With the Baldie Challenge concluded I've put together my crew's part in the story together in this post. You can view the entire series from the start here: The Baldie Saga And view the deck that I entered here: Nockzonk's Crew
Congratulations to the winners who not only won some prizes but also Titles & Medals:
And thanks to Khazrakh the author & challenge host
The Moon Part 1
The moon, while devoid of any atmosphere, still seemed like a good place to hide from the aliens until the Colombus could come and pick you up again. There was something about these alien ruins that you simply could not resist. What was their story? Who where these aliens? You had to find out. Besides, maybe you would find additional resources there, maybe even some alien technology to aid your struggle for survival?
Landing on the moon should have been a routine job for the autopilot. After you checked for some appropriate coordinates close to the northern pole, you started your descent. Suddenly, the alarm went off. Sir, we have an unidentified missile incoming! It wasn't clear where the warhead was coming from, but you didn't have the time to think about that either, it was only a matter of seconds until you'd get hit...
While everybody else was still in panic, Admiral Valro was already on top of it. Countermeasures launched... Hostile warhead destroyed...detecting launch site...setting target...fire...launch site has been destroyed!. He makes it sound like he's been doing that a thousand times already.
With the immediate threat neutralized, you set down close but not too close to the alien ruins. Whoever the attacker was, your quick response made sure that they'll think twice before going after you again. Unsure whether this was the only hostile installation or not, you decide to keep a low profile for some days.
Result of Encounter:
No damage taken - well done Captain!
Hostiles taken care off: Colony Health + 5
Colony Health remaining: 105
The Moon Part 2
That missile strike got you wary and excited at the same time. Excited because there obviously was more to these ruins than you initially thought. Wary because, well, there was more to these ruins than you initially thought. You wanted to get to the bottom of this as fast as possible, but since you didn't know whether there where more hostiles out there or not, you decided to play it safe first. You established your foothold inside a small canyon where you were hidden from plain sight. Before going for the ruins, you first wanted to make sure that you brought everything your colony will need for survival.
Together with the Baldie's own reserve, your Soup and Cook will provide your crew with enough food and water for 50 days. You are lacking in shelter and life support, though. While both the Baldie and the Dropship can shield you from harm for a while, you only have oxygen for 20 days. You also lack the energy to operate the Dropship. You will need to acquire both from the alien ruins if you hope to survive the coming three months.
The Rebel General and Eliza are eyeing each other with deep distrust. How did they end in a situation like that? Having the Kumicho in the mix as well won't make things any easier and Admiral Valro seems to be plotting constantly anyway. So far nobody is doing anything stupid, but you get the feeling that things could escalate quickly if any side sees their chance to make a move.
Result of Check-Up:
Things are looking grim: 10 damage
Colony Health remaining: 95
With the Rebel General and the Battle-Trained Socialite, you have two great choices for some scouting and reconnaissance missions. Both take turns observing the alien ruins from afar. After several days, you are confident that there's nobody around the station, at least there's no movement at all at the base.
Your officers decide to approach the ruins in the cover of the next night. As they carefully sneak towards the ruins, they recognize some odd looking stones scattered across the ground. The Battle-Trained Socialite almost kicks one, but the Rebel General stops her at the last moment. Booby Traps! The two carefully look around: It seems they have been walking right into a minefield! Not wanting to risk it, they carefully retreat back to safety.
This is not the first minefield the Rebel General has seen and he'd be damned if it was the last. His first thoughts revolve around how he could get Eliza to walk in there but he discards the idea, for now. We still might need here. Eliza herself has the idea to construct a contraption that should be able to deactivate the mines without making them explode, but the Rebel General is not convinced. If it doesn't work, everybody will know we are here. No, there's only one way. He'll lead the team through the field! If everybody follows his footsteps, nothing bad can happen. Everybody spends another day preparing before your team returns to the minefield...
Result of Encounter:
Nothing bad happened - Well done Captain!
Colony Health remaining: 95
The Moon Part 3
The minefield was something you did not anticipate when your sensors first detected the alien ruins on that moon. Firing missiles at an incoming ship, laying out booby traps disguised as rocks, these were no ordinary ruins. You were unsure what could wait for you there, but you knew your survival would depend on it. Not going to the ruins was not an option.
You prepared as good as you could and set out for the minefield...
Your crew was an odd one indeed. With everybody distrusting almost everybody else getting rid of that minefield won't be an easy task. Eliza still insisted that she could have easily built a gadget to disable the minefield, but neither the Kumicho nor the Rebel General would listen to her. Just follow my every step the Rebel General told the crew, I'll get you through in no time.
