Starfinder Fly Free or Die Solo Campaign

Game Master Clebsch73

Dot.

The EJ Corp Freighter sat in the sky dock bay looking like a homely brick. It was the lowest, most basic freighter in the Company's vast fleet of starships. Its designation was BD514, the only thing that distinguished it from thousands of similar ships, many scattered across the floor in EJ Corp's prime location in the most respectable part off Absalom's arms.

The floor of the dock was busy with activity as freight was loaded onto or off of ships, freighter crews arrived and left, and technicians serviced freighters preparing them for their next runs. The last technician left BD514 hours ago. Since then, it had been undisturbed until a crew of six gradually found its way to the sad looking freighter.

The first to arrive was a tall, slender humanoid with a head resembling a leopard. She wore a second skin flight suit and carried a knife, a pistol, and a long barreled laser rifle. She inspected the hull and the drift engine and made sure the air-locks were secure. Then she flashed her EJC badge at a sensor near the port cargo door. It opened and revealed an empty expanse 30 feet deep and running most of the way to the ships aft region. She headed right for the bridge, such as it was, a cramped set of four flight deck seats next to the front view window.

She left the door open and soon a tall man strolled up. His head resembled a wolf with white fur. He wore an EJ Utility hardsuit and carried a side arm, a rifle, a knife, and a truncheon. He too inspected the outside of the ship, looking disappointed. He entered and headed back to the engineering bay in the aft section.

Next to arrive was a tall, statuesque human woman and a short light skinned woman with platinum blond hair that seemed to always have a slight breeze blowing it back behind her, although the human woman's long hair did not appear to catch any of that breeze. They were chatting until they arrived at the ship. They checked the ship's ID sign and then checked something on their comm units before entering. They explored the crew's common area before looking into the bridge.

The final arrivals were a brenneri and a uplifted bear, both male. The otter-like brenneri was doing most of the talking. The bear dwarfed the brenneri, and looked larger because of his heavy armor. His white fur contrasted with the darker armor. He was obviously the security crew member, as evidenced by the doshko, and several other weapons slung around his great bulk. The brenneri carried only a staff and side arm. They stowed their gear in the crew quarters behind the bridge and joined the conversations ongoing.

When the tall leopard-faced woman entered the bridge, a species known as the Pahtra, her head almost scraped the ceiling. She sat in the pilot's chair, the second one in from the port side. After spending some time adjusting the seat to fit her lanky frame, she began telling the console to start running diagnostic tests and report performance levels.

She was engrossed in this work when a screen lit up to show a tall wolf-headed humanoid entering and moving to the aft section. The ship identified him as Emersohn Strange and listed him as the engineer of the crew. She switched the comm mike on and said, "Welcome to the BD514, Emersohn. Pilot Shasta Q on the bridge." Her proper name was Shasta Quicksilver, but she preferred Shasta Q.

Emersohn inspected the ship's power core and drift engines. He shook his head and made low snarling grunts of disapproval at the quality of the equipment. He began running diagnostics and tuning what he could. It would run but there would not be much punch to the performance.

When Shasta greeted him, he said, "Didn't know you were here or I woulda checked in first. I'm just lookin' over the junk back here. It's not much, but so far, ev'rything looks marginal." His voice was low and a bit rough.

When he found something that needed adjusting, he rolled up his sleeves to reveal compartments in his augmented forearms that contained tools for tinkering with machinery and computers. Once he was working, he relaxed and seemed to be in his element. What a casual observer would not see was the advanced artificial intelligence associated with an exocortex augmentation located at the back of his skull, feeding him information as he needed it to make the equipment run at its best.

When the tall brunette woman and the short blonde entered, Shasta saw the ship's monitor identify them as Scherzo Vivachissmo with the assignment of captain and Zeph Zonda, listed as science officer.

"Welcome, Captain Vivachissmo and Science Officer Zonda," Shasta said over the ship's comm. The women made their way to the bridge after setting their packs in the common area. "Call me Scherzo, please," the captain said as she entered the bridge. "And I believe Ms Zonda prefers Zeph," she added, making eye contact with the blonde to see if she agreed. "Being called captain is going to take some getting used to."

Scherzo was a bit shorter than the pilot, but still tall compared to most human women. Her black hair was tied in a ponytail that reached the middle of her back, and Shasta noticed she wore just enough make-up to enhance her pretty features without calling attention to itself. Her face was somewhat longer than it was wide, with dark eyes and eyebrows that were shaped like bamboo leaves, blunt in the middle and tapered to fine points at the sides. She had a pleasant smile, although she looked nervous as she scanned the controls accessible from the captain's chair.

