On the top of the landing pad, hiding behind the railing, Max began to weigh their options. Max could see the pirates, but was also aware that trying to shoot them was challenging; due to range and sustained wounds. Deciding the best place to be was not on the top of the landing pad, Max took a risk and jumped through the non-existent atmosphere over to the building.
Buzz began to radio everyone the movements of the pirates on the dusty dirty surface of the asteroid, while he lined up the Maelstrom rider to strafe the pirates. Flying very carefully to avoid hitting the fuel depot, Buzz began to pepper the asteroid with the ship’s lasers.
The strafing from the Maelstrom rider convinced the pirates that they needed to not be on open ground, and so they headed for the building and the landing pad to try and hide. Buzz was able to kill most of the pirates before they managed to get under cover, with Alex taking a few more of them out with his Rocket rifle.
The pirates tried to hit Alex with heavy sniper laser rifles, and a missile launcher, but were unable to do so. Eventually, Max and Alex mopped up the pirates that Buzz was unable to kill, and one remaining pirate attempted a dangerous jump, resulting in accidentally flinging himself from the surface. If Alex and Max had not come to the pirate’s rescue, the man would have drifted right out into space.
When Alex and Max captured the pirate, Alex dismissed the man as a threat and did not execute him. Zaphod was very vocal about his disapproval of this course of action, but the group let the man go back to the ships on the ground while they looted the corpses of his comrades bodies.
Not wanting to miss out on the ordinance that the pirates were carrying, Buzz landed the Maelstrom rider and also helped try and find the corpses among the glass patches on the sandy surface of the Asteroid. A few hours later, Seraphina reported that the pirate must have managed to jury-rig the ship whose engines had been damaged earlier in the conflict, because it was gone.
With the pirates dealt with, the adventurers turned their attention to James. James was glad to have been rescued and he finally explained how they were expected to get the battle armor that had been promised as a reward for the assistance, providing the adventurers with a small stone disk and telling them they had to head to Vesta.
A few minutes of noodling, and the adventures determined that they had been given a special stone that was inscribed with a contract number and lots of artistic flair to distinguish it. These stones were used on Vesta to create a physical representation of a contract which the owner of the disk could then redeem at a later date for a specific service.
James admitted he did not know exactly what the disk would entitle them to, but was certain that it represented a favor large enough to cover some equipment. James went on to tell them that the owner was a man named Teve Henderson, and Teve would be able to get them what they were after.
The adventurers did not like this outcome, but recognized they really had no other options, so they decided it was time to head to Vesta. As they left Jame’s rock, they discovered that the lone pirate who had sneaked away in the repaired ship, had destroyed the ship they had captured. Zaphod was very displaced with this and wasted all breath making sure everyone knew. Alex was ready to space Zaphod, but eventually Zaphod stopped complaining and everyone calmed down.
A quick 5 day trip later, Buzz had managed to get them to Vesta without any issues. On the approach to Vesta, Buzz was hailed by a representative of Forward Base Adam, one of the largest RAM facilities not only in the belt, but the whole of the solar system.
Forward base Adam appeared to think that the Maelstrom Rider was there for some kind of official business, because the RAM official that was hailing them was directing them to a secure dock at the base. Buzz explained that they were not there for RAM business but instead were there for some R&R. The official did not seem to be bothered by this at all and bid them good day.
Buzz easily found a civilian space port and within a half an hour, the group was walking the surface of Vesta. The first thing they noticed was the abundance of large cylindrical structures mounted in large frames which apparently housed the various living quarters and businesses on Vesta in order to provide artificial gravity.
Knowing they had to figure out where Teve was, and how to redeem the stone disk, the group headed to a local bar and began asking questions. The Bar Tender Crochety Tim seemed to quickly develop a bond with the group, and when Max expressed interest in learning more about the business, Crotchety Tim put Max to work in the kitchen washing dishes.
Alex continued to sit quietly and drink heavily, while Zaphod made a menace of himself, eating off plates that were not bussed yet, but which the owners were done with. The bar had unusual entertainment that involved a specially made gennie and a consenting woman, which continued to attract Zaphod’s attention, since he was very curious about the gennie.
Zaphod attracted the attention of the overly large Gennie bouncer, who was a good 7 feet tall and had golden skin bursting with more muscles than the frame would seem to be able to hold. The bouncer had to menace Zaphod into leaving the entertainment alone, which he eventually did.
