Episode 2. Part 2

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Rina: So, Christian, tell me. You've arranged another meeting with them so we can whack them then, right? (she gets a nod: yes) Good man. Had me going there for a moment.
Christian: The point of talking to them was never to get them to agree to something. The point of talking to them was to learn something about them and to figure out a plan to deal with them. The more information you have about someone, the more you—
Rina: I'm all for that.
Arden: What do we know now?
Christian: We know that he seems a great deal sure of himself. That he has snipers, I think…Yes? ( He looks at Nika and gets a nod.) That there's more than five of them and that they really want alcohol. Which they're not going to pay for, but that's okay. And that they're coming back here tomorrow.
Arden: What if they do pay for it?
Christian: If they do pay for it?
Arden: Right. Why wouldn't they pay for it?
Nika: Because they can just take it. As far as they're concerned—
Arden: They wouldn't because of the ship. It's kinda hard to assault the ship with six guns.
Christian: They don't know that it's locked. They don't know we're not the only ones aboard. We're negotiating. They're probably going to assume one of us is the Captain. The Captain negotiates.
Rina: All right, I have a question here. We've been here two days. Sniper rifles have scopes, so we know they can watch us from a distance. Right?
Christian: (confidently) Mm-hmm. The Captain's never left the ship, I think.
Rina: (Not so fast…) No. No, as far as I can tell, he was out on the dirt discussing things with the colonists when we first touched down. It's possible they know who the Captain is. But they seem willing to deal with you so that's practically a moot point. I have another question. 100% Ethanol alcohol. It's jet fuel. Do we have it? I just remember that Russian MiG pilots would get drunk on their fuel, because it was 100% pure ethanol.
Nika: Yeah, and they were killin' brain cells—
Rina: Are we caring about their brain cells at this point?
Christian: They may or may not decide to drink 100% proof alcohol.
Nika: No. 100% is different than 100 proof.
Rina: Yeah. Vodka's only 80. Either way—
Christian: Point being, a) we might not have enough and b) we might need it. I'm assuming we have it because we need to clean things—
Rina: As long as it's Ethanol alcohol… Look, I'm looking at it as a source of alcohol that the Captain's not going to miss or gainsay.
Christian: We already got him to give us our guns. Have a little faith.
Arden: And since we're not really selling them anything anyway, we could fill them up with water and they'll likely not know the difference.
Christian: That's true.
Nika: I'm still not entirely convinced what the point of all this is. Essentially my question to you is what exactly are we gaining in the time it took us to negotiate what little we negotiated? Because we certainly aren't going to help the colonists by trading for alcohol with the bandits.
Christian: Well, we could do a few things there but that would depend on the doctor and apparently he's not willing to poison anyone. (to Arden) That's all right. It's not your fault.
Rina: Hippocratic Oath, after all.
Christian: It's not like they make you take it to get your degree—.
Rina: What are they gonna do, put a scalpel to your neck?
Arden: To get your degree you don't need to do it, but to keep your license you do.
Christian: (waving his hands to settle it) We learned something and we know have more options. What we do with the options is up to us.
Nika: We don't see how we have more options to help the colonists with this.
Christian: (decisively) Where are the snipers?
Nika: Not were they were when I first looked.
Christian: I know they're not there now, but what were their positions? They're likely to use the same positions again aren't they?
Nika: No—.
Arden: In the hills?
Nika: —as a matter of fact, they're not.
Christian: There's only so many positions they can be in.
Nika: Yes, they'll use the same general position, but they won't necessarily use the same specific position.
Rina: Who could be on the bridge, sweeping the area with our sensors looking for heat signatures—the snipers?
Christian: That would be someone with a high technical skill, which would be the two of you. (He points to Rina and Nika.) Assuming—.
Rina: Well, I'm volunteering.
Christian: Question is: Do we want to do something about it?
Nika: Again, it still begs the question to me of just how much help we're being to them. I don't see how we're being of help to them. The only help we can give them is to bring as many of them with us as we can. And maybe take an extra shuttle run over to the next city and get the rest of them to safety there.
Rina: Do these bandits have bounties on their heads? Are they worth money?

