Loops Heros Campaign pt 3 - the Iron Ladies

Welcome to the third installment of my 5 parsecs campaign. 

As usual, Captain Loops pays the crew and doles out jobs from his bed in the sick bay. 

Lem spends a couple of credits on parts to fix the battle visor found in the last campaign turn and succeds (allowing any 1s to be rerolled). 

T Bone and Shorty go out to look for some jobs. Joey is sent out try to distract anyone who might be tracking the crew down.

Twelvetree of the DCS corporation has a job with +2 Credits danger pay but it has to be done now. It's a hot job which increases the chance of getting a rival. There are no conditions to the job and private transport is available.

The Dockside association (a private organisation operating in the habitation zone built in what was appears to be Hangar) is also offering a job, with +1 Credit danger pay. It has to be this campaign turn or the next campaign turn. There are no benefits or conditions to the job. There is a hazard for this mission that 1 enemy is a VIP (+1 Toughness and combat of 2). 

While out looking for jobs, Shorty gets a tip off from a contact....this is the first quest mission for the crew.

There is a Brittannia criminal gang operating in Wreckage and the station authorities don't have the muscle to deal with them. Due to Wreckage Station being the size of a moon, it is easy to lose a army in a single sector. The criminal gang is known as the Iron Ladies, and they have managed to get a remote airlock operational. This could be how the Brittannia grunts encountered in the previous campaign turn, got in. 

The station authorities are concerned that the gang may be involved in smuggling, trickling information and possibly try to disrupt the station's economy. There is also concern that in the event of an invasion the gang may possibly carry out a little espionage. 

Wreckage Station is independent and lies in a forgtten (dark) system. It embodies the freedom that the crew desire. As many of the crew have had bad experiences from life in Brittannian colonies and love freedom, they feel that this gang is a danger to Wreckage's independence. Stopping the Brittannians feels like a good quest mission for the crew.

There is an AI controlling the airlock located in a next sector to the airlock. It is old bead type and disabling it will require just pulling the AI chip from the socket. Due to the age of the AI and it's encryption it cannot be bypassed or replaced. Removing it will disable that airlock permanently. 

As Captain Loops and Maya are out this turn it will be just the lads. Maya gives Joey her colony rifle to give him better range. 

After travelling down the station's core, the crew heads to the sector with the control panel. Like the crew's first mission, this sector is filled with steam vents causing visibility to be limited. That may work in thier favor (I hope). There is also something shiny worth 4 credits just over the other side of the Iron Ladies barricades. With the steam the crew might miss it unless they are close to it.

There are five Iron Ladies gang goons guarding the control panel. They are armed with scrap pistols and blades, including the leader. There is one Ganger armed with a shotgun. 

"Ready, guys? T Bone you grab the AI chip, the rest of us will cover you. The control panel is just ahead" Lem takes the lead in this fight.

 "Just us boys eh!" Joey grins as they prepare to move forward "The boys from the Problem Child!" he exclaims exictedly like they are some kind of special group. Eye rolls is the response from the three other team members. 

The feild of battle. 

The Iron Ladies are guarding the Airlock control panel.

Under the cover of the steam clouds the crew creep forwards. Joey climbs onto a shipping container trying to get a height advantage.

Spotting the Iron Ladies through the steam, Joey and Shorty open fire missing thier targets and alerting the Iron Ladies to thier presence. 

"Come out, little pigs!" the Iron Lady leader calls as she advances forwards trying to find a target in the swirling steam clouds. Meanwhile over the other side, Joey finds himself in the crosshairs of the shotgun wielding Ganger. The blast hits him without wounding him. It stuns him and pushes him backwards off the container without causing a further wound.

"You alright?" Shorty shouts.

"Yeah, I landed on my head!" Joey grunts back grimacing. 

Lem creeps forward in cover spotting the Gang leader in cover behind a pipe stack.

He takes aim and fires his hand laser, stunning the leader. 

T Bone finds some nice cover and lets rip with his plasma rifle at the Iron Ladies in cover missing them. A chorus of swearing and cat call come from behind then barricade.

The assault by the Problem Child's crew fire up the Iron Ladies with renewed effort (which means a random gang member gets to have a second activation at the end of the turn)

Lem continues to creep forwards in cover to try catch the Gang Leader in the open. 

