Crew of the Better Days
Captain Hua Li, former Browncoat spy- Konrad
Pilot Rex, former Blackjack- Michael
Medic Alyssa, former Browncoat combat medic- Christopher
Mechanic Marcus- Jeremy
Cook Al- Matt
Merc Stewie- Lee
Summary
The Jo Lynn class Better Days lands on Beaumonde to deliver cargo and look for their next job. Captain Hua finds a reserved cargo headed for New Melbourne and goes to the shipper, Archibald Finx of FinXpress. The cargo is reserved for a ship that is late to arrive and has been a problem in the past. Hua convinces Finx to ship the cargo with them, their faster ship means the cargo will still be delivered on time. Finx agrees and offers them future work if they can deliver by the scheduled time.
The crew, minus the medic, goes out to a bar to celebrate. Unfortunately, the other ship's crew finds them and attempts to pressure them into surrendering the contract. Captain Hua throws the first punch with a beer bottle and the crews pile on except for Stewie, who is dancing with a lady friend. The fight goes in the favor of the Better Days crew and Stewie leaves with his date. The captain gives the bartender money from the other crew's wallet to pay for damages and takes off before the police arrive.
The next morning cargo loading and passenger check in takes place without any problems. But when Rex powers up the engines, the starboard turbine shreds catastrophically, destroying the engine pod. Marcus surveys the damage; it's a total loss. The crew splits up. Captain Hua goes to Finx to tell him about their problem, and assures him they will make it on time. Finx tells him they had better make it, if they don't the Better Days will never get a job on Beaumonde again… Al makes some contacts and barters for a used engine pod, but they owe a favor to his Syndicate contacts… Marcus and Rex start prepping to pull the engine pod and Rex finds a crowbar in the turbine wreckage, it was sabotage! The new pod is delivered and replacement begins, Captain Hua canvasses the areas for witnesses and does get some video from the port cameras of someone sabotaging the engine. Hua tries to point the police at the rival ship, the Osiris Drifter, but they left port this morning.
Two and half days of hard labor by the crew gets the new engine mounted. Rex recalculates the course and they can make it on time if they hard burn for four days. Captain Hua has some revenge in mind, he has learned the other ship is old and uses too much fuel so they always lay over at a skyplex in route. Their flight plan calls for a stop at the Long Night skyplex. Rex calculates again and they can still make the delivery time with a layover if they hard burn for seven days. The captain takes the projected fuel use, fees and pay for the run and figures they can still make money with a stop for revenge. They lift off and hard burn for Long Night, Marcus babies the ship through the trip with no problems.
Arriving at Long Night, they put their plans into motion. Stewie and Alyssa spy on the other ship, waiting for most of the crew to depart. Then, with Alyssa pretending to be a prostitute and Stewie as her pimp, they lure the two crew on guard duty away from the ship. Captain Hua breaks into the ship with his B&E kit and he and Rex stand guard while Marcus sabotages the ship's electrical system so that when they power up, the generator will spike and the circuit breakers fail, crippling the ship. But Marcus is better at fixing things than rigging them to break and it takes almost three times as long to make the preparations (GM's note: I set the sabotage as a Hard complex task with 3 minute intervals. Five good rolls would have done the job in 15 minutes. Jeremy had to roll 14 times…). Stewie and Alyssa stop in a bar to kill time, then ditch the other crew and return to the ship. The Better Days undocks and they hard burn for New Melbourne and arrive on time. FinXpress' local agent meets them and passes on Finx's congratulations and a 10% bonus.
Quotes and Smart Remarks
Matt, before the game starts: "I had a legitimate bar brawl last night; I punched a girl in the throat"
There were lots of jokes about missing passengers and crew members turning up as rations:
Lee "I would like to change my character's name from Stewie"
Michael "This meat is a little tough"
Lee "Tough as Nails"
Matt, repeatably about his Portly character "Big, meaty hands"
Lee's character is dancing with his potential date "I do the Meridian mambo"
Jeremy rolls a two threes:
Jeremy "Doubles give you a bonus, right?"
Lee "It's not Monopoly"
After the bar brawl, where Matt's character took 18 stun points out of his 20:
Jim "You can't tell where the beating ends and the hangover starts"
Someone was talking about Stewie's date and that she let him do the wierd stuff:
Lee "I still have pudding behind my ears"
Michael "We don't play fair in space"
Matt about his character being Portly, but still gets around good "I'm acrofatic"
The pilot is sleeping in the pilot's chair with a cowboy hat over his face:
Jim "Is your hat white or black?"
Michael "Black, to match my jacket"
Discussing that the medic Alyssa made a great pretend prostitute:
Michael "She was a multipurpose camp follower"