It's not likely, nothing bigger than maybe a town putting an individual bounty on them. It's already clear that the troubles here are of low priority to the Feds. Had it been a higher priority, bounties might be large enough to make them worth pursuing.

Damn.

Christian: It is a question. We could even their numbers out.
Nika: I'm all for helping them as much as possible, but right now what I see our option as is taking them as many as possible who wish to stay on this planet to the next city over, and then taking those who want to leave the planet out of here.
Christian: Leaving them destitute because the Captain is going to take everything they have, making them poor and quite possibly dead, either way.
Nika: What would you like me to do about that, precisely?
Christian: We should do something about the bandits.
Nika: It would be easier to shoot the gorram Captain.
Great. If Nika keeps this up, we'll be standing out here all night.
Christian: (drawing it out…)Yes….we could do that. I'm not sure that we want to. I'm just listing options. I'm not advocating any specific one.
Nika: I think our problem here is you don't have any clear idea exactly what it is you wish to accomplish.
Christian: I know exactly what I want to accomplish.
Rina: Christian, if we deal with the bandits, wi—
Nika: Will the colonists be any better off?
Rina: —Will the colonists, freed of the bandits' depredations, be able to plant, raise and harvest their food before winter comes? Are they all dead, anyway?

Not entirely likely—Jiang Yin has a year-round temperate climate. There is no real winter.

Nika: I don't necessarily see stopping the bandits as one of the goals of our particular situation.
Arden: It's an admirable goal.
Nika: I don't think it's a goal that's doable—
Arden: Why?
Nika: —By a crew our size. If you want an army contingent, by all means, bring one in. I think that's the only way you're going to stop the bandit situation.
Christian: If there's anything the Companion Guild ever learned is that one person can bring down an entire army with a well-placed word.
Rina: (Sarcastically) Oh, yes! Her name was Judith. I remember that story.
Nika: (To Christian) Uh-huh. You know what? This is your party. I'll bodyguard. That's as far as I'm going.
Rina: (undertone) At least you got the reference.
Christian: (to Nika) I do need your help, if you're willing to give it because you do have experience I don't have.
Nika: Then you better get a clear goal in mind, because I'm not helping you if you don't have one.
Christian: (stating his goal) Kill as many of the bandits as possible.
Nika: (FINALLY!) That I can help with.

Arden isn't entirely convinced. Killing some of the bandits would only take a stick to the proverbial beehive.

Nika: No, you'd do the same thing you'd do with a snake: Cut off the head.
Rina: Like I said: Judith.
Arden: (washing his hands of it) I have no experience with snakes. I'll take your word for it.

Someone remarked that while snakes can be nasty critters, they're also helpful critters.

Arden: Yeah, and I crew with them.

That matter settled, we discuss tactics.

Nika: Rina, I need a spot on top of the ship that can't be spotted from sniper positions.
Rina: Let's ping the topography and see what we've got.
Nika: And closer would be better. Because I think I can take them out without using a rifle.
Rina: Works for me…

We know that the containers on the ship have doors, arranged on the sides. We know that sniper rifles have a range of thousands of feet. The ship and the containers, however, have hatches topside, that could provide cover. Nika's hoping to take them out quietly with a bow—yes, she said a bow—silently, without any tell-tale shots, reducing their numbers by surprise and by that throwing the bandits off their stride long enough for us to get the drop on them. The trade off would be the range: a bow cannot go as far as a firearm, so wherever Nika chooses to lie in wait, it will have to be close to the bandits' position. We don't have a bow on the ship but decide to ask if the settlers have a bow she can use.

