Contract: Reclamation of Auctioned Goods
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Your crew sought to complete the contingency portion of the contract by destroying the Southern Alliance ship. This would have prevented them from returning with technical data from a fallen galactic superpower.
You swing around the station and start attacking the SAIS Paranga only for their opening salvo to punch your teeth in. Following that Bash paid special attention to point defense to detonate a well aimed missile that you feel would have really fucked you up. Some very skilled piloting from Roquesta (Rocket) Strauss allowed you to consistently stay on their 6 and just ram shots up their aft. While their gunner was less skilled that didn't matter as much when each hit counted for two of yours.
You would have likely continued until only one ship could limp away but Tralia Lightfoot noticed an unusual indication on the nav computer. The Dyson sphere was deliberately collapsing itself into the star. The supernova was no longer imminently arriving. It was here.
Acquisition Vessel 14 separated from SAIS Parange and shot away at full speed, engaging the warp drives the second they crossed the minimum safe distance from the gravity well. Just as you thought the crew was safe, the true danger of the fight on the station appeared. Radiation Sickness.
Jerzac Scarlewe never contracted the sickness, only the immediate poison effects. Bash, Tralia, and Rocket attempt to practice medicine on each other and Scotty. Bash and Rocket start feeling better after a couple days. Scotty had a couple false starts and declines to a bed-ridden state. Tralia quickly worsens to a bedridden then comatose state. She was starting to show signs of recovery when she quietly slipped away between med passes. As horrible as the loss was, this allowed bash and rocket to focus on keeping Scotty alive long enough for his body to heal itself. You are currently maintaining Tralia's body to return to SamTech coroners.
AV14 powered down it's warp drive as it came into the Sol system on a slight ecliptic near the asteroid belt. T̶r̶a̶l̶i̶a̶ Scotty is taking a turn on the bridge at this time and sees two ships that are not broadcasting transponder codes appear on the navigation array, guns blazing.
How will you react to the loss of a crew member and what impacts will the lack of a science officer have in this dog fight?