"Zeph is fine, yes," the blonde woman confirmed. She did not make eye contact with Shasta and instead sat at the science officer's chair, locating the various monitors and checking the telltales.

She appeared human, but Shasta noted her pale face and hands seemed to have faint blue wisps slowly shifting like smoke rising from a cigarette. Her hair also seemed to waft back and forth as if air were blowing through it, although the bridge was ventilated with a slow cycling of air that should not be noticeable at the current setting. Shasta checked the crew list and discovered Zeph was a species known as a sylphs, a descendent of the mating of a human with and outsider from the plane of air. She was also listed as having the secondary assignment of magic officer along with a brenneri named Benny. Shasta noted that Zeph was also quite cute, as humanoids went.

Scherzo reached out a hand to Shasta, saying, "You must be Shasta. Pleased to meet you." Shasta's speech was refined and with the exact proper pronunciation of the common language, allegedly maintained as such by the humans claiming their ancestry extending back to pre-gap cultures of Golarian.

Shasta shook hands and nodded, saying only, "Captain."

Scherzo smiled and took a seat in the captain's chair, adjusted the seat up a bit and tapped a few controls. "I see we are expecting two more crew members. One is an Ursoid, an uplifted bear. That will make things cramped. These craft are supposed to for four, but the Company said we needed six. I guess we'll be cozy. I think we're going to be mostly for Pact World runs, so we won't be together in this small vehicle for long times without a break."

After that, she stood and went on an inspection of the crew quarters and the rest of the ship. As she left, Shasta said, "The wrench is in the engine room, if you want to meet him." Scherzo nodded although Shasta still had her eyes on the control panel in front of her. She wasn't quite sure what Shasta meant by wrench, but she assumed it was a spacer term for the engineer. She had a lot to learn. Prior to this, her experiences on star ships were only as a passenger, usually in first class, where neatly dressed members of the crew took care of the details of getting the ship from port to port.

Scherzo stuck her head back in the bridge and said, "Come on, Zeph. Let's unpack. We still have to wait for the last of the crew to arrive. Computers are good at waiting."

Zeph looked at the captain and smiled sweetly. She stood and followed Scherzo out of the bridge.

Scherzo and Zeph looked in each of the crew cabins, situated just behind the bridge and on either side of a short connecting passage from the common area to the bridge. Each was equipped with three beds and some areas for storing personal items. A very small bathroom was crammed into a space between the bridge and where each cabin reached the hull, just big enough for a toilet, sink, and shower.

As they exited the cabins to inspect the common area, the last two crew members entered. They were quite a contrast. The brenneri was only a little bit taller than Zeph, while the Ursoid was just as tall but only when he was walking on all fours. He was twice as wide as any of the others on the ship.

"G'day, mates," the brenneri chirped. "I be Benny Swell, and this big guy goes by Orion. Did I pronounce that a'right?" Benny bowed deeply and swung his arms back up and pointed dramatically at Orion.

Orion grunted an affirmative grunt and said, in a voice that seemed to come up from the depth of the ocean, "Day. Security officer, here. You the cap'n and first mate?"

Scherzo did introductions, "I am the captain. Call me Scherzo, please. This is Zeph, our science officer. Benny, you are listed as trade negotiator, although I believe I'm expected to accompany you when we meet with buyers and sellers."

Benny nodded and added, "I double as the doc. An' I got spells o' the mystic sort fer emergencies." He wiggled his little fingers dramatically as he talked of magic.

Benny rushed around the common area, inspecting cabinets and looking in drawers. Opened a door at the aft of the common area, just behind the galley. He poked his head in, saying, "Oy! G'day, mate. Benny Swell. You the pilot of this fine vessel?"

Emersohn stowed his tools back in his forearms with a thought and moved into the door to see Benny and the others gathered in the common area. "I'm Emersohn, the chief engineer. I've been checking the power and drift engines. Should be ready to ship out soon."

Scherzo did introductions again and Emersohn gave everyone a perfunctory greeting before turning back to his work. He seemed stern and a man of few words.

Orion set down his doshko and longarm before standing upright in the ship. The helmet on his furry white head just brushed against the high ceiling.

"I'd like to see everyone's ID. Just a routine security check, since we don't really know who's who. Wouldn't want someone unauthorized on board."

