Five Parsecs: Quest for Lost Treasure Completed

    Crew of the Inconceivable advance through the underground bunker in 'Five Parsecs from Home'

This would be the final mission of the crew of the Inconceivable's quest for the Lost Treasure of Amazonas Galacticus. They would be breaking into the underground complex of one of the five pirates who'd stolen the fortune 20 years ago. I decided to use my boards that I had made for Space Station Zero more than a year ago. They are made from a silvery paper (purchased at a craft store) with a floor grid and bolts drawn on with black Sharpie. Inexpensive, and easy to create. The walls are a trimmed down portions of a trifold made out of foamboard, with Google images of futuristic walls downloaded from the internet, printed out, and glued to the black foamboard. I really like how it looks, especially once I placed lots of the Sci-Fi scatter I'd been painting for the last year or more on the board. The 3-D printed color shift crystals even made it onto the board as "exotic alien art" collected by the pirate!

   Our opponents would be fearless, mechanical security droids purchased by one of the space pirates

My roll for the number of enemies was very fortunate -- only four! However, that was compensated by another roll which dictated two of my crew would not be ontable at the start of the game, and would need to roll for arrival. I assumed that Alistair and the crew used deception to gain entry into the pirate's home. The "missing crew" (Zorina and Seon) would be considered upstairs, subduing the family and any other servants or workers. Meanwhile, Captain Alistair, Gunny McBride, Doc Mecrosus, and Cephvarx Hul would dash down to take on the security guards. I rolled "Hired Muscle" for the enemy, but the scenario also dictated they would be Fearless. Perfect opportunity to get out my 3-D printed Terminators I'd painted up for Xenos Rampant! I rationalized that the pirate had them shipped in when coming back from one of his annual, month-long vacations and labeled as something mundane. The droids would be armed with Military Rifles and the Specialist had a Marksman Rifle. Under ground and indoors, though, their superior range would not help them much, as the battle would be at close quarters.

    Deployment at the start of the mission, with my crew locations labeled & the droids circled in red

I set up the board and randomly rolled to see which edge the droids would begin on. I deployed them in their "Tactical" A.I., in two groups of two, with line of sight of any enemy coming towards them. I assumed they were warned and activated by some sort of alarm triggered by the family upstairs. I decided to send Cephvarx and Gunny around the left to be able to get close to the droids out of their line of fire. Alistair and Doc would move to the right and engage the droids in long range fire to distract them. The plan would be to have Cephvarx move in, melee and destroy them, supported at close range by Gunny and his high caliber pistol, or "hand cannon" in Fiver Parsecs parlance. Here's the report, as seen through the eyes of second in command, and former Galactic Marine, Gunny.

    I used my 3-D printed 'Terminators' from JS Wargamer Printing as the mechanical 'Hired Muscle'

The Battle

As the huge door to the underground complex slid to the side, the ceiling lights began flashing and an annoying klaxon began to sound. "Damn it, cap," I called to Alistair, "the alarm's been sounded. Let's hope Zorina and Seon can handle things upstairs. Same plan?" Alistair gave a quick affirmative and I saw him and Doc begin to dart to the right. I nodded to the looming Cephvarx Hul and we dashed off to the left. Hopefully, it wasn't a dead end and we could close quickly with whatever security was sure to be down here. I threw the rifle over my shoulder and pulled out my pistol -- this battle would likely be up close and deadly!

 

    Alistair and Doc would go right in the passage while Gunny and Cephvarx Hul would go left

Over the noise of the klaxon, I faintly heard the clank of mechanical footsteps on the silvery floor. "Captain -- keep a sharp eye out...sounds like security droids." 

    As the alarm sounds, 4 security droids move up to watch all passageways while remaining in cover

He acknowledged and then replied a few seconds later, "In sight, standard mechanical security droids armed with long rifles. I see one, but there's sure to be more!" The underground complex was stuffed with machinery, terminals, and even huge pieces of strange, crystal artwork -- at least that's my guess what they were. I could feel no heat coming off them and their colorful, pretty lights constantly changed colors and shades. A large piece of machinery with bright green tubing was in our path. I pointed Cephvarx to the right and I went around it to the left. 

