illuminated and it springs into action with a mechanical whirr. The knight appears to scan his environment before his eyes land on the Mercs. Seban takes initiative and commands the Knight to be at ease as if he were a general of some sorts, and he pulls Puyo to his side who gets into character as a soldier as well. Puyo scuffs a mock German accent and the two improvise a plan.

##### The Knight

Seban flashes his ID at the Knight and enlightens him that he will be undergoing a routine inspection and with him is a Cadet Engineer (Val Dara) as well as Chief of Inspection (Puyo). The Knight digresses that he is confused and that they don't appear to be Wolfenstein soldiers to which Seban barks at him threatening him with insubordination against a superior officer. The Knight complies with the inspection and the Mercs quickly begin to realise that they have no idea how to fake an inspection as they are not engineers and knowledge on knights is pretty limited as they haven't been used since the Nexus War. Puyo contacts Sheila and Sheila tells them that they can likely find a way to remove the Knight's plates on the back of his chassis. Seban begins the inspection looking for points of weakness or interest in his metal exterior. Once the Mercs identified a point of interest in the armour, Seban and Puyo instruct Val Dara of how to go about the 'inspection' process. They explain to the Knight that they are training the Cadet to be an Inspection officer. Val Dara draws his laser blade and plunges it into the weak point in the Knight's armour and the Knight screams in agony and spasms for a few moments before the hulking body collapses beneath Val Dara. Seban cast a lightning bolt into a puddle of rainwater that had begun to form around the fallen knight, to ensure that it stayed down.

##### Extraction

The Mercs call for Sheila to extract them from the camp and that they've dealt with the smugglers. They inform Sheila that the smugglers had stolen a Wolfenstein Knight, explaining the harsh Wolfenstein presence, as the Knights are weapons of war. The client is happy that the smuggler group has been extinguished and the Mercs head to the ship.

### NOTICE

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