The Ballad of Captain Mantis Aurora

[bennyowens]

The crew


Mantis Aurora - Captain (Cyborg)

Growing up an orphan on some dusty backwater planet, Mantis took the first chance she got to escape offworld, joining a crew as a teenager, the only female on a ship of males. The captain had a rule that they all wore masks so that it if they were ever captured they couldn't disclose the others' identities.
After a botched bank heist she was left with grevious injuries, and rather than try to patch her up, the crew extracted her organs to sell on the black market and left her for dead.
Cora found her and managed to graft just enough scrap robot components on to keep her alive...barely.
Now she seeks revenge against her former crew, but not knowing what they look like, she takes no chances and only rolls with other females and robots, rescuing the downtrodden and forgotten, offering them a place alongside the Nightshade Revenants should they wish, as well as seeking out upgrades for her failing bionics.


Cora Alfred - First Mate (Robotics Expert)

Cora has never met a robot she couldn't take apart and put back together in (mostly) the right order. She was on the run when she found Mantis, having been caught pilfering components from a service droid she was supposed to be repairing.
She didn't need asking twice to become the second member of Mantis' crew, the lure of finding some new robots to dismantle being too strong, and eventually becoming first mate due to longevity rather than any skill or aptitude.

Cassandra Q - Sniper

Cassandra doesn't like to talk about her past, the crew have learned that the hard way. But it matters not, as long as she's on fire support they know they will be well covered, she once popped a mind gripper off the head of a now sadly deceased crewmember from the far side of a spaceport

Hester Graveson - Codebreaker

The daughter of a wealthy family, Hester dropped out of her studies to go full time with her side hustle - reprogramming the ocular implants of the poor to grant them access to the spires where the wealthy and the obscenely wealthy live segregated from the 'dregs' of scociety.
Needless to say, once the considerable resources of the spire were put to the task, it didn't take long to find the culprit and Hester was all to happy to hop on the next starship offworld.


Sora 'Scattershot' Synlo - Grenadier

Rarely seen without her trusty grenade launcher Ol' Faithful. 'Scattershot' isn't just a cute nickname, the safest place to stand on the battlefield is next to Synlo's intended target.
Still, most of the crew have never even seen a grenade launcher let alone know how to use one, so they are happy to let her do her thing, while keeping a 'respectful' distance.

SO-50 - Pathfinder (Robot)

A relic from a bygone age of robotics, the crew were planning to sell what working parts they could salvage when they found it, until Cora accidentally powered it up. It spoke with such a wonderful drawl that they immediately became attached to it and decided to keep it around.

Silence (Chiseler)

No one knows what species she is, and she hasn't said a word since the crew rescued her from a gang of bandits. But she has a keen eye for finding loot in the unlikeliest places, and it seems to be more than luck at play.

'Lady' Lara Rico - Recruit

She earned the nickname 'Lady' because the crew's first impression was that she's a bit posh. Actually, she'd just asked where the cutlery was kept when they had their first meal on board.

Enja Zemo - Runner

The oldest member of the crew, with the possible exception of SO-50...although maybe not. There's an ongoing betting pool run by Hester to guess her age, but so far no one has been brave enough to actually ask her. Still, she can put on a good burst of speed for an old gal.

Wibble - Recruit (Robot)

Wibble is good at carrying things.

[bennyowens]

Chapter 0

Captain Aurora realises that the ragtag bunch of misfits that make up her crew are not at all ready to be deployed in the field, some training is required first. With that in mind, she hires out a combat simulator, programmed to replicate a deal gone bad.
Immediately she notices the grackdamn vendor has ripped them off with his shoddy programming, some of the crew look all washed out and colourless, while others don't even look like themselves. She'd have to get her money back afterwards, possibly the hard way.
She's given the crew a simple objective - get in, grab some loot and data and get out before attracting too much attention, while an opposing crew have been programmed in with simular objectives.
It all starts well, with Cassandra making a pinpoint headshot on a ruffian guarding a data point, and Scattershot hitting her mark for once with a smoke grenade.
Things quickly turn south though. A shengrylla wanders in behind their lines, and Hester peels off to lead it on a merry dance away from the rest of the crew, allowing SO-50 the chance to pop it in the leg and slow it down. A big ruckus brews near the closest loot, with bodies from both sides piling in, until the opposing leader unleashes a torrent of psionic fire, laying waste to several of the crew.
Wave after wave of pirate troopers start pouring in, that gracking guy had clearly set the difficulty too high, and after being badly injured herself Captain Mantis orders the team to abort, bringing with it a solitary piece of loot, ably captured by Silence.
Mantis will need to run through a detailed debrief with the crew to prepare them for their first actual job, including some pointers on optimal deployment. Now, where is that vendor skulking....

[ErebusMort]

Ha - great idea for the report! Especially the washed out look of the crew

[bennyowens]

Chapter 1

Mission - Salvage Crew

Her previous crew seemingly in the wind, the lead that brought her to this dump proved to be a dead end. However, a freshly crashed ship in the vicinity, hopefully brinming full of cargo, might mean the trip wasn't wasted. Unfortunately it looks like another crew has also noticed...

Restructuring her cybernetic implants to provide her extra protection, Mantis leads her crew towards some plunder. A turret on the ship looks to still be active so Mantis activates her energy shield and directs Scattershot to provide them some cover, but she lives up to her name and the grenade sails wildly far off target. Luckily the enemy seem to be up to the task, and the combination of a smoke grenade and holographic wall end up providing the Revenants with some inadvertent protection from the ship's cannon.

Cassandra Q is able to snipe a drone that the enemy crew have thrown out, and Cora is able to construct one of her own which she sends off to harass the other crew.

The enemy captain has got a bit too cocky and gets blasted to smithereens at point blank range by the ship cannon, but not before throwing up more holographic walls to block the Revenants' line of sight.

The crew's right flank collapses when a Pirate Trooper is attracted to the commotion and nearly takes out Hester, but the left flank is more successful, with Silence securing some loot and handing it off to Enja Zemo to carry to safety. Wibble the robot has been trotting up towards some more loot, but the appearance of two more pirate troopers and a bounty hunter next to it cause him to turn around and trundle away to safety, leaving them to pick off the weaker members of the opposing crew as they try to make their escape with the loot salvaged from the crashed ship.

Scattershot has taken a grenade to the face which puts her out of action before she can provide any more fire support and with the tide seemingly turning against the Revenants, they take the oppurtunity to quickly download some data under the cover of the most persistent smoke grenade this side of the outer quadrants, then beat a fast retreat before they can suffer any more damage.

At least the ryakans that are rumoured to nest near the swamp didn't put in an appearance... (I lost every initiative roll, but always on an even number!)

Luckily Scattershot has survived her close encounter with a frag grenade, and Cora's post scuffle tinkering pays off as she builds a Robot Trooper to join the crew. The salvaged loot proves to be a small amount of trade goods, and the downloaded data reveals the location of a secret artifact. This may prove useful, as Mantis' cybernetics are badly in need of un upgrade...