That said, we also decide that the safest place outside to meet the bandits would be under the ship itself, letting its bulk provide cover from the snipers on the heights. If Nika is topside, she's taking a risk of getting shot herself. She still wants to use the bow for a silent attack. So be it. She'll brave the bullets.

Rina says they could reduce that risk if they sweep the area for the sniper positions and booby trap them. Nika agrees. And if we run into the bandits…?

Nika: We'll leave our options open to just…. play the girl card.
Rina: (To Nika) You're prettier.
Nika: (To Rina)You're better with a knife.
Rina: A question of degree.
Arden: He's just looking for a good woman.
Christian: (To the women)You think you can get close enough to kill him?
Nika: (To Rina) Again, you're better with a knife and I've already turned him down. He's not going to believe it if I turn on it.
Christian: The person who uses it and does that is going to get killed.
Nika: Not necessarily.
Rina: If we do pursue the Judith option, do you have something in your stores I could use, say like a patch, that I can slap on him and take him out that way?
Arden: I suppose I can find something.

We leave it at that, neither taking up the option or discarding it. But it's just one more weapon in our arsenal. We discuss ways we could spook or disable the horses. If the bandits are on foot, the odds against us are evened. We hit upon the idea of pulsing our engines for the noise and the kick-up to spook the horses all at once. We would have to lose one of our party to keep them standing by the controls on the bridge—that's one less person manning a gun in our defense.

Rina suggests we could just sneak into the bandit camp under cover of darkness and stampede or kill their horses. Arden counters we don't know where their camp is. Christian quips we could capture a bandit and get him to tell us.

Arden: How?
Nika: The sensors don't have the range, based on how long it took for them to get to us—.
Rina: So, there might be torture.
Christian: (pained at the poor choice of words) Persuasion.
Arden argues for something less lethal.
Rina: Yeah, you can threaten to have them sleep with me. Yeah, that would be effective.
Nika: (laughter) Hih-ha-ha-huh…
Christian: Yes. Well. There is nothing I can say that could possibly apply to that so I'll just move along.
Nika: (still laughing) That's a very good option, Christian. You do that. (laughs more)
Christian: Not saying anything at all. Seriously.
Nika is still laughing.
Christian: I have to admit, I was vaguely hoping the bandit leader would be a woman. I can work with women.
Nika: (getting a grip…) Oh, honey, you can—
Rina: —work with men!
Christian: Oh, I can work with men, but I'd rather—
Nika: I'm appreciative that a man might not respond favorably.
Arden: (looking at Christian speculatively) I don't know.
Christian: He strikes me as the macho-macho type.
Arden: You could get him drunk first...

We take a minute to laugh and speculate, but really, it's merely an amusing digression. We sober after a few minutes.

Christian: (To Arden) I was joking. But seriously: We need a plan.
Rina: So the Judith seduction is not a plan?
Arden: I like the engine idea.
Nika: Yeah, that's about the best you're gonna do. Honestly.
Rina: Yeah…
Christian: And then shoot as many as you can?
Rina: Yes.
Nika: Or shoot as many horses as you can.
Christian: We should consider the snipers.
Rina: We were going to scan the hills, run up a quick and dirty topo map, figure out from that where their sniper positions would be and then either finding a way of neutralizing those positions or neutralizing the snipers once they get there.

Based on what we've been able to observe so far, we think there are two spots in the hills. Once we find them, we'll have to find a way to make them unusable.

Christian: Remote controlled triggers and IED's
Rina: I like the way you think. Now, can we get the Captain to give us the gunpowder we're gonna need?

Rina believes there is fuel and other explosive stuff that has legitimate business in the workshop she can use if she can't get that gunpowder. So the Captain's agreement is a non-issue.

Next up on the table: What is Hollister likely to do at the exchange tomorrow? Demand to go inside the ship to conduct business? Or grab one of us as a hostage outside and use that as leverage to gain access? Christian's bead on the man strongly suggests that since Hollister dealt straight with the settlers at first, he'll deal straight with us at the meet tomorrow. Even so…Christian wants to substitute one of the bottles of liquor for a bottle bomb, triggered remotely. Just in case.