Buzz went looking for women to interact with, and without having to look too hard, discovered a group of half a dozen women laughing and having a good time at a corner table. When Buzz approached the women, he saw Ron ‘The Swan’ Johnson sitting at the table entertaining the women. When Buzz tried to address Ron, Ron acted like he did not know Buzz or what he was talking about. Buzz got angry at this, and went to the bar to get a drink, which he had Zaphod drop drugs into. On the way back to Ron, Buzz saw Ron leaving after having talked to Alex for a minute, apparently inviting Alex to a party in a few hours.
Meanwhile, in the kitchen Max was talking with the other people working in the bar and learned that there wasn’t a lot of gossip to be shared. The Vestian people did have a story about how a small pirate fleet came to menace Vesta, which ended rather quickly with RAM deploying one of its battlers and a handful of cruisers, making the pirates disappear completely.
Max was also able to make friends with a woman who had a cousin that worked in the Vestan government. The new friend explained to Max that all they had to do with the disk was take it to a municipal building and they could find out who the contract was for and what it was for. The adventurers also had managed to get Crotchety Tim to tell them where Teve lived and so made plans to visit Ron’s party, then head to Teve.
Having two hours before Ron’s party, the group did decide to visit the municipal building and speak to the cousin that Max had learned of. In the building, Zaphod once again made a menace of himself, ending with him having to be removed from the place by security. Meanwhile, the other adventurers learned that the contract was for a life debt. Whoever had originally received the disk, must have saved Teve’s life.
Having received the information they were after, the group headed to Ron’s party. Inside the very nice living quarters of Ron, there were servants with trays of food and may people having a good time. Zaphod was literally tearing up the carpet, so Max managed to distract him by engaging him with a video game, while Ron explained to Alex and Buzz that he was here on Vesta at the secret NEO rocket Jock training base.
NEO had established the base right under the nose of RAM and now used it to train the best of the best pilots. It was a tough program and not many made it through all ten weeks of training, but those that did were much better pilots. Buzz wandered off and found a woman willing to spend some intimate time with him, while Ron and Alex relaxed. Eventually the party ended and the adventurers headed off to meet with Teve.
At Teve’s house, which was a simple, almost industrial dwelling, the group provided the man with the disk, and explained they were there to collect on the debt it represented. Teve explained that he was a quarter master and was in charge of organizing and moving equipment around for Forward Base Adam. Because of this, he was accustomed to having things fall off the back of trucks. The group had a lengthy conversation about what they wanted to get, with Teve aiding them in determining what was feasible. After an hour of negotiation and planning, the group agreed to ambush Teve and his convoy later that day. Teve asked that they not kill him and made sure that the adventurers knew what truck he would be driving. Everyone mostly agreed to this request and so everyone headed their separate ways until the time when the ambush was to take place.
The adventurers headed across the rocky surface of Vesta into areas that were obviously under the control of RAM, but which had very little population. As they got closer to the ambush point, the adventurers observed a large metal road in the middle of a valley. On either side of the road was loose sand and it was obvious that whatever vehicle was designed to travel those roads would be bogged down off of them. Knowing this, Max and Zaphod worked to rig a missile as an IED to blow up the first truck in the column and force it off the road. After placing the device, the group took positions around the valley and waited for the vehicles to approach.
A little while later, our trucks came down the road toward the ambush point. As the first hit the IED and was indeed forced off the road, the group sprang into action. Alex shot the back two trucks with missiles, having Zaphod reload the missile launcher in between shots. Max and Buzz shot the terrines that came out of the lead truck and in a few short minutes, the fight was over, with no one but the driver in the last truck, along with Teve alive.
Alex shot Teve in the leg to make the assault more authentic, which Teve did not object to, but Teve explained he had to radio the problem in, since the base was likely already aware that something was wrong and would be sending more troops in short order. No one agreed with this, but as Alex hunted down the remaining troops to clean up loose ends, they all grabbed one of the four cases that had the gear that Teve had ordered for them, and then together managed to grab a fifth.
RAM deployed a reactionary force which showed up shortly after the adventurers had hidden the crates. The adventurers laid low at Ron’s place until RAM security left the area, and then they smuggled their new gear back to the Maelstrom rider.
Once back in space, the group checked out the new gear they had received, trying things on and discovering money and food in the fifth crate they had stolen. Meanwhile, Buzz transmitted the pictures of Ron chumming it up with all the scantily clad women at his party to Salvation III in the hope of getting Ron in trouble with his girlfriend.
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