    The crew after their first turn of advance -- the barricades are meant to represent walls

I ducked around one side of it and, "Bam! Bam! Bam!" I felt the ricochet off of my shoulder armor and the force of the round shoved me against the wall. I shook my head to clear the shock, momentarily stunned. One of the droids had been waiting for me to come around that corner -- "Stupid!" I muttered to myself. I ducked back out more carefully this time, just in time for a wonderful sight. Cephvarx darted around the wall the droid had been sheltering behind and loomed suddenly up in front of the droid. His boarding saber flashed, sparks flew, and the body fell with a clank while the headed rolled a few times before stopping, its lighted eyes going out. "Cephvarx has one down," I called to Alistair, and he acknowledged, saying he was stalking another and was going to throw one of the Frakk grenades we'd found a couple missions back. "Be careful," I called.

    Former galactic marine Gunny McBride moves along the wall around a strange piece of machinery

I ran forward, now that the way was clear, sheltering and moving along the far wall for cover. I watched as Cephvarx darted around another corner and out of sight. I heard the clanging of metal on metal and Cephvarx snarling in pain. I ducked around the corner to see both fall at the same time. The droid was in several pieces, smoke pouring from parts of its metallic structure. Cephvarx was badly wounded, though, and writhing on the ground in agony. I darted towards him, snagged one of the Stim-Paks from my belt pouch and jabbed it into his purple skin. Just as I did that, there was a deafening explosion and my ears rang with a high pitched whine, the other sounds fading out. Yeah, Cap, maybe a grenade in a confined area wasn't the greatest idea! Almost distantly, I heard the automatic weapons fire of at least two security droids firing in return, though they sounded quieter in my ringing ears than they should.

    A security droid is watching that gap and fires and hits Gunny, inflicting a stun marker

"Damn it," Alistair's voice called faintly in my headset. "The grenade damaged it, but didn't take it out! Now, I have two firing at me -- I could use a little help, Gunny!" Suddenly, I heard an even fainter noise -- a hissing of steam. I looked up. The shrapnel from the grenade must have severed a line somewhere, as a cloud of gray mist was expanding in the center of the room and beginning to grow. 

    Focused on Gunny, the droid doesn't notice Cephvarx Hul charging at him till it is too late

I thought maybe that will distract them a little. I darted past Cephvarx, whose twitching was growing less pronounced and he seemed to be getting his limbs under control. My gun was raised as I edge around the corner -- there! One of the droids with an automatic weapon raised was firing to my right, where the captain and Doc were likely to be. I sighted and squeezed off a couple shots. The security droid's head exploded in silver bits of metal and it fell to the floor with a clang, not moving. "Three droids down," I called to Alistair. "Stay in cover, I've got them outflanked!"

    First security droid is down -- Cephvarx's specialty is up-close "Brawling" (melee)

I continued to edge around the corner, sighting along my pistol. By the sound of the firing, there was only one droid left. I caught sight of him, his skull-like mechanical head swiveling from where his cohort lay motionless to where Alistair likely was hiding. "Boom, boom, boom!" I fired three shots and the droid collapsed. Their armor was no match for the high caliber, high velocity rounds of my little souvenir from my time in the Corps..! "Fourth droid down," I shouted, so the others could hear me, too. "Anyone see any others?" 

"Negative," Alistair replied over the microphone.

    At the start of Turn 3, my "delayed" crew members arrive -- here Seon follows Gunny up the left side

Doc's amplified voice rang out crisply, "I pick none up with my goggle's enhanced sensors -- on any spectrum."

"I don't see any. Well, none that are in working order," Zorina called. I turned and waved to her. I saw Seon creeping along the wall where Cephvarx had gone.

    The alien Varxian charges the next security droid, but each inflicts hits on the other, taking both out

"Nice to have you two join us. Everything okay upstairs?"

Zorina nodded and reported, "Family's all tied up, sir. House is locked down. It appears the only alarm that was sounded was down here to alert the security droids -- which you guys appear to have taken care of without our help."

    After dashing out to toss a Frakk grenade, Capt. Alistair is under fire & stunned by two droids

"We couldn't let you two have all the fun," I laughed. "Okay, everybody stay frosty. Let's investigate this place. It's huge! Number one --  make sure there's no more droids. Call out if you see anything suspicious or moving. Number two -- don't touch any of the monitors. Leave those for Doc -- he's the expert. Number three -- Doc, can you also fix that damned steam leak? Let's hope it isnt' toxic..."

   The first droid inflicted a stun on the captain, and luckily the second one missed...!

Aftermath...and the future?