Rina: (smiling) Of course.
Christian: Just if they get—
Nika: I'm leaving that to you.

There is still the issue of getting the ships sensors to locate the sniper nests. Even though we'd managed to scan through a ship's metal hull from a klik away to find heat signatures, the residual heat from the sun and the ground dirtside would make sifting through the extraneous `noise' difficult. Rina quips that she should be able to jigger the sensors, being Little Miss MacGyver, but admits she's going to be busy enough as it is on all the other things being prepped for the meet.

We assemble a case of good booze from the ship, acquired by Christian on the sly from the Captain's quarters under cover of dusting, and Rina puts the bottle bomb in with the liquor. So: Five bottles of the real and the one fake—good to go!

We rig up the IEDs next, one for each sniper position. and load them with nails and broken glass: the aim is to maim as much as possible, rather than to kill. We've got tons of nails in the cargo we're carrying, boxes and boxes. Rina rigs up four more IEDs, not convinced that two will be enough. If nothing else, we can use the extra on the bandits' approach path. Rina also rigs up a mess of Molotov cocktails for the settlers to use in case the bandits overpower us, using our empties and whatever the settlers have on hand. We manage about a dozen decent Molotovs. It never hurts to be prepared.

Next item: the ship's engines.

Christian: Is there a way we can turn on the engines by remote?
Rina: Of course. How do you think the rich people in the Core do it?
Arden: I'm not going outside. I'll turn on the engines.
Christian: I'd appreciate it. If you died, there's no one to patch us up.
Arden: Exactly. I was thinking of [all of] you. (grins) Almost.

Rina rigs up a contact board with a line of switches for him to throw: Initializers, Port thrusters, Starboard, Kill switch. Easy. She sets everything up in the engine room and sets his handcomm channel to mesh with the others'. When they need the engines pulsed, they'll say the word and he'll flip the switches. Nika offers to give Arden a crash course on the engines.

Next item: Finding a place for Nika to shoot from.

Nika: Do you want me to take it with a rifle or do you want me to take it with a bow?
Christian: Which do you think would be better?
Nika: A bow requires a lot closer range, but it is silent.
Christian: But they'll see you if you're closer.

We're set. The Headman is dubious of our decision to stand and fight.

Headman: Are there more of you on that ship?

Christian: No, but we have explosives. And we're willing to arm you if you're willing to help and fight for your home.

Headman: I gotta protect my family and….
Christian: I might be able to convince the Captain to put all the children aboard and any women you feel aren't quite worthy aboard the ship for the duration.
Headman: Well…I'll talk to the people about it, what they wanna do. I'm not sure about being in the ship if you're fighting them.
Christian: The ship will be the safest place. I'm told that unless they have small rocket launchers, there's nothing they have that will penetrate it and as long as it's locked, I doubt they have the technical skills to open the airlock.

The Headman agrees and Christian reassures him that they can give him weapons they can throw—Rina's Molotovs—to augment any weapons the settlers already have. That done we go off into the hills to find the sniper nests…and booby trap them with two of our IEDs.

We find one spot with broken twigs, knee depressions in the dirt, that sort of thing. We plant the first IED there, set so it would cover as large an area as possible to maim the sniper. Even if only a couple of nails hit their intended target, they will be too occupied with their wounds to act as effective snipers: job done.

The other spot is a bit more iffy. There aren't as many signs of occupancy at this one, but given the terrain, it's the best spot for the task. We set the IED above and behind the position, to cause an avalanche of debris to fall on the sniper, taking him out that way.

We return to the ship and bury four of the IEDs in the flats between our ship and the hills, and then map their locations so we or the settlers don't accidentally kill ourselves by stepping on them. And lastly, Rina rigs up the explosive bottle with a radio-controlled trigger.

