((I was out somewhere, sorry.))
Port Newton, Northern Ridge, Askarian | 233d/3008AD | Von Hapsburg System
Askarian Shores
Snow (Low visibility. Actions toward distant objects incur a small penalty based on distance)
Freezing Wind (-1 to all actions when exposed)
"Fuck's sake, stop shooting!"
Dash out of cover, kick the grenade to the shooter. Run away.
Initiative[1] Hal
[4] Other
(1) vs [6] The shooter opens fire again, mostly to suppress you rather than to actually hit you. You can tell because of the controlled bursts the shooter uses to fire at the large gear a few meters away from you. Fortunately, he's shooting at the wrong gear.
[6] vs (1) Thinking quickly, you knock the grenade back in the direction of the shooter with your foot, then flee the machinery room. You hear an explosion behind you, followed by metal gears grinding each other and making loud noises. The hull shudders, making you almost loose your balance in the low gravity. However, you manage to stand upright and get back to the ship's airlock, leading to the open deck outside.
[5] You are certain you aren't being followed, at least for now. [6/4] Your actions, though, have attracted the attention of the crew. One fisher, seeing you hurry toward the airlock, grabs your shoulder and berates you.
"What the hell did you do? I heard an explosion!"
...
Habitat Ship Gamma, Askarian Orbit | 233d/3008AD | Von Hapsburg System
Urban Station
City Manners (-1 to first impressions)
"Interesting, so do they treat their employees fairly?"
Distract him from the spores, while they continue to do their work.
"Indeed. New recruits are given benefits and a private shuttle. We're not looking for grunts, we're looking for business managers and agents to expand our efforts to new systems. You look like you're well-acquainted with other cultures, are you interested in a position?"[5] The spores have thoroughly affected the man, causing his pitch to wander and his voice to deepen. You can tell he is having a hard time sitting up in his chair.
Crash Site
Confusion (-1 to your first initiative roll)
Investigate the now abandoned shuttle.
The shuttle, unfortunately, is internally pressurized at several megapascals. Your current suit will definitely not hold up to the pressure. You can procure a Guild suit with ease, though, if you stop by at the police department or one of the many guild offices and caches throughout the city.
[3] You do this, leaving your suit unmarked in the case that you are discovered in the shuttle. Should you escape out of sight, you can take the suit off and activate its internal heating to burn off any of your DNA left inside.
Then, you approach the shuttle's airlock.
[1/1] The airlock is devoid of anything else you might discover.
Instead, the inner door is locked with some sort of alien authentication mechanism, with a glyph-based keyboard and what looks like a text field to enter a password. The computer does, however, have a USB7 port, which means it's vulnerable to software exploits.
The outside of the ship has various hatches. You flip some of them open and find that they lead to storage compartments inside the ship. One (rather large) compartment has a second hatch inside (also very large), which is locked mechanically with sort of padlock.
...
Excelsior, Francia Orbit | 235d/3008AD | Von Hapsburg System
Burgundy Lobby
Heavy Chatter (-1 Intellect, +2 Stealth)
This captain seem interesting, I could get (steal) some nice gear from them.
Investigate the FireHawk captain, take note of his/her equipment, and listen in on what's so "special" about them.
"Those who mess with the Firehawks tend to have short lifespans. Say, where do you hail from? You look like you've been through a lot."[6-1] The captain seems friendly enough, and tells you about the Firehawk's military assets. They specialize in atmospheric warfare, typically piloting hypersonic aircraft that ride upon sheets of plasma and bomb heavily-defended military bases. The Firehawks are generally called in when a side lacks the air superiority needed to bring heavy bombing craft to bear, and lacks the orbital assets to bring slow, clunky bomber craft into position over the base. They charge a heavy fee for their services, but their tech and efficiency means that they are a huge asset to whomever they are fighting for.
Alas, none of the moons of George have thick atmospheres, which is what most of the Firehawks' craft are designed for. They can still fght, but they are not willing to take a side in the rebellion. Shucks.
They are here primarily because they are interested in gathering support for a counterattack against the pirates on Franz. It turns out that the leaders of the hydroponics firm are willing to shovel out any amount of gold to recover their installations, even if it brings the company bankrupt. They don't specify why, in particular, but they have several escrow agencies ready to hold funds for anyone who is willing to accept the contract.
((That -1 to diplomacy helped you here--you rolled a 6/6 until I realized you had a -1 here. Hooray for RtD mechanics))
[6/5] The captain is very heavily armed. You count at least three machine guns and a large laser cannon on the guy's back. He stands at over two meters in his exoskeleton, which is armored all over its surface and he also has a weird glowing thing on a belt attached to his chest. The belt seems loosely attached, though, and it would be a shame if it fell off without him noticing it...