Five Parsecs from Home – Episode 10: “Black Market Cache ”

Lumara Verge – Black Market Core

After the mech graveyard bloodbath, the crew took a breath. Kai and Jax stayed aboard and drilled hard — Kai sharpening her edge against the ghosts in her head, Jax slicing deeper into the local nets. Voss slipped out alone for a quick explore through the glowing market stalls and came back with a broken sonic emitter she figured Elias could salvage later. Korra traded some of the scrap they’d dragged off the mech for a solid colony rifle. Elias and Hex spent the rest of the downtime in the bay trying to coax the broken stabilizer and that military rifle back to life… and failed miserably. The parts just wouldn’t cooperate.

Then the data core from the mech started whispering.

Marek’s lead was right here in Lumara Verge after all — buried in the densest, blackest corner of the Root Market. A hidden cache of old Vita Synth manifests that could point straight to where the duplicate Specimen Zero had been sold. The kill code was in there somewhere. All they had to do was find it before someone else did.

The problem? The district was crawling with elite K’Erin outlaws who had decided the cache was theirs — a matter of clan honor after one of their own had been double-crossed in the deal. These weren’t the usual thugs. These were battle-hardened, fearless bastards who lived for the chance to regain lost honor in blood.

 

The Starfire Scoundrels

The Search

The Scoundrels dropped into the black heart of the Root Market at dusk. Towering bio-engineered mega-trees wrapped dense urban sprawl of ferrocrete and shady vendor stalls Neon clashed with biolum glow. Every shadow had eyes.

The K’Erin were already hunting.

Elite pack.

• Fearless Captain with ripper sword and rifle.
• Fearless Lieutenant with blade and rifle.
• Two specialists carrying cling-fire pistols.
• The rest armed with military rifles, one sporting an auto rifle thanks to their para-military gear.

And they had the trait that made Aria’s scar twitch: Regain Our Honor. Any K’Erin within 8" of a crew member would roll 1D6 at the start of the enemy phase. On a 1-2 they immediately charged 4" closer like honor-mad lunatics before activating normally.

Aria racked her new hyperblaster, green eyes narrowing in the pulsing light.

“Search the cache, secure the manifests, get out. These bastards want a fight for honor. We give them one they’ll remember.”

Round One

 

Field of play

Initiative fell to the Scoundrels. Korra melted into the nearest hab-block like smoke, rattle-gun ready, dry Murderbot voice crackling over comms: “Building clear. Nothing but noodle grease and bad decisions.” Voss and Elias aka Tech,— dashed low across the open street, boots slapping wet ferrocrete. Mega-tree roots snaked through the pavement, glowing faintly underfoot. Behind them, Jax and Kai slid into cover, Hex’s glowing uplift frame already sighting down the long barrel of her hyper blaster. The K’Erin spread out, sleek silhouettes moving like predators between the stalls. 

Hex’s voice, cool as starlight: “Captain’s mine.” The hyperblaster screamed. Auto-fire stitched the Fearless Captain across the chest, ripping him off his feet in a spray of green. He hit the ground hard, sword clattering beside the overturned vendor cart. One down.

 

Voss and Ellias take cover at the noodle shop

 

 

Hex lines up on the leader as Jax and Kai slide across the street.

Round Two.

The pack answered with that honor-curse. The K’Erin who’d watched their leader die surged forward into cover, rifles barking. Bolts slammed into Hex’s position; the uplift staggered, stunned twice, plating smoking. Voss’s jaw tightened. She slid around the noodle-shop counter, hyperblaster up, and dropped one of the thugs cold. The second specialist reeled, stunned. Hex shook it off, finished the stunned bastard with a single precise shot. Korra emerged onto the upper balcony like a ghost in power armor, rattle-gun already tracking. Two specialists were sprinting below — she opened up. One K’Erin folded; the other stumbled, stunned but still moving.

 

For our fallen leader!