He pointed his comm unit at each person and then at their corporate badge. The comm unit projected a small holographic head image that slowly rotated. With a tap of his large fingers, the image shifted to a full body reproduction. He confirmed each person. Then he called Emersohn and Shasta out to be confirmed.

"Thank you," he said when done. "One more thing. Before we ship out, I'll need to catalogue everybody's weapons. Those who cast spells can identify any that can be used as weapons. Just snap a shot with your comm unit and attach it to the form you should have on your units. Include any ammo as well. Finally, if you have any other valuables you'd like to declare, catelogue that as well. That saves trouble if something goes missing or ends up in the wrong crew member's manipulators."

Orion spoke as if he had said this before in other situations.

Once people were checked in and everyone had met everyone else, Scherzo said, "Crew quarters are up front, left and right. Orion, I think you should choose your bunk first. I think one of the ones by the bathrooms should be the roomiest. Benny and Emersohn take the other two bunks in whichever room Orion chooses. Us ladies will use the other side. Let's get our stuff stored away and finish the flight check so we can get underway. We'll be getting our first assignment shortly."

Shasta and Emersohn made eye contact when the captain used the distinctly land-lubber's terms for fore, port, and starboard. They cracked slight smiles but made no comment.

The next hour was filled with bunk selection, unpacking, and then inspecting all the supplies and confirming all systems were go for departure. The captain got a transmission from the dispatcher with the ship's first assignment. She put the dispatcher on hold and gathered the crew in the common area and had the dispatcher linked to the large view screen in front of a couch on the starboard wall.

Benny, Zeph, and Shasta sat on the couch while Emersohn, Orion, and Scherzo stood behind.

The view screen changed to show another Brenneri. She was wearing a green EJC jumpsuit and fiddled with a large wrench as she talked. Her voice was higher than Benny's with shrill vowel sounds and exaggerated emphasis on consonants.

"Good day Company space farers!" she started with chipper enthusiasm. "I'm Tarika, your dispatcher. Your first assignment is to get to Qabarat on Castrovel to pick up a shipment of Yaro fruit and deliver it the Hivemarket on Akiton. Should be easy run to get you started. The fruit spoils quickly, so you should get it from the produce seller to the buyer within six days. There is potential for a bonus if you get it there sooner. Your contacts at each end are in the mission contract. Good luck and safe travels!" She gave everybody a wink (or maybe it was Shasta, whom Tarika had helped get this job when she was in a fix in Akiton a month ago). Shasta smiled at Tarika and gave her a casual salute as she was signing off.

"Okay, you heard the lady. Let's get under way. Shasta has the pilot's chair at least until we get into the Drift. We'll project what we're seeing out the front onto this screen so those not needed, or who won't fit in the bridge can watch from here. Let's get that bonus!"

Scherzo gave the orders with confidence and then followed Shasta onto the bridge. Emersohn double-checked the engine room before taking his seat at the engineering console. Zeph monitored the computers, although the freighter was equipped with an AI that made things easy even for an inexperienced pilot.

A little over two hours after they started, the ship was making the jump into the Drift. The transition was silent and without drama, except for the view. The stars and planets visible in normal space wink out once in the drift. From then on, the view was mostly dark and unremarkable.

Shasta remained at the helm watching with a practiced eye for signs of obstacles and anomalies like doldrums. She had already checked the reports of ships arriving at the station and none reported anything, but she kept watching nonetheless.

Zeph set a program to do scans every minute with warning signals programmed should the scans find anything at all.

Once the ship was on its way in the Drift, Scherzo flipped on the comm and said, "So let's take shifts to keep fresh. Everyone takes the helm in 4 hour shifts. There is coffee and Zizz sodas if you need something to keep you awake. Report anything unusual. Otherwise, let's get to know each other and do whatever you do the relax. I play the violin so if anyone else has an instrument, let's have a jam session. I'll probably do some practicing, but I'll do that in the engine room so as not to disturb anyone."

Shasta's navigation calculation was so accurate it only took a day to get to the off jump point. During that time, Scherzo asked everyone to give a capsule biography and a catalogue of skills and abilities relevant to their joint venture.

The captain got the process rolling.

"This trip is actually taking me home. I grew up in Qabarat. I'm not excited to be going back, however. I was raised by a family devoted to the Prophecies of Kalistrade. I rebelled, changed my name, and am happy to be making my own way. I cut the purse strings and have been working until recently as a musician. Violin mostly, plus I compose my own music."

Shasta's face lit up. "That's where I've seen you before!" She blurted out. "I've danced to your music! You are so good. I'll take you up on that jam session suggestion. Sorry. Didn't mean to interrupt."

