Crisis on Columex 20260325

Back in the saddle!

Recap from Crisis on Columex 20251119

Virus, blah blah, always fatal. But appears to be engineered.

“Nero” and his crew poaching the (limited) supplies n stuff that do come through.

Concerns that the Empire will use the outbreak as an excuse to torch the sector.

Reminder that the virus is reanimating the dead. They mostly come out at night, mostly.

Moxley’s here! The guy we busted for cheating at cards.

The doc’s name was Jackie Goodman.

‘Ganics get some sleep, Ed potters around, skip to the morning, everyone’s well rested.

Doc directs us to the canteen for refreshments. Top up on caff, prep for the expedition, check the map. Got a KM or two to cover. Plan is to roll stealthy and observant.

“Sneaking, we’re sneaking” Ed says, earning a dirty look from Nira as they blend into the shadows.

“Did you hear that” we hear as Snowy and Ed blunder out into a street.

Three guys, one in a forklift (or sporklift), two assisting. Not in imperial uniforms, but are all rocking the same blasters (of imperial origin).

“Just taking my dog for a walk” says Ed.

Tell em we’re out after medical supplies, they offer to show us their wares. Disclose that anything that comes in/out goes through them.

We decide to pass on through. They ain’t having it though, have to pay the toll. Snowy tries telling them about our actual mission. They ask if we’re from the hospital. So nooow we’re off to see their boss instead. Turns out there was a bunch more of them in the warehouse behind, so might be good that we didn’t start blasting. There’s almost a fight over who gets to say “I have a bad feeling about this”.

To the hotel! It would have once been lavish, but time has taken its toll. Too many fluids spilled and grime accumulated.

There’s a bar.

Tools/weapons/supplies etc laying around. Snowy trips over a crate, Nira stubs a toe, gets pointed and laughed at.

Ed clocks some clearly Imperial/military crates.

We’re waiting.

A Rodian comes out. Fat Greedo. This is Neero.

Speaking in Huttese, says he has a “particular set of friends” that have an interest in the hospital, and the “terrorists” that are holding the patients “hostage”. We need to talk our way out of here, stat.

Wants us to Trojan Horse em into the hospital. We agree because otherwise we’ll be killed, but point out we can’t show up empty handed. Calls on some lackeys who give us a few vials of something, a datapad, and a portable drive that’ll nerf the hospital defenses once we’re in. And a comm link.

Off we head. Walkin casual. Duck into a nearby building to check we’re not carrying a bomb or something. The stuff is mostly harmless. Malware looks like it’ll do what it says. Code rings a bell with Nira, reminds her of the guy that was involved in her dad’s death. So there’s a tie there. Not the ship.

Carry on our merry way towards the lab.

Looks like we found ground zero! Is a warehouse. No people about, and nothing particularly outstanding, ~20 meters high. Kinda like an ikea from the outside, without the colour. Beige, with some windows higher up, otherwise kinda boring. Like those “definitely not an FBI van” jokes.

Clock the office/visitors entrance, and the loading bays. Nira spots an entrance to the cellar tucked in a blind spot behind the building. Looks more high tech than the surroundings.

So we head for that. Obvs a trap.

Try inserting our ISB code cylinder. Great success! Some beeps and the door pops open.

Head into a corridor that leads to a bit of a lobby. Some signs on the wall, nothing clear, “black wing” “operations” and “lab”.

“Doors and corners, people” Ed says as they head towards the lab. The lab vs ops decision was made by a roll of Ed’s lucky chance cube.

Ominous music and a fade to black as the crew head towards the lab, 15XP richer