Since the Inconceivable crew was successful in their mission, it means they completed the quest. Of course, in Five Parsecs from Home, the charts and events in between sessions form the skeleton of the story. It is up to the GM (or in this case, solo player) to flesh it out. So, let's do some fleshing! I assumed that with control of the secret underground bunker, Alistair and company are able to use the data they discover to pin the piracy on the five families. The details of their transactions and names of their bribed associates would be assembled into a multimedia documentary by Doc. They would then use the passcodes and authorization of the captured pirate to broadcast it on the planetary media. Once that gets out, the other four pirates will be alarmed and perhaps onto the crew. However, they will likely have bigger fish to fry than Capt. Alistair and his crew. Chuft Betsos and the long, legal arm of Amazonas Galacticus will descend on the planet like a glove and begin to dig for even more details.

    Perimeter marked by black pom-poms, a steam vent was ruptured by the grenade, obscuring view

Unfortunately, this mission doesn't suddenly make the crew rich. They were able to gather some loot from the pirate's lavish underground quarters, but there were no stacks of "treasure" on hand. Alistair was probably being a bit naive in thinking so. He would have to be content with solving the mystery. There would be no chance of making up his lost retirement money, unfortunately. Betsos had cheated him out of that. They could "take" so much from the pirate's chambers even though it had been bought with stolen money. The five pirate families had much of their wealth tied up in ownership of various corporations, companies, and off-planet investments. All was had been designed over the decades to hide their names, so they hadn't appeared suddenly rich overnight.

    Gunny does what he does best -- move up, shoot, and take out the droid marksman

After broadcasting their Doc's production and ensuring the documentary went planet-wide (and off-planet, as well), Alistair and the crew had best beat a hasty retreat from planet Dichelles. There is still a chance that their escapades on the icy planet might run them afoul of the law -- certainly here, where the pirates likely had some control of it. However, if that happened, Gunny said he would contact the lawyers for Amazonas Galacticus to put a smoke screen on their actions. Alistair grumbled that Betsos was incapable of gratitude and refused to stoop to ask his ex-employer for any help. Gunny said he would eat the crow for his old friend (and his crewmates). In the meantime, all agreed that the Inconceivable and its crew should go to the far side of the galaxy and lay low for awhile!

    The final droid, trying to watch both Alistair and whoever shot his cohort, is taken down by Gunny

So there you have it! The story arc of the crew of the Inconceivable and its search for the lost treasure of Amazonas Galacticus is concluded. I hope you enjoyed the six missions and my after action reports. I had a good time testing out the Five Parsecs from Home rules. It really does a nice job of threading a series of missions together and giving you the events to create a story. For example, when the crew traveled to Dichelles and rolled up that they had discovered an escape pod containing Seon, that added nice details the what happened to Amazonas treasure ship. Originally, I was playtesting Five Parsecs for possible use with my Sunday night gaming group. I honestly feel we're too large for the framework of the game, though, and it would work better with a small number of participants playing cooperatively or with a GM.

So, is this it? Is this the end of the tales of Captain Alistair and his crew? Perhaps. I am definitely going to take a break from my solo campaign. There were a few scary moments in this game, such as when Alistair darted into the open, threw the grenade, and rolled two 1's for damage. I used a story point for a re-roll and, lo and behold, rolled another "1"! The droid fired back, stunning Alistair. His cohort thankfully missed, though. Gunny's stunning early in the game could just as easily been a "Kill." And when Cephvarx went down to the second droid, things could have gotten ugly. With unfavorable dice rolls only Doc would have been left! 

However, in general, the fights the rules' charts and A.I. generated were a bit too easy for my liking. I rarely felt that my crew was seriously challenged, or in danger. If I do pick up this storyline again, I will ramp up the difficulty level to a more challenging one. I started with the basic one since that was what it recommended. So, for now, farewell to Captain Alistair Valentine, Security Officer Gunny McBride, Engineer Doc Mercosus, Crew woman Zorina Valthea, Security Droid SAS B61, and Crewman Seon Vogalia! It has been fun for me to generate your adventures, and hopefully to my readers, as well! 

MINIATURES Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2025

• Miniatures acquired in 2025: 100
  
• Miniatures painted in 2025: 15 

TERRAIN Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2025

• Terrain acquired in 2025: 10
  
• Terrain painted in 2025: 14

SCATTER Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2025

• Scatter acquired in 2025: 51
  
• Scatter painted in 2025: 26