After organizing the contents of the ship and thinking hard on their next step, the group of adventurers decided it was a good idea to go hunting for more powerful and useful gear in the belt.
Not having any desire to deal with the Martian or Venusian government while attempting to procure military grade equipment, Ironically, the adventurers had to go right back the way they came and head to Ceres where they believed they would be able to purchase the things they were after.
The trip to Ceres was very uneventful and in a few short days, they were in orbit once again around the largest of the asteroids in the belt. Unlike Luna, which has a significant government presence, Ceres caters to the traveler and eschews docking fees in exchange for a higher sales tax, as well as has little to no customs enforcement. As one could imagine, this creates a perfect environment for black markets and illicit sale of goods to thrive.
Once on the rock, Max took in the sights visiting the massive grand fountain, while everyone else spent their time looking around the market. Carm found a nice Cafe to relax in and enjoy the local coffee and drinking chocolate, while Buzz, Seraphina, Alex and Zaphod spent their time engaging with the locals.
Zaphod found a clinic, and knowing that clinics always need more hands, especially well trained hands, put in an eight hour shift to earn money and scout for any cadavers that he could potentially sell.
Buzz was on the hunt for a Harmonic Paralyzer and so hit every weapon shop he found, eventually being told of one where he may find his desired weapon. At the Shop, Gut’s Guns, Buzz looked around and saw that the whole place was nothing but customized weapons. Asking the proprietor about the Harmonic paralyzer, he was presented with a very expensive option with a custom grip and 4 preinstalled modules to be able to knock out Humans, Venusians, Martians and Terrines. Not loving the $4k price tag, Buzz managed to persuade the man to sell it for $3900 instead.
Alex was minimally more successful in finding the weapons he was after, eventually finding a place where he was able to purchase Chaff grenades for Max as well as being presented with a number of special weapons. Alex only purchased the Chaff grenades, however he was able to establish a rapport with the proprietor.
After all their shopping, the group gathered back at the cafe that Carm had been hanging out in. Seraphina had spent her time trying to figure out if she could modify the land vehicle they purchased to have heavier armor or mount any weapon systems, but discovered this was a non-starter since it was impossible to turn a minivan into a Humvee.
Thinning hard about their next move, they asked Mourey to work his contacts to see if he could discover where Talon’s base was, and Mourey was not immediately successful in this. Instead, understanding they were about to go planet side and deal with the Martian military, the group decided that they should pursue some heavier armor. Unfortunately, purchasing powered battle armor was not something that you could just walk into a store and do.
Alex mentioned the proprietor that he purchased the grenades from and the adventurers headed back there to see if the man knew where the battle armor could be purchased. The man behind the counter was not immediately willing to provide them knowledge of where the armor could be procured, but eventually explained he had a contact that could do it.
Alex’s new friend told the adventurers that he had a cousin, James Losangeles, who was currently in the Ceres greater area on an asteroid whose ownership was being contested. If the adventurers were willing to help James resolve his issue with the Pirates that were threatening him, then James could provide the means to procure the battle armor. Not sure exactly what this meant, but seeing it as an opportunity to get the gear they wanted, the adventurers agreed to help James.
Mourey once again asked his network for information about the pirate operations and managed to find information about Talon’s base, but was not able to confirm who or how many pirates were contesting James’ claim to the asteroid he was inhabiting. Agreeing that this was enough information to substantiate the situation, the adventures headed to James’ claim.
A short hour long flight later, the adventures were in orbit around a small asteroid that had what appeared to be a landing pad, a fuel depot and a warehouse of sorts. Scanning the rock, Serpahina observed that there were two scout ships landed on the asteroid with 9 pirates camped near it. In the distance, there was another larger light cruiser in the distance. The small ships that had landed on the asteroid were overly armed with large acceleration guns, which normally could not be mounted on a vessel that small. The adventurers assumed that the ship in the distance was likely a part of the small group of pirates assaulting the asteroid, and was likely abandoned, since the number of pirates on the rock already seemed too large for the ships that were there.
Landing the Maelstrom rider, the adventurers headed inside to talk with James. James was amenable to their help, but was very vague on what the reward was. As they discussed the situation, the group became increasingly aware of two things, James did not know the value of the rock he stole, and James was very inept at operating his equipment.
James explained that he only had a claim on the rock, because he paid someone in the Ceres government to make a fake claim for him on the rock, which further led to the messiness of the situation.
Zaphod was ready to kill James and sell his body, assuming control of the asteroid, but the group felt that was a bit too aggressive and unnecessary at this point, especially since they still did not know how the man was going to provide them with battle armor.
James, for his part, explained that he was willing to part with the knowledge and means to capture some battle armor on Vesta if the adventurers were willing to defend him. The adventurers agreed and decided the best way to try and thwart the imminent raid on the warehouse by the pirates, was to attempt to dissuade them from fighting.
Buzz and Seraphina climbed back aboard the Maelstrom rider and headed to the larger cruiser, hoping to capture it or disable it, to use as a bargaining chip in the negotiations they planned to have with the Pirates. When they arrived, Buzz and Serpahina discovered that, as anticipated, the cruiser was empty. Within an hour or so, Buzz and Seraphina had towed the ship back to the asteroid and were waiting to see what was going to happen next.
Before the pirates arrived, Max rigged a number of satchel charges into proximity mines and put them in places that it was believed the pirates may hide during a fight. Then Max took an elevated position where they thought it was possible to cover an entry into the battle field.
Alex took a position on top of the warehouse roof, while Zaphod took a position inside the door, ready to fight anyone trying to make their way into the building. With the battlefield set, Zaphod opened a channel of communication with the pirates.
The initial conversion centered around Zaphod goading the pirates and telling them that they should leave or they would be killed with the proximity mines. When the pirates were not immediately persuaded to leave, Zaphod explained that their ship had been captured and that the ships they came in on, would be destroyed if they did not acquiesce. When a pair of pirates broke off from the larger group to seemingly head back toward the ships, Seraphina and Buzz agreed to destroy the ships on the ground from orbit. With the ships on the ground destroyed, and the pirates' other ship fully in control by the group, Zaphod and the others assumed they would break the Pirates morale, unfortunately, the pirates seemed to believe that this was now a fight to the death and liked their odds of survival.
The pirates began the attack with Max finding their weapon was incapable of hitting the pirates at range. The pirates however seemed to have no trouble hitting Max, causing Max to flee to the landing pad.
The pirates certainly appeared to have better stranger weapons than the adventures, and everyone found themselves hoping Max would be able to get to a more secure hiding spot before they were shot to death.
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