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(Ozzie gets a History check to recall this building: 13) - Ozzie recalls its a Cardania outpost. He has never been inside.
“It’s one of ours, but it wasn’t there when I last came through. Probably set up by Benny. They have their own fabrication unit that can prefab a structure like this.”
Morrigan looked at Ozzie and said, “This is an unmarked vehicle, we are supposed to go as travelers. Will they fire on us?”
“They’ll ask you to identify yourselves. As long as we pose as civilians, they should at least let us use the road. Keep an open channel.”
Morrigan starts advancing the transport towards the base with an open channel. She has a bad feeling about the situation. Starkweather could sense that her fur was on end, he longed to reach out and steady her, but he also worried about her reaction, it would undercut her in front of an outsider. Starkweather looked ahead and stared intently, signaling that he was taking the matter seriously.
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Upper floor of the outpost has an assault cannon at the top that fires on the vehicle with a Burst. Morrigan makes a Reflex Save vs. TN: 12. Save: 13 - Success. She spotted the blasts before they began to charge up and made a successful vehicular dodge, avoiding the blasts.
Ozzie was up and reached for the commlink, he attempted to call off the attack: “Station ahead. This is the hover vehicle. We are unarmed and are not hostile! I am willing to give my credentials as a member of the Cardania Expeditionary Forces.” (Ozzie Persuade: 18 - Success.)
The station answered back, “Unidentified vehicle. You do not show up on our specs, however we are willing to give you a chance. Come to a halt at once and one of you step outside with hands up. Not even a sidearm.”
“You better slow down,” Ozzie said to Morrigan.
“You can’t trust them,” Morrigan said, “They’ve already shown they’ll fire on us.”
“I need to hear them out,” Ozzie said, “Let me do the talking, but be prepared to gun it if that fails.”
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The hovertruck came to a halt as ordered and Ozzie was let out from the side door. As per instructions, he left his blaster rifle and pistol in the cab. His hands were up to show he was not a threat.
In turn, the door came open in the doorway was a grouse with a blaster pistol in her hand. Her coffee colored eyes scanned over the Otter before she spoke, “You armed?”
“They’re in the truck as you asked. I do have credentials I can offer if I can reach into my vest.” Ozzie said.
“Later. Did you come in with some rabbits?”
Ozzie blinked in surprise before answering: “Two, in fact, off-world rabbits who approached my commander for work. They work for us.”
“They didn’t steal this vehicle?” The Grouse shifted her weight and eyed the vehicle, “You sure they came from space and not from whichever hole they are hiding in?”
“All of their credentials show them as recent arrivals,” Ozzie said, “I’m sure I can get them to come in if you guarantee their safety.”
“You think they’ll disarm?”
“Probably want to keep their sidearms,” Ozzie said.
“Then I better come aboard and speak with whoever is in there. There’s been trouble on the road,” The Grouse said as she slowly holstered her weapon. She watched Ozzie nod, his hands still raised as he backed away and started back towards the truck, wondering just what had occurred that would make a commander so paranoid about some rabbitfolk.
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The leader of the outpost was a grouse named Samuela, Lieutenant of the Cardania Expeditionary Forces and in command of the outpost. She wore a green kerchief around her neck and sharp, suspicious eyes when Starkweather and Morrigan appeared. Her outpost was crewed by breeds such as a Hogfolk and a Chickon nervously eyeing the two rabbitfolk, despite neither Starkweather or Morrigan being at all predatory. Ozzie did not recognize any of the crew beyond the identification stripes sewn into their clothing.
“What has got you nervous about my companions?” Ozzie asked.
“Earlier this week we lost communication with Benny Township. What’s worse, a signal scramble has been deployed over this area, making it impossible for a signal to get back to Barncombe to call for help. We have been holding here, hoping we’d learn what was going on in town, or meet a rescue convoy from Barncombe. Are you part of any convoys?”
“We are independent,” Ozzie said, “We were sent in to make contact with Benny.”