 

Elias pushed up the stairs, scanning for the cache. Nothing.

Voss kept the pressure on, green eyes sweeping the pulsing neon. Then the random-event klaxon in her earpiece: Reinforcements.

Reinforcements arrive

 

Round Three.

The street turned into a meat grinder. Elias popped up on the roofline and hosed a rifleman with auto-fire, sending the K’Erin spinning off the catwalk. Kai slipped into the dim massage parlor across the alley — red lanterns, silk curtains, the stink of cheap incense — and Jax followed, hacker smirk flashing in the low light. They found it. The Vita Synth cache. Data-slate glowing softly behind a false panel in the back room, kill-code fragments already whispering across the screen.

 

Cache located

 

Korra’s rattle-gun roared again, laying down suppression on the new arrivals. A K’Erin sniper made the rooftop, firing down at Elias. The shot caught him square in the chest; his combat armor held but he was stunned. Voss’s heart lurched — gravel-silk voice cracking once over comms: “Tech!” — but the cling-fire specialist was already rushing her position. She dove into the noodle-shop doorway just as the sticky bolts splattered the frame behind her.

She returned fire, still shaken, bolts going wide, snake-eyes luck. Hex’s hyperblaster spoke again — the shot was pure. Another rifleman went down hard.

 

Sniper finds position as specialist rushes in

 

Round Four.

Aria Voss spent the story point without hesitation. Initiative was theirs again. She stepped out of the doorway like vengeance wrapped in leather and light, hyperblaster barking twice. The cling-fire specialist crumpled. The second one charged — she put him down before he closed the distance. 

 

 

Voss faces off

Korra adjusted on the balcony, rattle-gun coughing, but the sniper stayed slippery. Then the bastard pivoted and put another round into Elias. The big man went down for real this time, blood on the roof tiles, his newly acquired stim-pack auto-injected as he dropped.

Voss’s world narrowed to red. She sprinted for the stairs, boots pounding, the sultry night air thick with ozone and gun-smoke.

Random event again — Kai’s voice, tight with that PTSD edge but steady: “Got some bonus loot back here. Cyber-hand. Looks military-grade.”

 

Jax and Kai move through the massage parlor to flank the reinforcements. 

 

Round Five.

Jax slid quietly through the massage parlor, coming out a loading door onto unsuspecting K'Rin reinforcements.  Her machine pistol barked.  The K'rin sprawled in a heap face first on the pavement, re-considering his life decisions as green blood spread around him.

 

Excuse me sire, I believe you...brrrrrp, brrrrp, brrrrp....

Up the street, Korra adjusted aim one last time. The rattle-gun screamed. When the smoke cleared, the remaining K’Erin sniper lay dead on the roof, dreadlocks fanned out like spilled ink. Silence crashed over the Root Market like a dropped blade.

 

Korra has the high ground

 

Voss vaulted the last railing and dropped beside Elias. He was breathing — ragged, but alive. The stim-pack had held. She pressed two fingers to the wound, green eyes locked on his face. “You stay with me, Tech. That’s an order.”

He managed a weak grin. “Wouldn’t dream of leaving, Captain.”

 

 

Ellias!

 

I'm Ok!

Post-Battle

The Vita Synth cache was theirs. Final piece of the puzzle. The kill-code for the Specimen Zero duplicate was in the Scoundrels’ hands now. Next stop: the finale.

The K’Erin pack limped away nursing a new rival grudge, but settled business moved faster than blood feuds on Lumara Verge. Word came down the vine — the outlaws had second thoughts. They backed off. One rival struck from the board.

Battlefield salvage brought in three creds worth of debris and a high-priority target bounty payout. Credits flowed. Loot turned up a Fury rifle and — courtesy of Kai’s sharp eyes in the parlor — a military-grade cyber-hand she immediately claimed for herself.

Elias earned two fresh XP from the gunshot that should have killed him. Scars tell the story, he always said. This one would be loud.

