Navigation Computer (credit)

McClure Bounty List *Gerry “Gez” McClure, KCr8 *“Wee” Dave McClure, KCr10, Dead *“Big” Dave McClure, KCr15 *Leroy “Lecherous” McClure, KCr10, Alive Only *Cletus “Clamp” McClure, KCr4 Bobby-Sue “Face” McClure, KCr8, Alive Only #Hank Jonnny “The” McClure, KCr25 Deirdre “Killer Dez” McClure, KCr14, Dead Only #Susannah McClure, KCr8 Marvolio “Magic” McClure, KCr10, Dead Only Dead or Alive where not stated. * means Bagged dead, # means Captured

With only a little hacking, the bandits’ vehicle’s nav computer disgorged the last four routes it had been asked to plot. 

All these locations were complete with planetary co-ordinates. While Nevada was dealing with this, Feng had been retrieving ID from the mangled corpses of their attackers. They were a little peculiar; every single one had the surname name “McClure”, the same address (Bromsgrove), and all the photos were remarkably similar, though clearly of different people. A quick check on PAN revealed a rash of trouble on the eastern fringes of civilization attached to the name “McClure” and ten active bounties for them. Leroy and Cletus were among the dead from the ambush.

Dave meanwhile had returned to his own vehicle and, with Wombat’s aid tracing power connections, located a small bug tucked away inside the bodywork. With the power plant mashed, it was inactive. Locally made and with ten optional channels, it turned out to match a tracking device in the bandit car. Five of the other channels all pointed to the same location, out west, back at Newland; Poole’s place. With a tow from the bandit car, they hid their own in the undergrowth along with the bodies. 

Hayden Poole (credit)

Dave wanted to update his employer, so they placed a call to Hayden and told him what had happened, and that there was probably a mole in his team somewhere. He promised to go over the other 5 vehicles and check for similar bugs.

Ewing Hagman (credit)

Following Dave’s original route, they travelled on to the ranch where - after a bit of tension at the gates when they turned up in “a McClure car” they were warmly welcomed by the rancher, Ewing Hagman. After an excellent dinner, he told them what he knew about the McClures - “No better than they ought to be, I’ve taught them to steer clear of here!” and Cattermole, the nearby township. He seemed to think that Griesman, the Mayor there, would be only to happy to backdate bounty hunter permits for anyone turning up with McClures from the list.

Looking at the fairly poor available satellite pictures of Bromsgrove, they realized they would need some more serious equipment, and arranged Feaysen to fly it in the next morning in the grav taxi.  

In the dead of night, Dave and Wombat lurked just over the ridge from Bromsgrove while Nevada and Feng used their grav assist to fly a large loop around to the south side of the corrie and up towards the lip. 

Bromsgrove (credit)

Built in a corrie (Cirque or Cwm)] at the head of a rocky valley, Bromsgrove was a sprawl of mostly wooden huts and hovels connected by roofed walkways. Fields of crops lined the valley approaching the corrie, and just below the village a dam had been set up to enclose a small lake, which filled the mouth of the valley. A hydro power plant sat at the sluice end and fish nets and traps lined the shore.

The road, running parallel to the river, was blocked at the bridge across the lake by gates with “Keep Out! Private Land” written in rather clumsy aerosol. Four guards manned the bridge, looking very similarly dressed and equipped to the ‘bandits’ with the exception of carrying locally-made assault rifles instead of the expensive laser rifles.

Nevada and Feng had no difficulty noticing the two guard posts set on the lip of the corrie on the southern edge. Very quietly, they drifted up to the back edge on their grav assist, though Feng made a small amount of noise. One of the guards leaned over the wooden rail, looking for a squirrel to shoot, and Nevada bobbed up in front of him, grabbed him by the webbing, and bodily hurled him off the platform and down the slope (GM note: Boxcars, and a Wilhelm Scream!) He tumbled and crashed for a very long time as Nevada’s HUD popped a match to the ID for “Wee” Dave McClure into the corner of his screen. Feng lunged forward and punched the other guard so hard in his shin that his leg broke and he passed out from the pain.

With the platform secured, they transmitted the Go code to the other two, and Dave popped the electric clutch and rolled across the ridge and down towards the gates, one headlight out, weaving erratically with some artistry. The guards, recognizing the car that had gone out to do the ambush, watched in concern but not aggression as it approached. A hundred yards short of the power station, Wombat bailed out, enhancing the stealth of this by going flat on his face instead of into a crouch. A few seconds later, the vehicle ploughed “accidentally” into the power station, stoving in the tin shack and getting the nose tangled in the works. Dave bailed out and the pair headed around the plant building as the guards rushed over to help  from the other side. A few seconds later Dave triggered the large bomb he’d planted in the car.

The explosion destroyed the car and most of the power plant, and unexpectedly broke the rickety dam, sending a torrent of water pouring back down the valley. The two McClures from the earn gate were walking along the top of the dam; they didn’t fall off but they couldn’t go any further. 

TacMap of Bromsgrove - click it for larger image!

The party opened up at this point. From complete darkness, with silent and flashless gauss rifles and X-Lasers, the McClures had no chance of retaliation and it swiftly became a massacre. One of the men on the dam shot blindly towards where he thought Dave and Wombat were; his first burst cut down his comrade and his second made Wombat’s helmet ring like a bell without penetrating. Nevada and Feng sniped the other platform clear and then raked the settlement from behind, taking combatants and fleeing figures indiscriminately. At one point, Nevada saw a movement from within a building and took the shot - only when the figure fell did he see a flash of gingham dress. 

With a crash, a car like the one they’d come in burst out of a building, with a McClure driving and another manning a mounted machinegun. Wombat had used his underslung RAM on a combatant, but Dave was still loaded and despite never having used one before, bullseyed the vehicle and blew it to scraps.  This seemed to take the heart out of the relatively few survivors, and they surrendered. There were six combatant adults, three noncom women and nine of ten children.  Of the bounties, “Big” Dave, “Gez” and “Lecherous” Leroy were among the dead, while The McClure and Susannah were captured.

---

Session Date: Jul 4, 2023