Scherzo blushed and smiled. "Definitely. I'm surprised anyone's heard of me. Just as I felt my music was getting me noticed, I got black-balled by a music promoter and so I've been looking for alternative ways to make it. The Company offered me this job and it sounded like it would be an adventure, even if the pay is probably not going to be so great. I don't mean to speak ill of our employer, but I've read some stories on the infosphere. Still, I look forward to the experience. Needless to say, I've never been a ship captain or a trader, but I have had a good education and I am good with people, so I welcome feedback and suggestions."

Benny jumped up when Scherzo asked someone else to share her or his story. "I'd join yer jam session, but I had ta hock me synth-pipes a while back, din't I? I also do stand-up an' improv, some MC work. But that wasn't payin' the bills, so here I am. I've worked all over the ol' Pact-o-rama. My fav was Liavara, but I been in factories in Absalom, food service on Akiton, tour guide in Idari. I'm learning the mystic arts, so I can hurt or heal. Not much uv a fighter once I've used up me spells, but so far I haven't had to mix it up doin' the punchy punchy dance."

As before, Benny gestured as he spoke, demonstrating with his body elements of his story. When he finished, he clutched a shell he kept in his pocket and sat back down.

Shasta spoke next. "Like most of my kind--the Pathra, if you're curious--I grew up on Pulonis, or as our Vesk overlords have so imaginatively named it, Vesk Six. When I was back in our jungle world, I was a great hunter, very stealthy, sort of my specialty. That and piloting. I decided if I was going to fly starships, I'd have to go elsewhere. The Vesk wanted to draft me into their navy, but I gave them the slip, came to the Pact Worlds, and I've been a fly-jockey for a while now. I have also done some song and dance, of the Slam-Rock variety, but that's more for fun. I had a run of bad luck on Akiton but was lucky enough to have worked with Tarika before. She learned of my situation and helped me get this job. I'm best at flying, but I can manage the science officer and engineer posts if need be. I'll be good in a fight, if it comes to that. I prefer to avoid conflict unless I think I can stand my ground and win. But I won't abandon my friends and colleagues."

Orion spoke next. "There is not much to my story, I'm afraid. I grew up on Verces, keeping to the wilder parts on the twilight zone of the dark side. But life was hard for my family and I have been trying to work my way to a position where I can start sending credits to my family. I work as a security expert, which mostly means I'm a mercenary. I'd like to work with a science team. My dream is to be able to take my whole family to Ferra-7. But for now, I'm the muscle for freakin' EJ Corp. I've no love for the Company but I will not let you down."

There was silence for a while until Zeph felt everyone waiting for her to speak. Her voice was wispy and soft, with slight emphasis on sh-sounds. Her voice was lyrical and soothing.

"I grew up on Arkanen, a moon of Liavera. I went to the Arcanamirium in Absalom. I got a job with the Company when I graduated. I did desk jobs for a while, but I'm happy to be able to explore. I love storms and being in nature. Electricity and I get along pretty well. I have a few spells that can be used for self-defense. I can also draw things from parallel dimensions that can be helpful in situations to slow other people down or to distract them. I'm just starting on my mystic path, however, so I run out of resources quickly. Still I know a fair bit about hazards and creatures of different worlds. And I love to fly."

Scherzo thanked everyone for sharing and told everyone to enjoy the amenities of the ship, such as they were. Nothing was top rate. The seats were lumpy and mishapen. The pantry had mostly low quality spacer meals that were quick to prepare but not very tasty. The Tri-D library was missing most of the reasonably good movies of the past decade. The ship was cramped and noisy. Sounds echoed and odd creaking noises rippled through the vessel once in a while.

Orion adjusted the bed at next to the port bathroom and cursed as he tried to use the bathroom. But he didn't complain to anyone when he squeezed his bulk out of the tiny room.

Scherzo played some tunes and Shasta, Benny, and Zeph all enjoyed dancing. Her performance was extraordinarily stirring and everyone complemented her on how exciting and delightful it made them feel. Even Emershohn, who sullenly refused to join the dancing was tapping his boots. Orion did not dance, but he applauded enthusiastically when it was over.

Before people went to sleep, Scherzo suggested the team comes up with a name for their ship. "BD514 doesn't have much of a ring to it. No rush. We'll want to see how it performs for us before naming it."

"Her." Shasta corrected Scherzo. "Ships are traditionally referred to as feminine. Don't ask me why."

