As in so many weeks before, Tim (GE Smith) remains consumed by his academic activities and misses the session. To provide some contrast, Ernest (Liz Blessing) finds himself consumed by professional problems. Bruce (Goat Gulgusskun) consoles them by reflecting that everyone is having a crappy week. Chris (Caleb Kagan) reinforces this impression by describing how some of his co-workers only barely managed to avoid destroying the entire TxDOT billing system this week. Paul (Bob the Saurk) chimes in with his own disaster story. Unfortunately, his story starts out, "You see, the ASML steppers interface with the reticle database through a Unix box..." Chuck is initially terrified by the story, but when Paul mentions, "...and they never backed up the server..." he is unable to look away. Billy (Mister Yong) is disappointed when it turns out that the story has a happy ending: they were able to find a backup and production was able to restart. Chuck wipes a tear of happiness away from his cheek.
The characters touch down at New Saigon's John Wayne Memorial Landing Field with Czar Nicki's doped-up carcass down in the cargo hold. Caleb Kagan takes a quality moment to go down to tell him, "It's nightly beatings from the guards and unwanted sexual advances for you, Czar Nicki!" Czar Nicki gives no sign that he is even aware that Caleb is in the room.
The characters decide that Caleb Kagan is the best person to actually hand Czar Nicki over to the cops, given that he's an ex-cop and knows a lot about filling out forms. The police lieutenant Caleb deals with explains that he won't be able to pay in cash. Bob the Saurk complains, "Does that mean that we're going to be paid in sheep? Or maybe in toast?" Caleb reassures him that the lieutenant actually means that the money must be deposited into a bank account. The lieutenant tells Caleb that his money will be transferred within a couple of days.
The characters decide to hang out in New Saigon until the money shows up. As Bob the Saurk puts it, "We'll catch some shows, hit some clubs, hang out with the ladies..." Caleb Kagan boasts, "I'm gonna see The Planet of the Apes: The Musical!" Goat Gulgusskun speculates about finding himself some monkey love.
Bob the Saurk walks into a neighborhood EdgeMart and asks, "Can I get a special sword that gives me a bonus to hit?" The rather confused store clerk tells him, "Uhhh... yes." Bob presses him, "Then could you tell me how much it costs? I have the money right here." He waves a handful of orange Cr 500 bills in the clerk's face. The clerk agrees to accept Bob's money, even though he points out that real Cr 500 bills are actually yellow, and that "hundred" is only spelled with one "U".
The characters collect Cr 250,000 in reward money for Czar Nicki. They take out Cr 20,000 in expenses and pass the rest of the money on to Capri Paolo. He agrees to quit his current job as strip-club bouncer so he can return to his calling as agent provocateur. The characters send him on to New Melbourne to organize the psychic resistance there. Even though Goat Gulgusskun remembers that the Future of Humanity members he met seemed like pretty stand-up guys, Caleb Kagan makes Capri Paolo agree to not work with their organization. Caleb keeps on referring to them as "Lamprey ass-suckers", which strikes Goat as rather more of an image than he needed.
Several days after the characters turn Czar Nicki in, they see a local news item about the case. The newsreader reports that local criminal figure Nicholas "Czar Nicki" Tchavenko was shot in an escape attempt during a prisoner transfer. The characters hold a brief moment of silence in Czar Nicki's memory.
Even though Bob the Saurk does his best to cut off all news access in the Blue Lady, the other characters continue to pay attention to the NewsNets. They are forced to agree that it has been quite a while since anyone has seen any good news come across them, and the latest group of dispatches certainly confirms that prejudice. All together, they very much give the impression that the ICPA is having quite a time holding their pieces together.
Goat Gulgusskun proposes that that characters head to Sternvaal to find out what really happened to the missing Representative Joshua Cabal. He reminds the others that they had wanted to go to Sternvaal anyway, so they could talk to Colonel Striker and persuade him to join their cause. The fact that Representative Joshua Cabal represents one of the more visible symbols of opposition to President Krieger's policies just adds another reason to go. There is little debate, but much preparation for the trip.
