Player Characters:
John A Rico - Former Star Marine
Rocke Ramora - Thief-Turned-Trader
Willy Warder - Noble Administrator
NPC Crew:
Zuleikah - Money-Obsessed Astrogator
Lucus III
The S.S. Suck-It jumped into the Lucus system and set course for the third planet in the system with a hold full of hard drives carrying mail for the Aurora Corporation, as well as some spare industrial components. Lucus III had a thin atmosphere, and was operated by Aurora as a garden world. On the way in, Willy attempted to find a local selling some of the famed Lucus Space Tobacco, and got responses from two; Marcus Primus sent official-looking letters on Aurora letterhead, while Eudoxia Strategos' reply was much more slapdash and casual.
Oddly, Eudoxia claimed to be in the settlement around the only spaceport, in the southern hemisphere, while Marcus' directions stated that he was operating out of a camp in the northern hemisphere. As they closed with the planet, they received a comms ping, and Rico brought it up on the main screen. A man in the teal military uniform of the Aurora Corporation confirmed that this was the "SS... Suck-It?", and Rico started to respond in the affirmative only to be interrupted. Rocke shouted for Rico to "know his place", then confirmed that they were.
The man introduced himself as Proculus Titius, Chief Intelligence Officer in the system, then explained that the main starport on the planet was experiencing "issues", and advised them to land at a set of coordinates in the northern hemisphere which were almost exactly matched those from Marcus Primus. Willy tried to coax some more information about the starport, but Proculus wasn't talking. Rico tried to run some scans of the area, but the Suck-It's sensors were a barely functional mess, and the light cloud cover on the planet rendered them utterly useless.
Rocke asked how they'd be unloading the cargo, given there were no proper facilities, and Proculus explained that he would be overseeing the data transfer personally, then cut the feed. Rocke had a feeling Proculus wasn't telling them everything and looked over the contents of the inital ping, but found that all the codes and passwords were legit, so he ordered Rico to make a fast landing because they "have places to be". Rico pointed the ship down then leaned on the throttle, spectacularly drifting it perfectly onto the landing site.
Proculus emerged from a nearby pre-fab structure, flanked by two other men, and met the crew at the exit ramp (minus Zuleikah, who was plotting their next jump). Rico began unloading the mail with the hover-dolly, while Proculus asked them to come, one at a time, to the customs office to be interviewed. Rocke went first, and the interview was mostly typical until he was asked if he'd ever had any interactions or communications with any extremist organizations such as the Crimson Path.
Rocke had heard of them, an anti-corporation militia active in the subsector who believed in radical wealth redistribution, but had never had any personal dealings. With the interview concluded, Proculus warned them that, in addition to the spaceport, they should also stay away from the three terraforming engines, as they were outputting hazardous concentrations of gases and radiation. Rico was next, and had only "interacted" with the Crimson Path during a black ops mission where he had destroyed one of their compounds.
Willy, however, had overseen a trade deal with members of the Crimson Path back when he was a junior administrator. It had been foisted off on him, as nobody else in the department had wanted to risk sullying their reputation by associating with such rebels. Proculus was intially suspicious, but Willy convinced him it was not a big deal, and once the mail was unloaded, they were granted access to the settlement.
Auroratown
As they strolled into the settlement, a hastily-erected loose collection of pre-fab housing and tents, Rocke asked what the others' thought of criminal activity (Willy: "ooh, how exciting", Rocke: "Eh, I've done worse"). Before he could continue with his proposition, Willy announced that he'd already made arrangements to meet with Marcus at a bar, so they headed over. Inside a grungy buliding made from two shipping crates welded together, Willy and Marcus worked out the nuts and bolts of just how many Spacebucks would change hands, when an air raid siren went off. The bar rumbled, and gunfire echoed from outside; the crew and Marcus flipped the heavy metal tables for cover.
After the gunfire fell silent, and after thirty seconds, Rocke walked over to peer out one of the grimy windows. He saw that one pre-fab building had been shattered by an explosion, and the ruins were aflame. A section of wall with the label "PINKERTON PACIFICATION UNIT" had embedded itself into the rocky earth, and three bodies in teal body armour were splayed out on the ground in puddles of blood. After a bit more time to calm down, Willy and Marcus got back to negotiations, while Rocke stood guard at the door with his pistol.
From his vantage point, Rocke saw Proculus walk down the street, flanked by the two-man security team from earlier, and take in the wreckage, before spotting him and walking over to the bar. Proculus offered Rocke a business opportunity: as all but two of Aurora's corporate security had been explosively disabled, they were in need of mercenary assistance. Scans showed that the insurgent forces were now driving to one of the terraforming engines, likely to sabotage them, and he would appreciate the crew's assistance in stopping them.
Rocke asked that they stop being kept in the dark, and Proculus begrudgingly explained that Crimson Path insurgents had seized control of the primary spaceport and driven the Aurora Corp employees out to the northern space tobacco fields. Their likely objective was to destroy the terraforming engines in order to stop the space tobacco harvest. Rocke didn't buy the story about their motivations, and turned to consult with the rest of the crew. Proculus pointed out that he was willing to offer 0.1 MegaSpacebucks, then left them to their discussion.
