Campaign Turn 16 – Marduk Station – Have you been Served?
From the journal of Jaxx Pearsall, Captain of the Retired Scoutship "Renegade Pigeon"
My father always told me that keeping a journal is the best way to organize your thoughts.
As we venture through the universe, this journal has helped me think beyond the current mission, whether it is a crisis or just a new day. But today is the first time I've felt that I had to make sure today was documented, because otherwise no one would believe it.
Marduk Station doesn't have seasons. But, if it did, this must be spring.
Last week, we were diverted into a vacant docking bay and attacked by some corpo security types. Everything went well, but we lost the job we came here for.
However, Vilem bumped into an old flame of his, and she got us in touch with Miranda O'keefe. Miranda was old wealth - She didn't dress like it, wasn't flamboyant, but you could just feel it. But Miranda had a problem. She was suing a business on Marduk, and so far she had been unable to serve them papers. This company owed her a lot of money, and had removed all of their online presence and disconnected all their communication system so that they could not be served electronically.
They still had an office on Marduk, but it was in-person service only. She was looking to hire some freelancers to serve the papers.
I asked her for the catch.
Apparently the last two times she tried to have papers served on this company ended badly. One dead, one wounded.
This company had discovered that it was cheaper to hire the Black Dragon mercs than to risk losing in court.
The Black Dragon mercs. Nasty reputation. Efficient, ruthless, business-like. I respect that.
But the real kicker is that we can't be obvious. She wants no more than four of us, and she didn't want any bystanders hurt.
She even offered her private aircar, so we wouldn't have to take public transport. Easier to transport the gear.
I agreed, and returned to the ship.
While I was out, the crew was out doing their things, and when I got back, I found that Selene had been out exploring, and stumbled into a brawl. She lost her blade (the only weapon she was carrying), and will be in sick bay for a bit. She'll pull through, but damn, I was counting on her for this mission.
Miak did get us a load of repair parts for the RenPig, so that was good.
Vilem, Miak, Vonthos and I suited up, and caught a ride in Miranda's very nice grav limo. And it turned out to be a great decision, as we caught the Black Dragons with their shiny black suits down around their ankles.
As we started moving towards the office, they came running.
Most had Laser Pistols; a pair of them had sniper rifles.
We'd stay at range, and take them out from a distance. I had the documents, so I was going toward the building. But, I've lived too long to just walk out in the open, so I was taking the 'scenic' route. This area was a huge void space with a flat floor - no idea what the beings that built the station used it for, but we (meaning the people that settled in Marduk Station) put up businesses.
This area skewed industrial.
As civilians saw us, they ran, and the streets were cleared almost immediately.
Vonthos climbed to the top of one of the industrial buildings. How an uplifted Rhino could climb that gracefully will always escape me.
Miak found some cover, got eyes on a Black Dragon, and let his Rattlegun rip. The merc dropped. It's almost scary how his face lights up when he shoots that thing.
The rest of us just started to move into position.
Vonthos sniped one of the advancing mercs from his rooftop perch; Vilem spotted one of their leaders - another uplifted Rhino; this one clearly created for warfare, as it was bigger, uglier and meaner looking than Vonthos.
Vilem fired Selene's Fury Rifle at it. Didn't kill it, but slammed it back against a wall.
Miak dropped another merc, and I ran to the central building. With the shooting going on, I wasn't sure if I should go in, or stay out and try to drop a few mercs before playing delivery boy.
Then they shut the lights off.
Didn't go pitch black, but made it so that our rifles didn't have as much of an advantage anymore.
More mercs started to show up. Miak dropped another one. I may have to give him a raise. Vonthos dropped from the building he was on; apparently he felt too exposed.
Miak got hit by multiple mercs; he would have gone down, but his frag vest saved him. He was clearly shaken.
I decided it was time to end this, so I went to the door.
Locked, of course. I tried to force it, but no luck.
I think it must have been Miak surviving three shots, but one of the mercs broke, and ran.
Vonthos ran up and blew away the other merc leader - some squid-faced alien that I hadn't heard of before.
More gunfire. Miak dropped another one. Vilem stunned one, but did something wrong, and jammed up Selene's Fury Rifle. She is going to be pissed.
I got the door open, and found one person in an office hiding behind a desk.
Our continued existence was starting to get to these mercs. Two more broke and fled. Vonthos killed another one as I forced the envelope into Mr. Soiled-Himself's hands and quietly said "You've been served."
While I was doing that, Vilem started to get too much attention, and with a failed rifle, began to retreat. Miak, of course, started moving to assist. Vilem threw a dazzle grenade, but the mercs' helmets protected them.
Their other leader, the Rhino (or Rhinette, as we found out later) charged Vilem, hitting him with a large blade. Vilem's armor saved his life, but he was knocked back.
I ran out and blasted the Rhino, answering the age-old question "How do you stop a Rhino from charging?" (Note to self - never tell Vonthos I made that joke), then dropped the last standing merc.
The crew all congregated. We made sure Vilem was OK.
Then the Rhino started to stir. We kept all our guns on it until it raised its arms and surrendered.
The Black Dragons are ruthless and efficient, but they're professionals, and we could trust the surrender, so we lowered our weapons.
The Rhino kept staring at Vonthos. At this point, we had figured out that this Black Dragon Rhino was female. Vonthos helped her up, and they started talking - apparently, neither really believed that any others of their kind survived, and they started talking like we hadn't just been shooting at each other.
We returned to the ship, and I went to collect our pay. Miranda was very pleased. Perhaps we'll get more work from her.
While we were out, Kazi and Ginerva went out exploring. Kazi just went sightseeing, but Ginny had to go pick a fight with some locals. Hopefully, it doesn't come back to bite us in the rear. One would expect an Empath to be able to read the room.
But here's the real kicker. A few days after the fight, Vonthos spent the night away from the ship. Nothing unusual about that; even a beauty like the RenPig can feel crowded. But he comes back mid-morning, his eyes all dreamy, a goofy smile on his face, and his clothing smelling of perfume.
They say there's someone out there for everyone. Even our big lug. Apparently Ulleda, former Lieutenant of the Black Dragon Mercs, quit and got a job with Miranda as a security guard, and she and Vonthos spent the night celebrating.
And now I need a stiff drink so I can stop thinking about that.