Sternvaal is the demlux homeworld. Most of the terrain is either jungle or savannah. Touchdown City is the one significant human settlement, located as close to the starport as possible. Other human settlements are small and isolated, out in the hinterland. Most of them are ranches, trading posts and prospecting or mining operations.
Sternvaal has significant mineral riches. The climate and terrain of the subarctic sections of the Northern Supercontinental Mass is suitable for large-scale ranching. Many among the local human population are independent-minded ranchers and miners who have made money taking land from the demlux tribals. The tribes had barely reached the Bronze Age at Contact, but since then they have learned to buy guns from human smugglers and use them to shoot humans.
The Marine garrison is caught in the middle, rather like UN Peacekeepers on the West Bank (if there were any).
The local government is based out of Touchdown City. It is affiliated with the ICPA. The Marine contingent consists of about a regiment of troops, plus support services. Their headquarters is outside Touchdown City. The Marine commandant is nominally responsible to the local politicians, but in practice his forces operate as they want. The demlux are governed through a coalition of tribal elders who do not acknowledge the authority of the human government.
The characters reach Sternvaal after an uneventful twenty-seven day jump. By the time Liz Blessing announces that she is picking up the Sternvaal system beacon, the characters' conversation has descended from inappropriate websites to David Sedaris stories to things that can't be printed in a family-oriented session summary. Bob the Saurk is very proud that he has completely mastered his new Flight Simulator program from Al-QaedaSoft.
The characters start out by checking the local media for news of local atrocities and foreign mercenaries. They find out that the local newschannel is broadcasting a lot of information about the weather and the crop conditions, and not a lot else. It takes a while, but Caleb Kagan finds some local newsrags (printed on actual paper) with very strong editorial content suggesting that the ICPA occupation is not necessary and that the locals can deal with the "Demlux Problem" on their own. Buried deep in the Sternvaal Star, Caleb finally finds some stories on the disappearance of Representative Cabal. He and his entire staff vanished on a trip out into the hinterland over a month ago. There have been no signs of them since then, and no ransom demands.
Ever the conspiracy theorist, Caleb Kagan starts by investigating the idea that the ICPA might have arrested the Representative. Goat Gulgusskun suggests that this might have been a local job, that the frontier tribals might have kidnapped him in the hopes of collecting a ransom. Mister Yong mentions that the characters should find photographs of Representative Cabal's various staff members. He also suggests that the abduction could have been an inside job: that one of the Representative's employees might have betrayed him.
Caleb moves swiftly to elint. He starts monitoring military communications to get a sense of how the local Marines operate. He finds out that the Blue Lady is seriously tricked-out with electronic surveillance gear, and that this sort of task is really very straightforward. He is able to identify two active communications networks: the ICPA Marine network and the local paramilitary operations. He gets some uninteresting local chatter and mess-hall menus from the Marine net. The paramilitaries don't protect their networks nearly as well, but they don't seem to talk about much except how many fuzzies the patrols bagged last night.
Goat Gulgusskun and Caleb Kagan check around about Colonel Striker and his men. They learn that they're working for the Ferguson Family, ranchers who own a stretch of land the size of Delaware. He's got about twenty men with him. The Fergusons hired him because they are having problems with the fuzzies killing cattle and jumping mines. Goat rather naively asks, "How do we get to the Ferguson spread?" A local tells him, "Just head north." Goat gathers that the Ferguson compound is about 75 kilometers north of Touchdown City.
Goat suggests, "Let's rent a car and drive out there. We'll tell the Fergusons that we're old friends of Colonel Striker, and want to talk to him." Caleb offers, "When you say rent a car, I say we should rent something with four-wheel drive and provision to mount a heavy weapon. Something that's going to survive the drive out." Mister Yong and Bob the Saurk get assigned to buying provisions for the trip. Bob the Saurk is obsessed with ensuring that the characters have enough drinking water. Mister Yong discovers that he can purchase actual animal meat for only about Cr 1 per kilogram. Then he discovers that he's never actually smelled real meat cooking before. And then he discovers that he's actually a vegetarian.