The crew stood among the glowing mega-trees, neon reflections sliding across blood and spent casings. Aria Voss slung the hyperblaster, voice low and rough as black-market velvet.

“We’ve got the code. Time to end this.”

Starfire Scoundrels – Episode 10 complete. Next: The Finale.

 

Five Parsecs from Home – Episode 9: “Mech Graveyard”

Starfire Scoundrels Campaign Turn 9 – also called into the jungle...

The secretive group’s dead-drop hit the Vanguard’s comms like a cold knife between the ribs. No face. No name. Just coordinates deep in the canopy and one line that made Aria’s scar itch:

“Iron Veil Recovery is inbound on the old Unity heavy mech. Data core in the cockpit holds black-site transport manifests from the Vita Synth prototype era. Secure the core intact before they arrive. Danger pay only if the core comes back undamaged. Corporate spook riding with them — kill him and his corp, Vesperon Arms, puts a bounty on you. Worth it if you want the leads he carries.”

Aria stared at the drone feed. The mech lay half-swallowed by glowing muck — gray-and-yellow Unity relic, cockpit cracked like a broken jaw, one massive arm still raised like it died mid-swing decades ago. Vines thick as cables choked the plating. No lights yet. No perimeter. But Iron Veil’s dropship signature was closing fast. This was a race.

 

She looked at her crew in the bay, voice dropping low and rough-silk.

“Dice hate us tonight, loves. Extra teeth, rattleguns, axes, and a spook worth twice the lead. We beat them to the core, we get paid and whatever ghosts the mech is hiding. Kill the spook that is with them and his corp is sure to be pissed.  But he is carrying information that may be worthwhile”

“Also, mark this bounty” - Hex flashed her bounty chit. “One of their heavy's on my list. 2 credits if he drops ugly.”

“No need to wipe every last bastard — just don’t let them touch that core.”

Pod doors hissed. Thin air clawed their lungs. The canopy swallowed them whole.

Elite team. 10 total:

·         Captain and Lieutenant with shatter axes

·         Two rattlegun specialists (those bastards suppress like demons).

·         Three grunts with military rifles. Two with Flak Guns

·         Corporate spook in unmarked armor—cold, watchful, hovering near the cockpit hatch. Kill him, and you get a quest rumor + new rival (his corp ties lead somewhere nasty).

 

Crew is NW corner, Iron Veil SE corner

 

The Drop – Initiative Seized

Voss and Hex took the center route, boots pounding straight for the mech through thick glowing ferns. Kai and Korra held north, using the vines for cover and overwatch. Jax and Elias flanked south, creeping through the undergrowth to hit the enemy from the side.

Iron Veil’s dropship roared in seconds later. Ten elite bastards spilled out — Captain and Lieutenant with shatter axes gleaming, two rattlegun specialists already scanning, five grunts with military rifles and flak guns, and the corporate spook in unmarked armor, moving fast for the cockpit.

Iron Captain orders crew to take the mech before the Scoundrels
 

Round 1 – Three Crew Goes Fast

Hex moved like liquid shadow, new hyperblaster up (Ebon Veil black-site special, still warm from the last fight). Only one target in her line: the corporate spook stepping into the open. She didn’t blink. One clean shot. The spook’s head snapped back before he could even open his mouth. First kill. Unique individual. Hex whispered, “Bounty’s just there next to the fresh corpse.”

Korra pushed north through the vines, rattlegun roaring across the entire clearing. One rattlegun specialist across the map turned into red mist mid-step. Korra muttered “Bounty claimed,”

Iron Veil spread out fast. Their captain led the grunts straight for the mech — two shots at Hex, two at Korra. Hex took a hit square in the chest. Deflector Shield flared; the shot never landed. The rest missed.

Kai slid into position from the north, shell gun barking. The area round erupted right in the captain’s face. One grunt dropped dead. Another staggered, stunned.