Everyone made their nests and got some sleep as the hours rolled by, taking turns as Scherzo ordered at the helm. Nothing unusual happened and as people were waking up, Zeph announced on the comm that they were close to the end of the Drift jump.

Shasta took the helm for the shift and was pleased to see the pleasantly green, blue, and white planet of Castrovel.

Shasta flew the freighter, which was still just BD514, down into the atmosphere and approached Qabarat from the ocean side to the west of the Jewel of the Western Sea. But as the team approached, it did not sparkle much, shrouded in night and pelted with a rainstorm. Qabarat lined the mouth of the Yaro River, which stretched past the city , in to the foothills of the Stormshield Mountains beyond.

Landing beacons and air traffic control commands guided them in. Despite the harsh weather, Shasta flew the lumpy ship smoothly into the docking bay and out of the rain. After standing for inspection, which took no time as the ship was empty, they looked up on the infosphere the location of their seller, Prat's Produce. It was a few miles away.

Fortunately, they had a cargo hauler and trailer, plus a hover craft for this sort of operation. Unfortunately, the craft was made to seat four regular sized humanoids. Zeph and Benny were assigned to stay behind and monitor things from the ship.

After putting on some waterproof coveralls, Orion squeezed into the back and made enough room for Scherzo to fit. Shasta drove, with Emersohn riding shotgun (although he actually had a hunting rifle). They set off and navigated with help of an infosphere map. Scherzo made a call to let the owner know they were on their way. Not long after they found the business and parked the hauler near the loading dock in back of Prat's Produce. Not wanting to alarm the shoppers, Scherzo told Orion to watch the cargo hauler while she led the other two into the store to find the owner and negotiate the purchase.

Orion got out of the cargo hauler and stood in the rain, not seeming to mind.

The inside of the grocery exuded a cleanliness that was minimalistic, but not sterile. Rows of shelves and friendly aisle displays presented a wide variety of well-organized foodstuffs for purchase. Perhaps a half dozen people—mostly lashuntas—were in the store, selecting food and making (sometimes telepathic) conversation. Small, bright screens scattered about the store used flashy ads to announce the day’s best deals and upcoming specials. To the right of the entrance, automated check-out lines supervised by a middle-aged lashunta woman, tallied up customer purchases.

Scherzo politely asked the woman where they might find the owner. They hear her voice in their heads, "You'll find Runo in that back office."

Scherzo thanked her and led her crew back to the office. When they approached they found the door open. An older, stocky lashunta wearing blue coveralls sat behind a wooden desk covered in papers. He tapped furiously on a datapad while grumbling to himself. His most notable feature was a missing left antenna and a thin scar that began at his forehead and zigzagged back along his scalp. He looked up, tossed the tablet aside, and asked in a polite but agitated voice, “What can I do for you?”

"Good evening," Scherzo said brightly. "I'm Scherzo. I talked to you a little while ago. We're here to purchase a large shipment of yaro berries."

“It’s good you’re here,” the old man said, “but you’d better hurry. There’s a lot to move, and those Yaro berries will spoil before too long. You’ve no idea how much this shipment means to me. I’m retiring after this. Thirty years running this place. Now it’s Needa’s turn. This shipment is my retirement plan, so please, be careful, okay?”

He picked up the datapad again, punched at it, and threw it down again.

"Having trouble with that?" Emersohn asked. "Perhaps I can help."

“It was working fine for inventory last night, but now it’s a mess. I need to file the change of ownership paperwork, but I can’t get the damn thing to work!” He gestures helplessly at the tablet on the desk.

Emersohn picked up the pad, tapped a bit. Runo explained that his password was not working and after trying several times, the whole screen locked up.

Emersohn extracted some probes from his forearm and plugged them into input ports on the datapad. He sent some hacking programs into the device and fairly quickly unlocked it.

After trying to reset the password, Emersohn grunts. "Hmmph. Look at this code. That's classic space goblin coding. They've installed a firewall. I think I can spoof past it."

Runo watched intently as Emersohn worked his magic, looking impressed.

"There ya go," Emersohn said, handing the data pad back to Runo, now showing the usual programs he used in his business.

Runo was grateful to Emersohn. “Keep your eye out on your way back to Ship’s End,” he tells them. “I’d heard some people talk of goblins out there, but I didn’t think much of it. If you’re right, and they’re the ones who hacked my files, well, I don’t know what they’re up to, but it’s criminal, that’s for sure.”

Emersohn made eye contact with Scherzo and Shasta. Once the datapad was fixed, Emersohn looked over the contract, having had some experience as a merchant. "You won't get paid until the berries are delivered and sold on Akiton. I hope you have some insurance."