The characters rent an open cloth-top vehicle with a roll cage that looks only one stage removed from its military-surplus origins. Goat sews up a quick weapons-mount harness for Bob the Saurk to allow him to operate a machine gun from the bed. But the characters forget to actually bring a machine gun with them.
Mister Yong hears some gunshots in the distance. They are barely audible over the sound of the engine. Caleb Kagan is driving along a hard-packed dirt road, through terrain that mostly looks like Bruce's back yard. He looks around for some cover to hide the vehicle. The best he sees is a small stand of trees several hundred meters ahead. The gunfire seems to be coming from about three hundred meters off to the side of the road, behind a low ridgeline.
Caleb cuts the engine out to give the others a better chance to hear. Goat is able to hear semi-automatic gunfire, but no rockets or automatic weapons fire. The characters are able to see a SUV-type vehicle out in the grasslands. The vehicle occupants are firing on something in a stand of trees three hundred meters further out. Caleb gets out his sniper rifle and examines the SUV with the scope. He can see three locals inside.
Caleb volunteers to stay behind with his sniper rifle to cover the others. Goat and Mister Yong walk out towards the SUV, as inoffensively as they can manage. Bob the Saurk sneaks up on one flank. Goat cautions Bob, "We'll let you sneak up, but no killing! Don't come out and murder anyone until (1) someone shoots at us; (2) one of us gets hurt; or (3) I tap on my microphone three times, like this: tap-tap-tap." Caleb offers, "You better remember that, Goat: Don't swat any flies near that microphone..."
Bob sneaks in closer. He whispers into his comlink, "I can smell their fear..." Caleb cautions, "Okay, Bob! Stay calm!" Bob reports back, "I see some demlux in the trees. One of them is pointing a rifle at me." Caleb responds, "There can't possibly be any demlux in the trees. I already looked." The demlux fires at Bob, but misses. Caleb rather desperately looks for a target.
One of the locals yells at Goat, "Get down, you idiot! We got fuzzy snipers in the trees!" Goat comments, "I get down. I get funky." Goat takes cover. The local gets shot in the head. Goat crawls over to see if he can help. He decides that he could heal over the hole in the guy's head, but wouldn't be able to do much to pack his brains back in.
Goat next discovers that he is carrying the longest-range weapon among the characters at the SUV. Even stranger, he is also the best shot. Bob the Saurk tells the other characters, "You people are all going to get slaughtered. I'm heading back to the car." Goat hands his gauss carbine over to Mister Yong, who comments, "I'll just have to try shooting once, just to see how it works out." Then Goat starts using his freaky psychic healing powers on wounded rednecks.
Things start to fall apart in high style when the healed redneck stares in horror at Goat and screams, "Psyker! Freak! Kill it! Kill it now!" Caleb picks up most of this conversation through Goat's comlink and asks, "Are you eating brains over there, Goat?" Goat ignores him and yells, "BOB! We need you!" Bob moves in quick, reassuring Goat, "Don't worry, I'll stun him to death!"
Meanwhile, Caleb finally gets a bead on one of the demlux raiders and shoots him dead in one shot. And Mister Yong starts telekinetically flinging grenades into the woods. The demlux seem to take the sight of a man "throwing" a grenade three hundred meters with surprising equanimity.
Goat pulls out his pathetically small-bore "Ladykiller" pistol and starts blazing away at the redneck he just healed. He manages to wing the guy as he howls out, "Mister Yong! Throw me the rifle! Throw me the rifle NOW!"
And then Bob shows up with his stun baton and "stuns" the ranch-hand who was shooting at Goat to death. Mister Yong comments, "Well stunned, Bob."
Mister Yong hands the rifle back to Goat. Goat points it at the badly-wounded ranch hand and demands, "Don't move. And no whining or begging either. Us psychic mutant freaks don't like that." Mister Yong points out, "Hey! Some of us do." The ranch-hand surrenders instantly. Mister Yong starts telekinetically snapping trees, hoping to rob the demlux of cover.