Voss charged the mech wreck from center, new hyperblaster singing. She put three rounds into the captain’s chest. He turned into paste against the rusted plating.

 

Round 2 – Two Crew Go Fast

Voss kept moving, hyperblaster barking again. The second rattlegun specialist dropped hard. Korra pushed through the jungle cover like a tank and pasted the lieutenant — shatter axe flying from his dead hand.

One flak gunner reached the mech and unloaded on Korra. She held her ground, took one stun, and laughed that dry Murderbot laugh.

The second flak gunner swung on Voss. Three solid hits. Voss ate all three stuns. Her first luck point burned — she dove behind wreckage just as the remaining grunts mag-dumped where she’d been standing. Second luck point gone. She hit the dirt hard, breathing heavy, but still breathing.

Jax crept around the mech from the south, machine pistol up. Three shots at the flak gunner on the wreck. All misses. Elias slid in behind her and finished the bastard with his own flak gun.

Hex moved up to cover Voss, hyperblaster singing. The other flak gunner dropped.

Kai and Korra pushed forward together from the north, unloading on the new threats — stunning the remaining rattlegun and one grunt.

 Flak Gunner takes aim

Battle Event – Reinforcements Arrive

A fresh special and grunt dropped from the trees. Iron Veil wasn’t done yet.

Round 3 – Three Crew Go Fast

Jax and Elias slid around the wreck from the south. Machine pistol and flak gun barked. The last two grunts went down screaming.

 

Taking the flank
 

The reinforcements moved up. Rattlegun roared at Hex. Three hits — pure stuns. Neural Optimization implant laughed at them. The flak gunner connected hard. Hex’s luck point burned — she dove into the mech pile, bruised but alive.

Kai and Korra moved up fast from the north, unloading on the new rattlegun and flak gunner. Both stunned hard.

Run meatbags 

Round 4 – The Withdrawal

The two surviving Iron Veil bastards looked over the bloody corpses of their comrades, the mech core still untouched, and made the smart choice. They ran for their dropship like the jungle itself was chasing them.

Voss and Hex, both battered, bruised, and out of luck, let out the same exhausted sigh. Voss cracked the cockpit, pulled the data core, and froze.

“Well, fuck me gently… what’s this?”

Quest Rumor secured — the mech’s core contained old Vita Synth manifests pointing straight to a hidden cache on Lumara Verge’s smart-forest core.

 

Victory

Jax rifled through the smoking corpse of the corporate spook and yelled, “Hey Cap, get over here… check this shit out.”

Second Quest Rumor secured — the spook’s data-slug named a new rival corp and a shadow buyer already hunting the same echoes.

 This guy never knew what hit him

 

 Come out to the jungle, meet new people...kill them...

 

Post-Battle – Mech Graveyard

Danger pay hit the account hard. 9 credits total (base + danger + bounty + loot). New rival locked: Vesperon Arms — major weapons contractor that wants to weaponize bio-tech. They now have the Starfire Scoundrels on their shit list.

Loot: one Concealed Blade (flak gunner’s personal toy) + 2 credits of debris.

XP: Hex +5 (first kill was the unique spook), everyone else +3.

Campaign Event: Some wide-eyed admirer from Lumara Verge wants to join the crew. Voss took one look and said “No thanks.”

Character Event: Local friends — Jax made some new contacts in the Root Market while slicing nets. +1 XP and a quiet favor owed.

Voss stood on the swaying platform, data core in one hand, new hyperblaster still warm in the other, scarred face lit by the pulsing canopy glow.

“Marek’s copy is still out there. Iron Veil’s just the warm-up. We’ve got two fresh rumors burning holes in our pockets and Vesperon Arms putting a bounty on our heads. Good. Means we’re doing something right.”

She looked at her crew — battered, bloody, still standing.

“Strap in, loves. Lumara Verge isn’t done with us yet. And neither are the ghosts.”

To be continued…