We choose our weapons for the coming fight and settle down to waiting. Christian and Nika choose rifles. Rina sticks with her gun. Arden will be aboard the ship, manning the trip board. The settlers will be waiting behind their walls, armed with all of Rina's Molotovs and whatever they have to throw at the bandits should they get past us.

All we need now is a deck of cards.


Monday, 10 Jun 2518
Juniper Springs Settlement
Jiang Yin, Red Sun (Zhu Que) System
15:30 hrs, local time

Six of the bandits approach our position. At about 50 feet, Hollister and the two on either side of him dismount and walk the rest of the way while the others remain on their horses, hanging back inside the line of our IEDs. The two men flanking Hollister have their side arms out, Hollister has his holstered. Christian keeps his rifle slung across his back. Rina keeps her position at the landing strut, but her coveralls are unzipped to her tool belt, the better to get at her gun. She crosses her arms and waits. Arden is aboard the ship, standing by at the switches. Nika is ensconced in a cargo container overlooking everyone.

Hollister: Y'all look a little nervous. It's just a box 'a booze.

He walks up to the booze.

Hollister: I'll just whip this out.

He pulls out his money, a thick wad of credit notes.

Hollister: Didn't you say it was forty?
Christian: I believe the price was fifty.

Hollister gives Christian the fifty credits and reaches down for one of the bottles. We hold our breath—is it the bottle bomb?

No.

He opens it and takes as swig, declares it good stuff. He peels off another note from his wad and hands it to Christian.

Hollister: There you go, for your trouble.

He turns and starts walking away.

Hollister: Clem, pick it up.

One of his flankers picks up the booze. Hollister and his men start moving away from us. It's now or never. Christian steps back, out of Nika's way.

Nika eases up her hatch enough to shoot and lines up her shot on Hollister. She shoots. She nails him. Hollister spins and falls, drilled through the head.

One down. Five to go.

Hollister's men freeze.

Christian steps back and pulls his rifle forward.

Rina ducks behind the landing strut and draws her pistol, taking aim at the bandit who flanked Hollister on his right.

Nika drills one of the mounted bandits through the head, leaving two bandits on foot and two mounted.

Arden puts his hands to the switches and pulses the engines.

BWAHHHHHHUMMMMM!

Holy shit!

Time speeds up and everything starts happening all at once.

There is a flurry of shooting, ending in a mounted rider shot right off his horse, a man afoot shot dead where he stood, another on foot wounded but still on his feet, and a mounted bandit successfully passing right under the belly of our ship to the other side. Up in the hills, Arden's set off the IEDs and subsequent scan shows one of the heat signature getting the hell away from that area—scratch two snipers.

Time slows down to normal and as both we and the bandits wheel around to face each other and get our bearings, Ivan Potemkin steps off our ship demanding to know what's going on. He's left the safety of the ship, like an idiot, and is now striding over with guns in hand. Ivan sees the liquor and goes for it.

Rina aims for the remaining mounted rider. Nika notices the Captain and sees there is a live grenade on the ground next to the liquor…and the Captain is within range. Distracted, she shoots at one of the remaining bandits and botches the kill: he's still up. An earth shattering BOOM!—the grenade's blown—is followed by another boom! as the bottle bomb goes off.

Both bombs rip right through the Captain.

Despite the explosions, Rina and Christian both manage to shoot and hit the mounted rider. One bandit is left standing, the one originally wounded in the first volley.

The Captain is on fire. Screaming. Weakly.

Arden sees this and grabs his bag, running off the bridge to help the Captain.

The last bandit tries to take cover.

Rina aims for him, pulls the trigger and her gun jams. Dammit!

Nika lines up her shot and takes out the remaining bandit.

Christian throws his jacket over the Captain and starts putting the fire out. Arden arrives but he's too late. The Captain's dead.

Russian barbeque, anyone?

Arden checks the bandits, but all are dead and have no need for his services.

