Turn 6 – The Scrap Heap

After returning Arlent Streen to Regina and collecting payment, the crew began reaching out to their contacts looking for more work.
The crew returned to the ship at Magnus' call.  "We have a job.  Believe it or not, Arlent Streen wants to hire us again."
"I do not think he will survive another excursion with us", Hkaaie said, while casually extending his dewclaws.  "Don't worry, Hkaaie.  We're on our own this time.  We're to head to the General Products scrapyard, sneak in, get some measurements, and return the information to Streen.  Ideally without being caught.  CR4NK3 - find out anything you can about the security systems on the scrapyard; the rest of us......  Ru?  You're looking rather pale."
Ru abruptly stood up and ran for the fresher.  The sounds of her being sick could be heard even through the closed door.
"Captain, I don't think Ru should join us.  Even a deaf security guard could hear that."
"More importantly, Ouroz - if she's not feeling well, she should relax and get better."
"Captain", Hkaaie said, "I do not think that a stealth mission is right for us.  A frontal assault would be more effective.  We will crush the windpipes of any who stand in our way."
"Hkaaie, while I appreciate the sentiment, it would be better if we got in and out without alerting the authorities.  We don't know how long we would have until they called in the authorities, and I really don't want to spend any time in jail."
"That is something a coward would say."
An odd look crossed Magnus' face.  He stood up, unbuckled his gunbelt, slung it on the back of his chair, and stared directly at Hkaaie.  "A thousand pardons, Engineer Hkaaie.  I don't think I heard you clearly.  Could you repeat what you just said to your Captain?"
Hkaaie looked at the Captain, and then at the rest of the crew around the table.  "I will get ready for the... stealth mission, Captain", he said as he rose and left the briefing room.  The rest of the crew, except for Ouroz, followed.
"Hey Cap, do you think you could've taken him if he challenged you to a duel?"
"Not on my best day, Ouroz.  Not on my best day."
The crew gathered their gear and head out to the salvage yard, arriving a few hours after dark.  "Captain, there are seven humans guarding the area of the scrapyard we will be entering.  Two on elevated structures, the remainder at ground level."
"Ok, stay behind cover and make your way towards the center of this yard.  That's roughly where the equipment bracket that we're supposed to be measuring should be."
The crew began their advance, sticking to shelter as much as possible; however, it was not long until one of the guards on a damaged modular base rooftop noticed Ouroz and raised the alarm.  "Can we start an assault now, Captain?" Hkaaie said - and if an Aslan could sound sarcastic, that statement would be dripping with it.  "Yes, Hkaaie, you may attack."
CR4NK3 actually began the assault, taking a shot at the leader of the security patrol, but missed.  The guards opened fire, striking CR4NK3 once, but only stunning the robot.  As Hkaaie took a shot at a distant guard and missed, Magnus charged a guard that appeared from behind cover and shot him point blank, dropping him immediately.
The crew continued their advance, a shot from CR4NK3 striking the leader, but his armor stopped the round, saving his life.  A guard saw Seeker Paul, screamed, and ran away in a blind panic.  Paul, rubbing his temple as if he were fighting a headache, suddenly pointed to a spot in front of him.  "There it is", he said as he moved up, pulling a scanner/recorder from his pocket to start taking measurements.  Magnus and Hkaaie moved to provide cover for Paul.
After the measurement was taken, Paul dashed towards safety.  Two of the guards fired at Paul; one winging him, but the other landing a solid hit on Paul, causing him to drop.  Magnus immediately moved to Paul, and grabbed him and the scanner/recorder, while Hkaaie shot at the rooftop guard, killing her.
While the troopers advanced and continued to fire, Magnus, CR4NK3 and Hkaaie retreat, escaping through a gap in the outer wall.  Ouroz was struck as he began his retreat; his armor stopped most of the hit, but he was shaken.  As he continued his retreat, another shot struck him, and he stumbled and barely made it to the gap in the wall before collapsing.
Back at the ship, CR4NK3 and Ru worked to patch up the wounded.  Both would recover, but Paul would be out of action for a while.
Magnus returned from a meeting with their patron, Arlent Streen.   "Jackpot!  With the danger pay, we're looking pretty good today.  I've also arranged for us to pick up a high priority cargo load headed to Yorbund.  We'll get loaded up today and leave tonight."
"Why the rush, Captain?"  Once again, the Aslan almost sounded sarcastic.
"Purely profit motive, Hkaaie.  If I didn't grab the cargo shipment, someone else would have."
....
"Explain again what happened."
The General Products Corporate Security Agent looked both embarrassed and scared at the same time.  Not that he could be blamed.  The bounty hunter standing in front of him had an aura of danger.  "Well, there was a break-in at the scrapyard.  I was moving to engage one of the criminals when suddenly a pack of wild scrapdogs came at me.  Those things are deadly!"
"Did anyone else see the scrapdogs?"
"Um.... No one said they saw the dogs, but I swear they were there!"
The bounty hunter showed the Security Agent a picture of Seeker Paul. "Was this the 'criminal' you were about to engage?"
"Yes! That was the criminal!  He must have had the pack of scrapdogs with him."
The group of bounty hunters looked at each other.  "Let's move."