Spotting her, he fires his hand laser again killing the leader.  

The Iron Ladies behind the barricade can now see Lem through the swirling steam mists. Screaming with vengence they fire thier scrap pistols at Lem. A single shot hits him and taking him out of the fight. 

The Crew and remaining Iron Ladies exchange fire, missing each other and just wasting ammo.

Joey fires wildly missing his target and charges forward. 

On seeing Joey closing the shotgunner screams in fury and charges forward to engage him in close combat. 

The Iron Lady lands a blow putting Joey out of the fight. 

Sensing the tide of battle turning, the rest of the Iron Ladies, leap the barricade and charge forwards to engage the remaining crew members.

Seeing the gangers approaching Shorty fires his Needle Rifle at the advancing figures in the mist, causing a hit but not wounding the Ganger. On becoming stunned she flees away to a safer distance.

The stunned Ganger feels the need to renew her effort, shakes off her suppression and charges back into the action. Meanwhile, T Bone takes the shotgunner out of the battle with his Plasma rifle (the steam from the vents prevented the security cameras from capturing this). 

Game event, the remaining gang members are losing heart in the fight and it won't be much longer until they flee the fight. 

Shorty gets into a hand scrap with the Iron Lady and to her surprise holds his own.

Meanwhile another Ganger moves towards T Bone, hoping the container gives her enough cover to engage him in close combat.

Multiple plasma bolts from T Bone's plasma rifle slam into the ganger, blowing her to bits. "Damn!" T Bone exclaims in shock.

Another ganger pushes herself to renew her efforts and leaps off the plasma housing to attack Shorty. The second attacker overwhelms Shorty, taking him out of the fight. 

Seeing thier leader killed and another gang mate blown to bits the two remaining Iron Ladies decide that they have had enough and flee the battle. 

T Bone makes it to the control panel to disable it, pulling the AI chip and dropping it into his pack. Despite the victory the Crew have taken heavy injuries in this fight. 

Post Battle:

The crew have gained the A&I chip. T Bone hopes to break its programming at some future point as it could be used in a beadbot. If Lem survives, he might be able to help as he has the Hacker skill. 

The Iron Ladies on having thier smuggling plans foiled are now Rivals of the crew. This will make future campaign turns more interesting. 

It turns out that this quest mission is a dead end as there is little information about Brittannia's interests in Wreckage Station. 

The crew gain 5 credits for this mission, donated straight into the ship's account from a unknown source. This event has gained some speculation that perhaps this is a reward from Wreckage's leadership. That takes the crew coffers upto 16 credits.

1 Shot of the drug Still was found on the battlefield and the crew also came across a Neural Optimisation Implant (character cannot be stunned). 

Lem makes a miraculous escape from the battle and is ready for the next fight. Sadly he has managed to lose all his kit and weapons (and his wallet!) during his escape. But he has gained a luck point. It seems Lem is being smiled upon. 

Shorty survives the fight with only minor bruising and will be able to take part in the next mission. Sadly Shorty's snooper bot got damaged and will need repair. Who knows how much that will cost? 

Joey was carried in by T-Bone, with a crippling wound. Captain Loops spends 2 creds getting Joey some surgical help and Joey should make a full recovery after one campaign turn in the Problem Child's sick bay. That takes the crew coffers down to 14 credits. 

The crew's actions has made them a freind amongst the locals (I am going to use the contact as a station offical) and gains them a story point. 

Lem reflects on his adventures so far, gaining another experience pointpoint then spends 7xp to upgrade his Combat skill, hopefully it will make him more useful in the next fight. Captain Loops gives Lem 3 credits to buy a replacement weapon and he picks up a Needle rifle from a pirate crew in the next docking bay (Wreckage Station sees a lot of criminals coming here to trade or fence goods as it is off the official radars of the Galactic powers). The crew coffers are down to 11 credits. Not a bad amount for a crew with no debts.

Next campaign turn will see most of the crew back in action apart from Joey who will be in the sick bay. 

This was a close fought fight. I did remember this time, to use the battlefield events chart which makes the game more interesting. The renewed effort event really helped the Iron Ladies stay in the fight & do some damage. I was thankful that in next event they lost heart in the fight as T Bone would have to take on two gangers and I don't think he was that lucky.

Thanks for reading.