The demlux insurgents send a volley of very inaccurate fire towards the SUV. Mister Yong comments, "I think these guys probably only have Small Arms 1. But they're probably much better in hand-to-hand." Bob the Saurk offers, "Sooner or later, they'll run out of ammo. And then, they'll charge." Bob seems far too happy about this prospect.
Sadly, Bob's dreams of incredible demlux melee violence are spoiled when Caleb comes over the comlink to report that the demlux are retreating. He concludes that the sight of trees being snapped from three hundred meters intimidated them.
Goat sedates and heals up the one surviving ranch hand.
The characters load the two dead bodies into the ranch truck. Bob the Saurk drives it, with Mister Yong riding shotgun. Caleb Kagan and Goat take the sedated survivor in the characters' rented vehicle.
Several minutes later, the characters come upon the walled Ferguson compound. The walls are iron mesh with occasional bits of stucco, and are only about four feet high. Caleb sounds the horn as he approaches. He is disturbed to realize that the rental car's horn tune is "Mexican Hat Dance." He is downright appalled to realize that the ranch truck horn tune is "Road to Tipperary."
The gates aren't closed, so the characters just drive on in. A couple of guys come running out of the bunkhouse, but nobody comes out of the main house. Caleb pulls up at the main house and gets out. Goat whispers, "You talk to these guys. And remember, no mention of juicy psychic brain essences." Caleb whispers back, "I think I can figure that out on my own, you knucklehead."
Caleb explains the situation to the ranch boss. He says that the characters spotted the three ranch-hands being attacked by demlux raiders. Two of them were killed, but the characters were able to get one of them back alive. The ranch boss' reaction suggests that this isn't that unusual an event. He tells the characters, "Yeah. They wuz probably saving 'im for later." Caleb commiserates with him on the difficulty of finding new ranch hands to replace all the ones that the demlux kill. Caleb suggests bribing the local painting contractors to use lead-based paints in the schools.
The ranch boss asks Caleb if Goat is some kind of medic. He tells the ranch boss, "You'll have to ignore my brother Goat here, he's not quite right in the head. We sent him off to medical school and he came back able to care for invalids, prostitutes and farm animals." Goat admits that he sedated the one survivor, and helps the ranch boss carry him back to the bunkhouse.
Caleb learns that Colonel Striker and his men are out in the bush, patrolling the Strake River Range. Caleb asks about the ranch owners. The ranch boss tells him that Boss Ferguson is out in the North Range, and will be back in two or three hours. Caleb asks, "Is there any way you can get in touch with him?" The ranch boss asks, "Who should I say is calling?" Caleb apologizes, "Oh, I'm sorry. I am Caleb Kagan. These are my companions Bob the Saurk, Yong the Shaved and Goat the Doctor." Caleb also asks the ranch boss to pass along a message to Colonel Striker about a security contract he has going back on Aetna. He claims he needs to talk to him face-to-face, get him to review some documents, and that sort of thing. The ranch boss suggests that Colonel Striker is very busy. Caleb indicates that everyone is busy. The ranch boss relents and takes Caleb in to the bunkhouse radio room.
Caleb persuades Colonel Striker to meet at his Command Post up in the Strake River Range. The site is about 120 kilometers away. The ranch boss provides the GPS coordinates and a route for the characters' navigational PDA. He also warns them that they might get hit by fuzzies along the way. He cautions, "They're sneaky..." The characters point out that they have automatic weapons, grenades, and body armor. They assure him that they can take care of themselves.
On the way out to the Command Post, Mister Yong and Goat Gulgusskun set up a barbecue in the back bed of the vehicle. Caleb drives. He is impressed to see that the demlux tribals have built an impromptu tank trap in the road. He avoids it easily. He also sees a herd of cows. He avoids it easily. By nightfall, the characters are still only halfway there. Caleb turns off the headlights and switches to night vision, but keeps on driving.