Runo nodded and said, "It doesn't cover the what we'll lose if something happens to the shipment. And there are lots of ways the policy won't pay. So please get this there safely."

Once the contract was signed, the real work began. The cargo hauler was fitted with a trailer that would hold the berries, which came in 50-lb crates, a total of 50 tons. It took four hours, using a small hovercart utility and the labor of Orion, Emersohn, Shasta, and Scherzo to load all the berries onto the transport trailer. They began to get into the cargo hauler for the drive back to the space port.

Runo comes out with an extra crate of berries. “Ship rations can get pretty stale on a long Drift,” he said with a smile. “Courtesy of Prat’s Produce.”

Then he added, “Siski will give you a fair price for this shipment,” he tells them. “She runs Ka Imports in Hivemarket. You tell her I sent you! We go way back.”

Something was fishy. The team, already suspicious from the discovery that goblins were behind the datapad hack, quickly spotted features of the 'old woman' that were not right. Shasta said, "That's a junk-bot."

Emersohn looked in the rig's side mirror and saw a space goblin on a rickety motor cycle pull up next to the back of the trailer and jump on it, which had no sides or top covering. "Space goblins on our cargo, on our six!"

Orion was the first to react, popping the back hatch on the cargo rig and leaping from the vehicle to run to the end of the truck, doshko in hand. He ran between the trailer a parked truck. He could see one goblin up on the trailer about to grab a crate. Nearby was a food vendor stall with several people next to it.

Scherzo sprang from the back of the rig and ran toward the back on the opposite side of the trailer from Orion. She too could see a space goblin about to load crates of berries onto his junk cycle parked by the back of the truck. She carried her battle staff. She had a hunting rifle on her shoulder, but did not want to get into a shootout in a crowded city street.

As the space goblins loaded one crate each onto their junk cycles, Emersohn and Shasta jumped from the cab of the cargo hauler. "Help them deal with the gobs. I'll deal with this!"

He kept his distance from the jumkbot, which still looked like an old woman to anyone not looking closely. A pedestrian was in the same crosswalk, starting to offer to help the 'old lady' pick up her gas cans. Emersohn waved her away, yelling, "Get back! That is a dangerous robot!" He had his club in one hand and his hail pistol in the other.

"Roger that!" Shasta yelled back and sprinted for the back of the trailer. She had a ways to go to catch up to Scherzo, but she was fast.

The space goblin on the curb-side of the trailer saw Orion running toward him. He drew his pistol and fired at the rampaging giant. The shot went over Orion's head, not even close. People in the vegetable stall, who were watching the theft with alarm covered their ears when the gun fired and they dove for cover behind the vegetable stand.

The junkbot advanced on Emersohn and punched at him with a mechanical arm. It caught him in the stomach and knocked the breath out of him and injured some of his internal organs.

Orion roared as he ran at the space goblin on the back end of the truck, but his attack with his clawed hand missed the little guy.

Scherzo ran up next to the junk cycle of the goblin on the side closest to the middle of the road. She couldn't reach him with her battle staff so she slotted the staff into the spokes of the vehicle's front wheel and pointed her hunting rifle at the thief. "Those are ours!" she yelled.

The goblin on the back of the trailer to advantage of the fights with his partners and loaded another crate of berries on his junkcycle.

His shot missed. He was glad the pedestrian who had been in the crosswalk had moved over next to the cargo rig when the shooting started.

Shasta advanced but kept back a little until she could get her pistol drawn.

The junkbot made another savage strike at Emersohn, hit him in the head, and knocked him out.

Orion noted Emersohn's fall and realized he had to get back and deal with the junkbot. Before leaving, he took a swipe at the goblin wielding the blade and pistol. His paw, which was as big as the goblin's chest, smacked him so hard, the sneek thief dropped his weapons and fell off the side of the truck.

Orion then turned and raced back toward the front of the cargo moving.

After the goblin shot Scherzo, she fired back killed the goblin with one shot. He toppled back on the crates behind him. Shasta then moved back to deal with the last one on the truck trailer.

"Time to beat feet, sucker!" she yelled and pointed her rifle at remaining space goblin.

Seeing his pals killed made the last goblin jump on his junkcycle and try to ride off Scherzo was right next to the vehicle's front wheel, so she tried to slide the barrel of her rifle into the spokes of the wheel, but could not manage the trick. The goblin began to ride away with two crates of berries on the back.