“We don’t know what is going on,” Samuela said, “The last party to come by were a group of Rabbitfolk, and they made it clear what they were after right away. They tried to get access to the base, claiming they were Benny residents. When we asked them to disarm, the rabbits drew and tried to fight their way into the outpost. We’ve had several members injured, at least two killed. They must have grabbed their dead if you didn’t see anything coming in.”
“Storm has made it difficult to see beyond the road,” Morrigan said, the first time one of the rabbit’s spoke and it drew a look from Samuela.
“We have captured one of the rabbitfolk and are holding them in our brig. That’s how we know they call themselves ‘Gun Bunnies’. They view themselves as natives of the planet and they are willing to attack anything, including Cardania forces operating here. They must have been from a previous colony ship that was unregistered when it arrived, or maybe they really are natives, given the sector name.”
“What were they using? Slugs? Blasters?” Ozzie asked. This was the first time he ever ran into hostile rabbitfolk on the planet.
“A combination of both,” Samuela said, “This one was packing a slug rifle when we caught her. The impact of the assault cannon had knocked her unconscious.”
“Can we speak to her?”
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Samuela leads the group to a closet underneath the stairwell. On the side table was a semi-automatic slug rifle with its magazine detached and laying next to the gray colored longarm. Samuela unlocked the door while her attendant, the hog, kept a hand on his blaster pistol as the door opened in and Ozzie, Morrigan, and Starkweather along with Samuela saw a single female rabbitfolk sit on the ground, looking up at the group. Her fur had a soft golden coloring contrasting with a shade of cream. Her eyes flicked at the two rabbitfolk before she turned to Samuela.
“These your specialist interrogators hoping to get something from me?” Beach Bunny asked.
“This one has only given a codename,” Samuela explained, offering the name ‘Beach Bunny’ to the group, “As you can see she’s acting unphased about her predicament.”
“No point worrying when there’s only two ways out of this,” Beach said, “Either you release me, or I’m put up against the wall and shot.”
“She’s that confident we won’t handle her another way,” Samuela said.
“I know some bunnies who would put a real fear in me. You Cardanians care about your rules of engagement to do more than tie me to the post.”
“We want to know what your clan or group has done to our township.” Ozzie said, cutting through the banter.
“We have our own communities,” Beach replied to Ozzie, “We’ve only observed your town from a distance.”
“So your leaders wouldn’t try to attack one of our colonies?”
Beach looked away for a moment, considering her words, “Attack to destroy the colony and kill your people? No, we would never do anything like that…”
“But you hesitated,” Ozzie raised his eyebrow.
“We might have stolen a supply truck that wandered into our territory. We’re trying to survive between bands of wolf barbarians,” Beach replied, trying to keep herself honest.
Ozzie had heard enough and looked to either companions if they had anything to say.
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Starkweather attempted to persuade Beach to reveal the rough strength of her warren. Persuasion: 10 vs. 8
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“Just how strong is your warren?” Starkweather asked, rabbitfolk to rabbitfolk.
“Strong enough to stave off the wolf barbarians and your people if we need to. We can command a whole company of men ready to fight with blasters, slugs, and melee.”
Starkweather looked to Ozzie and Samuela, “Did you lose anyone in the attack?”
“One of my men was injured in the attack, I’m not sure about their side.”
Starkweather looked back at Beach Bunny, “Is there any chance returning you would broker a truce.”
“I would do what I can,” Beach said.
“We can’t simply release her,” Samuela said at Starkweather’s back, “She would say anything to get released. She’s possibly our only way to keep these bunnies from striking the outpost with her as a hostage.”
“We’re going into that area, it may be a good idea to operate without having to look over our shoulders,” Starkweather said. He looked to Morrigan and asked, “What do you think?”
“She may be the only way we can go into the zone without more rabbitfolk ambushing us. We’ll already be dealing with wolf barbarians and whatever else.” Morrigan spoke in support of Starkweather.
Ozzie agreed and said, “I want you to release her into our custody.”
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Ozzie attempts to pull rank on Samuela: 10 vs. 5 - Success
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Samuela narrowed her eyes and said, “On your authority sir. I’ll bring a bag for the gun.”
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