The Command Post turns out to be a glorified barn surrounded by sandbags. There are a couple of light armored vehicles parked nearby. It is obvious that Colonel Striker's men are not surprised by the characters' approach. Colonel Striker comes out to greet the characters. Caleb starts out with the most important question, "So, why are the locals so uptight about psychics?" Colonel Striker chews on his cigar and explains, "They're all people of the land here. Simple people. You know, inbred morons." Caleb reflects, "Well, fair enough."
Caleb describes the whole setup with the BreeKhanAr and the Anzani and the things Marshal Lucretia Billingsworth learned about the ongoing policies of the ICPA's extremist core. He asks Colonel Striker if he is interested in becoming a part of the anti-Anzani Resistance, or failing that if he could provide any information on who might have abducted Representative Joshua Cabal.
Colonel Striker comments, "I've been getting some very disturbing messages from Billingsworth." He thinks there is a division in the ICPA fleet officer corps between the professionals who are upset at the way things are going, and the ambitious weasels who will do anything to get a promotion.
It is just before dawn. Colonel Striker has two fireteams at the Command Post and one out on patrol. He also has two men on perimeter patrol. He takes a moment out of the conversation with the characters to listen to his earbud. He tells the others, "We may have a problem. I just lost contact with the two men on perimeter watch." Bob the Saurk immediately perks up and announces, "I'm outside hiding behind a blade of grass, ninja-style!"
Bob moves outside and very quickly notices some fuzzies on the wire. They are twenty of them approaching from the northwest, about three hundred meters out. Colonel Striker reports that there might be many times that coming up from the southeast. Caleb asks the others, "So, who wants to play Shaka Zulu?" Mister Yong asks, "Are we playing one of the massive number of black guys who get killed, or one of the massive number of black guys who survive?" Caleb corrects him, "Dude, we're actually playing the British." Mister Yong's face falls. "Bogus. Those guys just lose."
The Command Post has several resources for defense, including machine guns, some claymore-type mines for perimeter defense, and the two light armored vehicles. Colonel Striker indicates that he's planning on standing and fighting.
Caleb Kagan asks, "So, Colonel. Why are the demlux attacking you?" The Colonel chuckles and responds, "Have you seen the local boys fight? Them fuzzies get all raged up and then there's just no stopping them. They have a ritual where they drop fire ants down each others' loincloths and then they go all crazy monkey-go-nuts." The characters help the Colonel wake up his sleeping men.
Four members of Red Squad man the two vehicles and head out. The plan is for them to move out and then hit the demlux from the flank. Bob the Saurk and Mister Yong deploy behind the sandbags. Caleb Kagan heads up to the roof and joins a member of Tan Squad to serve as a sniper. Goat Gulgusskun sets up his portable surgical gear in the Command Post and waits for the wounded.
The characters open fire on the incoming demlux at fifty meters. Mister Yong is the first to be hit, taking a deep wound from a demlux bullet. One of the mercenaries takes a hit and falls unconscious. Mister Yong moves back into the building towards Goat Gulgusskun. Goat shoots him full of painkillers, but Mister Yong proves to be too resistant to get any benefit. He explains that the villainous lab-coated researchers always tranked him up before they shaved him. Goat cranks up the dosage and tries again. This time, Mister Yong responds rather dreamily that he feels no pain.
And then Mister Yong howls out, "Where are the claymores? I thought there were supposed to be some claymores!" Caleb yells down, "Didn't you see those scouts in front of the main group? They were carrying them. Looks to me like our demlux tribals are sophisticated enough to understand the fine art of the sapper."
Bob the Saurk waits until the attackers are within twenty meters, then rushes out to engage them in hand-to-hand. Goat sees what is happening and screams, "Bob! These guys are demlux! They have spears and they're in battle rage!" Bob doesn't seem to care: he goes into a sweeping lightning attack dropping one demlux and injuring two more. He is swiftly surrounded by enraged demlux. Enraged demlux who have no idea what is in store for them. Bob the Saurk transforms into a spiral whirlwind of bloody death and commences dissecting demlux.
