Chapter 1, Part 14: Krenshawz

Anatomy of a Shooting Star, NASA/JPL-Caltech

If you want to start at the beginning....

Rules for this referee-less, play by post game.

Chapter 1

Part 14

Krenshawz

Roll for combat. +2 for firepower. +3 for protection. +2 for numbers. -3 for position. -1 for DEI. Average (+8) Tactics.
2d6+2+3+2-3-1-1 = (6+2)+2+3+2-3-1-1 = 10

The marines push in from their various breaching positions. Scattered gunfire from the enemy is annoying, but not overwhelming. Lero watches as the marines advance through the corridors of the base, clearing the rooms. After a few hours, the base is secure, and the force commander offers to give Lero and the XO a tour.

Roll for casualties. Average (8+) Medic check. -1 DEI. -1 for one phase to complete combat. Plus the +2, +3, and +2 for firepower, protection, and numbers.
2d6-1-1+2+3+2 = (4+5)-1-1+2+3+2 = 14
1d6
1d6 = (3) = 3

30% casualties. 27 total. 9 with slight injuries. 9 with minor. 9 serious or fatal. 3 killed, 3 require life-saving treatment, 3 serious.

Lero asks for the casualties. Gregory reports in with the tallies. ”Send them back on a shuttle, and we’ll come over on its return trip."

Gregory says, “Aye, sir,” and kills the communication.

Lero forces himself to remain stoic. Three dead. Over pirates.

Zernov turns to the Medical Officer, Lieutenant Coghill, "Coghill, get your people down to the launch bay. make sure they are briefed on the injuries to expect."

Lt. Coghill turns his face to his station to send his medical teams as ordered. In truth they likely already were on the way when Zernov takes another step forward, closer than necessary causing Israel Coghill to see the XO in a new light. "Sir?"

"Make sure there are no more than 3. Got it? I want you personally down there."

"Aye Aye." Coghill clips as he looks past to another of the bridge crew.

Zernov shifts slightly breaking that gaze. "I'll man your station. get to it."

"Sir. Right away." As he turns to leave, there's a moment of silence on the bridge.

Zernov glances down... This station is a mess, how does he do anything with this layout?! and changes the layout to his own preferences and begins coordinating the medical effort. 

This is as solved as it's going to be. Need to get him onto the next task so the room can breath. "Commander, What is next?"

Lero says to himself Zernov has what it takes to lead. He says, ”Let’s get a fire team of marines to join us, and let’s ensure the brig has room for prisoners. Also, what about our shadow?”

Lero looks at the Count, who has attended most of the unfolding fight. ”Do you want to inform our Krenshawz friends the status?”

The shuttle arrives and Coghill attends to the wounded. Lero watches over him before walking to the shuttle door. He sees the three body bags and sighs. He opens each bag and looks at the faces of the marines who died under his command, their images searing into his memory. He mumbles a Virasan blessing he long stopped believing yet is a comforting ritual nonetheless. ”May all knowledge flow into you.”

He helps an crew member assigned to the medical remove the bodies to be prepared for a memorial service and then boards the shuttle, awaiting Zernov.

Zernov turned bridge command over to Bridge Officer Lt. Herrera. While Herrera always seemed above the fray, taking the bridge after our first real conflict will test the man. A few minutes later Zernov arrives in the shuttle bay.

Zernov pauses to assess the situation. Seeing the deck hands busy and the shuttle prepped for launch he nods to the marines as he boards looking for the commander. Spotting him at the front talking to the fireteam leader Zernov sits opposite the pair and leans forward. "Commander, a word, if I may?"

Lero nods.

"It's been a shit day, yeah?" Zernov cracks a small grin having let some of the weight of the day out.

Lero looks down at his feet. ”No worse kind of day. We can only be pleased there were no more casualties.” The commander orders the shuttle doors closed and the pilot to exit the Deimos with all due haste. 

The shuttle departs and heads into the blackness of the vacuum, making its way toward the Kopan base. The trip takes nearly thirty minutes. Lero stares out at the moon. He points to the structures on the surface along with the blast craters from the Deimos’ missiles.

The shuttle lands on one of the pads, which lowers below the surface, seals off, and then pressurizes. Lero says to his XO, ”This is either the most successful group of pirates ever, or there’s more going on than even the forewarning suggests.”

Gregory meets them at the shuttle door. He nods to Lero. Pirate bodies are being stacked in body bags near the stacks of containers. “Captain, they all went down fighting.”

Lero asks, ”No survivors?”

“None. We have reason to believe that several committed suicide rather than surrender.” 

Lero connects with the Deimos and orders them to be vigilant and to maneuver closer to the moon to shorten any evacuation timing. He then orders a contingent of the intelligence unit over to thoroughly scour the base. Lero says to the XO, ”Rip this place from top to bottom. I want answers on what was going on here.”

Zernov scowls surveying the scorch marks from the day's combat, noting where some crates were turned to gently drifting debris by some hand delivered ordinance. The place was a white hot war for a few hours and it showed. It'll take a century for the gently floating dust in here to settle.

He steadies a gaze towards the commander, dropping pretenses for a brief moment. "Lero, Pirates don't have suicide pacts. This is beyond strange.

This part of combat, the after action, is what always got to Zernov. You didn't need to be there to see how it went down. But for this one, seeing dead Kopan without wounds, just sitting or laying down, maybe you did. In this moment, Zernov didn't understand. And normally battlefields make lots of sense to tacticians after the fact... not this one, not today. The gentle stillness of otherwise perfectly intact and occupied vacc suits shook Zernov deep in his spine.

Suicide. Is that really the final answer for so many? 

Turning the corner, the XO sees what used to be the mess hall, and is compelled by that deep ache in his spine to get very still, like a statue as he takes in the visage of dozens of forms sitting in vac-suits, motionless and silent like they were having a meal together in vacuum... A dinner party for quietus.

Gregory leads the XO and commander through the immediate area. The base had a lived in quality, one where upkeep was secondary. At the same time, everything seemed to be in working order. The walls and floors had lost their shine.

When the intelligence team arrived, he told them he needed answers and the marine contingent was at their command. He took the shuttle back to the Deimos, where he ordered the intelligence team there to find out what the history of Kopan and that base was and to talk to Banks, whose information seemed both right and wrong at the same time.

Roll for Kopan intelligence team...taking their time. Difficult (10+) Investigation. 1d10 hours.
2d6+1-1+1 = (4+2)+1-1+1 = 7
1d10 = (6) = 6 hours to complete task


Roll for base research. Average (8+) Investigation. 1d6 hours.
2d6+1-1+1 = (4+5)+1-1+1 = 10
1d6 = (6) = 6 hours to complete task

Perez wakes the commander. “We’ve got good news and bad news, sir.”

”Get the command staff in the briefing room.” Lero pings the Count. ”Your excellency, we need you in the briefing room. I think we’re going to learn at least some important info, and we’ll want your input on how to respond.”