Final score: Us—7, Bandits—0. And one accidental death, practically self-inflicted.

Nika gets to her feet and looks down at the scene from her position.

Nika: I'm thinkin' that might make a difference.
Christian: (rising to his feet) What? The Captain being dead?

Nika gestures at the dead bandits—not the Captain, these guys.

We pick ourselves up and dispose of the bodies. While they burn we distribute guns to the settlers, and encouraged by the battle, they announce they feel they can fend for themselves from this point on. Christian also gives the settlers the 50 credits from Hollister.

Arden goes to the sniper nests to see if there is anyone there to save. He finds just the one dead sniper, but he also retrieves the sniper's rifle. Nika calls dibs on it. There's a motion to give it to the settlers. They roll for it and Nika wins. The sniper rifle and the scope is hers.

Now all that's left is to decide what cargo to leave and what to take. The cargo shipment we were hired to deliver will stay behind, of course, and the Robinsons and their goods will to, if they wish it. The Robinsons so wish, and they are no longer in our hair.

Based on what Rina found on Grimes' pulse beacon board, we cannot be certain who owns the ship legally. Now free of the Captain's presence, Rina goes to the bridge to yank the board to find out more, if anything, on the ship. The others decide to go through the Captain's cabin to look for clues. Arden goes through the Captain's logs, verifies that the cargo we're carrying is rightfully the settlers': they'd paid to have it brought over.

Unloading the ship takes a couple of days. There's no longer any rush—the bandit problem has been dealt with and everyone breathes easier.

Pulling the bridge's pulse beacon, Rina does find out that it's a forgery. The MakeMake is actually owned by Fairweather Flyers, Inc. No surprise there. A search through the Ships Registry records show that Fairweather Flyers is the last registered owner of the MakeMake. We do a Cortex check on Fairweather Flyers and find out that its HQ is located on Angel, on the Rim, in the Kalidasa system. We'd have to get a job somewhere nearby to earn money for the fuel it would take to get us there. We cannot send a message to Fairweather Flyers that we've found their ship—Cortex search shows little to no business activity in that company, of late. Anything we do with Fairweather Flyers will have to be face to face. Furthermore, a careful look around the police channels show there is no notice posted as to the MakeMake's theft and missing status. In other words, there's no BOLO on her…or us. Interesting.

We decide next what to do with Ivan's body. We figure Josef will want his brother back, but what to tell him? That we got set upon by bandits and Ivan got tragically caught in the crossfire?

Also, if we take the ship back to Josef, Fairweather Flyers may never get their ship back. If we take the ship to Fairweather Flyers, Josef could declare us thieves and we'd all have a price on our heads.

We don't know if Fairweather Flyers is even a working company. It could have gone under or it could be a shell corporation. We decide to try Fairweather Flyers and inform Josef what we're doing, to cover our asses. We'll go through the ships logs and see if there are any jobs lined up for us, and failing that, we'll find one ourselves.

Arden isn't all that keen to go to Angel—he'd left that system because someone is gunning for him there and though no one is likely to know him on Angel itself, he's still reluctant to go. Nika tells him to stay aboard the ship when we arrive. Problem solved. Arden grumbles he's going to grow a beard.

We find a petty cash box in the Captain's quarters that has enough in it to fill one of our fuel tanks. A tank of fuel would be sufficient to get us anywhere in the current system, find a job and earn more money.

There's the Cortex for in-system cargo jobs and Nika announces we're going to pick a job on offer there. She'll also deal with Josef before we leave. She'll send a message to him, telling him his brother died, we can't get back to the Core with the ship anyway because we've picked up a job, and barring any problems Josef will still earn his percentage. There is no way we will go back for the derelict ship for salvage until we are on our way back to the Core.

Rina pinches a bottle of vodka from the Captain's personal stash—she's sore from the gunfight—and Christian chooses another bottle of liquor to cook with.

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