Mister Yong decides that firearms are for the birds. He goes back to grenades. The mercenaries were able to give him fragmentation grenades, which make a much nicer bang. His first grenade knocks down three attackers.
Goat runs out into the back courtyard to pick up the downed mercenary. He finds that the guy has two deep wounds. He starts dragging him back into the building. Meanwhile, up on the second floor the sergeant next to Caleb takes a bullet in the head. Caleb yells down, "Goat! Don't worry about coming up to help this one!" Caleb reloads and takes a look at the battlefield. He muses, "These guys must all be hopped up on banana beer."
Bob the Saurk comes up on the comlink, "The great thing about these guys is that they're in battle rage! If they die, you can harvest their adrenal glands and sell them on the black market!" Caleb asks him, "How did you learn this stuff?" Bob the Saurk responds, "When I was in prison. That's also when I learned to eat human food and how to use a stun baton." Caleb offers, "From now on, I'm locking my cabin door when I sleep." Bob the Saurk continues his cavalcade of dismemberment without comment.
Another of the mercenaries gets shot, and Colonel Striker takes a light wound.
Mister Yong manages to take out several more demlux insurgents with a grenade. On the minus side, he starts to have hallucinations from the painkillers. Caleb notices that he is stuffing some ropes into his shirt and mumbling, "Gotta get my entrails back inside... Gotta get my entrails back...."
Goat spots a demlux moving up from the left flank towards the characters' vehicle. He comes onto the comnet and tells the others, "You realize that one there is precious close to violating the rental agreement on our truck..."
Bob the Saurk suddenly takes damage. Sort of. He realizes that demlux spears are no match for modern body armor. Fortified with confidence, he spins on his tail and shatters another of his increasingly ragged-looking opponents.
Goat shows up in front of the Command Post in time to heal Colonel Striker and in time to see that the demlux are close enough that he can see their red eyes and smell the banana beer on their breath. And then they start coming over the sandbag barricades. Goat drops to one knee and blazes away at two of them, discovering to his horror that demlux leather armor is in some cases able to resist modern gauss carbine rounds.
Mister Yong sends out one last grenade, then switches over to his machine pistol. He uses it as a very threatening noisemaker.
Oceans of demlux come pouring over the barricades, trapping Colonel Striker, one surviving mercenary, and Goat against the building wall. Goat gives thanks for his tactical body armor as it saves him from a spear thrust. Goat sprays desperately, but the enraged demlux are more than a match for him. Colonel Striker and the mercenary do their part to reduce the ranks of the attackers, but Colonel Striker takes another wound in the process.
Even more demlux come in through the back of the building. Mister Yong notices one and tries to engage him in melee. Caleb turns around and shoots him. The demlux, that is. Unfortunately, the bullet just makes the creature mad. Caleb just barely notices the second demlux as the creature leaps out of the shadows and attacks. He reflects that he's been using a scope too long.
Bob the Saurk moves around the left side of the Command Post, engages a lone demlux tribal, and cuts him into a fine red mist. Bob barely even slows down as he moves to the front of the building. He arrives in front in time to see the rather dire situation Goat and the Colonel face. Goat attacks one demlux from behind, with surprise. Colonel Striker yells out, "I'm blind! The blood spray blinded me!" This doesn't seem to stop the Colonel from shooting down another attacker. Bob runs across the sandbags to cut the last attacker in front clean in half.
Bob and Goat look up in surprise as the last demlux infiltrator gets flung out of the window by Mister Yong's telekinesis. Caleb does a fine job of gunning him down.
The battlefield is a strewn mass of bloody, wrecked carcasses.
Goat burns a Genre Point healing the Colonel (thanks to one really unfortunate roll). He proceeds to heal Mister Yong and the remaining injured mercenaries, first using freaky psychic healing powers and then using Fast Heal when he gets tired.
The characters are pleased to have survived Bob's Drift. "Och. There goes Bob, that crazy saurk Scotsman with his knife." Each character gains four experience points.