Willy, despite what the ritual bat'leth he carried might suggest, was not at all combat capable and was not interested. Rocke was won over by the promise of cold, hard, spacecash, and voted in favour. Rico, of course, was "from Beunos Aires, and I say kill 'em all!". Rocke agreed to Proculus' terms, and they were given an open-topped Aurora hovercraft. The crew headed back to the Suck-It to grab what weapons they had, and then sped off towards the terraforming engine, Rocke at the wheel, with the two remaining Pinkertons following them.
Showdown
Scans showed there were two enemy hovercrafts, max capacity 4, so at most 8 enemy combatants. Rocke proved to be an excellent pilot and managed to make it to the engine before the Path attackers, so the party hid their craft and set up in hiding behind low-lying spacebushes on either side of the ravine. The Path insurgents arrived, and, hoping to avoid combat, the crew stepped out from cover, their weapons levelled. Willy questioned if they thought today was a good day to die, for they were outgunned, then ordered the insurgents to lay down their weapons.
Only 6 insurgents had showed up, 3 of whom wore teal Aurora uniforms, with red bandanas tied around their arms. While the Pinkertons put them in cuffs, one of the insurgents, a tan-skinned woman, spoke up. She claimed that the terraformers were bootleg garbage, and would utterly destroy Lucus III's biosphere if they continued running. Rocke, trying to understand her motivation, asked if they were "space hippies", but she pointed out that they were trying to save thousands of lives.
Despite agreeing with their goal, Rocke pointed out that betraying his employer would ruin his reputation. A philosophical argument on responsibilty followed, with Willy chipping in that the Crimson Path had killed a bunch of Pinkertons. The woman argued that the Pinkertons were valid targets, as they were notoriously murderous, which Willy had to concede, but he suggested that two wrongs don't make a right. More importantly, when the Pinkertons killed an innocent civilian, it wasn't technically murder, because there were exemptions under spacelaw ("I don't make the laws, I just know all of them").
Willy suggested they express their grievances through the proper channels in the future, but that got the 3 former-Aurora insurgents to pile on; they claimed they'd gone to HR but one man's brother and infant daughter being lethally "pacified" had resulted in a payout of 50 Spacebucks for funeral expenses (minus a 20 Spacebuck service fee). Rocke again tried to end the conversation, stating it was "just business", but Willy continued to insist that if they didn't want to be arrested (and likely tortured then executed), they shouldn't have committed what counted as terrorism (disregarding that, due to draconian laws on his homeworld, he had technically committed "terrorism" at least four times in his life).
The tan woman asked if Willy would consider being their lawyer, and offered a stipend of 0.1MegaSpacebucks. Rico tried to get him to turn it down, and Rocke was catious, fearing retaliation from Aurora. Willy recalled a legal loophole: a laywer who was paid for representing terrorists could be charged as an accessory, but one who represented them for free while the defendent donated to a charitable foundation in his name could not be. Legally, they'd be in the clear ("Okay, but what about them just putting a bag over our heads in our sleep?" "Well, you could always ask the two Pinkertons standing right beside you").
The Trial
They loaded the insurgents into the hovercraft and drove back to Auroratown, where Proculus was negotiating with day labourers to help put out the fire on the Pinkerton building. He seemed pleased, and wired over the 100,000 Spacebucks to their accounts. The moment the transaction went through, and their contract with Aurora was complete, Willy informed a furious Proculus that he would be representing the insurgents in the upcoming trial. Proculus "advised" them to reconsider their options, but when he couldn't offer any money, they weren't interested.
A day later, an impromptu court had been set up in an Aurora warehouse, with a CyberJudge expert program presiding. Willy presented his case (with a victory by 11 over Proculus): Lucus III's property records clearly showed that none of the buildings in the settlement had been registered, which meant that, for legal purposes, they did not exist! Further, since the settlement did not exist, none of the testimony of those living there or footage from security systems were admissable as evidence. In a stroke of genius, he managed to get all charges dropped!
As Proculus sputtered that this was a miscarriage of justice, Rocke interjected that the court had ruled in favour of the S.S. Suck-It, and so he could suck it. The insurgents were freed and thanked them before heading back to the main spaceport. When the crew returned to the ship, Zuleikah asked where all these spacebucks had come from, and they regaled her with their tale of adventure...
Notes:
The S.S. Suck-It is so named because there was no better custom license plates left at the Space DMV.
The CEO and owner of the Aurora Corporation is Jeff Spacezos.
Rico's job in the Star Marines was, essentially, to do the My-Lai massacre every day for 20 years in the Franchise Wars, on the side of the Taco Bell Entente.
On one opposed check where Rocke was trying to see if Proculus was lying about the Crimson Path's motivations, we tied. Figuring we might as well just reroll, we proceeded to tie a second time. The third roll went to Rocke.
The crew gained Proculus as an Enemy, and Eudoxia (the tan insurgent woman) as a Contact.
To avoid counting credits, we are using an abstract "Money Point" system.
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