There obviously was no point in discussing it any further, so your crew cautiously approached the minefield with the Rebel General leading. He took a last close look at the mine's layout and then slowly started to traverse it. The rest of the crew followed and at first, it seemed to be going pretty good. Everybody was minding their steps and more than half of the minefield had already been passed. All of a sudden, some of the booby traps close to the end of the crew raised up and started walking towards your crew on tiny mechanical legs. They are mobile! RUUUUUUN!!
The crew started to dash towards the ruins, no longer looking where they stepped. More and more mines got up, slowly approaching the ones next to them. It was only a matter of time until somebody had to touch a mine WROOOM. With a big blast, Eliza got catapulted into the air. The moment she landed, additional mines were already swarming towards her. There was no saving her as mine after mine exploded on contact with her. Only thanks to the great agility of your crew nobody else got killed while rushing out of the minefield. As you crew manages to get farther away from the mines, they retract their legs and go dormant again. You've made it. For now.
You knew that was going to happen! It's not a second before the blame game begins. The Kumicho is convinced the Rebel General lured Eliza into a trap. If I wanted her dead I would have killed her already. You better mind your words or you'll be next! the Rebel General replies. Before he even knows it, he has the Battle-Trained Socialite's blade at this throat. One word from her and you'll bleed out on that damned moon! Galvin-4 starts talking about companionship (again) but nobody listens to him. Admiral Valro seems to be rather amused by what's going on there but finally decides to take action. If we kill each other here, nobody is going to leave that moon. Let's concentrate on surviving first, we can still do some killing later!
Cautiously, everybody retreats a step or two. Great. Now with that out of the way, let's see what we have here. The Admiral starts exploring the ruins and the rest of the crew slowly follows. The ruins themselves are pretty underwhelming. It seems this once was a small alien outpost with roughly 10 different installations, but there's not too much left of these buildings. From the look of it, the Admiral is sure that the base was forcefully destroyed, probably by some kind of beam weapon used from orbit. Both the attacker and the attacked seemed to be long gone. Your crew was about to give up, when the Kumicho found something. Wait a minute, there's something!
Covered behind some debris is a rusty control panel. She removes some of the dust and tries pushing some buttons. To your great surprise, the terminal actually comes to life and a small lens beneath it projects a hologram of a human female in a uniform of unknown design into the middle of the ruins. Welcome back Captain, please state the passphrase. Everybody is looking at each other, unsure of what to say. The hologram looks around, seemingly impatient. Please state the passphrase or you will be exterminated. Galvin turns to the crew It would be my great pleasure if you all could please just get done to the floor for a tiny second, please, thank you.
As the Kilbot raises his KB Blaster everybody understands what Galvin was hinting at. Passphrase inco... Kilbot starts pounding the terminal and the hologram disappears. Hidden windows revealing auto-turrets open up all around the ruins but within a matter of seconds they are all destroyed by KB-119. He then starts shooting at one of the ruins until a hidden entrance is revealed. Galvin speaks up once again This should be all for now, if you would like to you are very much invited to stand up again, thank you for your time and your cooperation.
The remaining crew slowly descends into the darkness. Suddenly, lights turn on and you find yourself in a large control room filled to the brim with cargo crates, all kinds of electronic devices, and other stuff. The Kumicho is looking around in disbelief. She slowly checks her implants. The room has a breathable atmosphere!
It seems you've found a shelter for now but it cost you dearly. Eliza is dead and there's a deep distrust between your crew members. It's only a matter of time until the conflicts will escalate again. Still, getting through everything down here is going to take you quite a while...
Result of Encounter
Eliza got shot - 25 damage
Your Crew hates each other - 10 damage
Found the secret base: Colony Health + 15
Colony Health remaining: 75
The Moon Part 4
Your crew spent several days going through everything found in the moon's hidden base. There were several takeaways:
- A lot of the supplies and technology found in the base are of human origin
- Some are of alien design you have never seen, though
- Whoever packed all that stuff had planned for a very long mission - There's food, water, and oxygen crystals that could supply your crew for several years
Besides all the cargo found in the moon base, there were also several locked terminals, a huge screen showing security footage from around the ruins and a radar monitoring space around the moon.
While your crew is very happy to have found the secret control room, the mood is still pretty low because of what happened just outside. There's no trust here, everybody is going to watch their backs constantly. Galvin is doing all he can to make people open up to each other but that's only making things worse. Still, you had to move on and going through all the stuff in the base, you were now set for survival until the Colombus would come to pick you up. The question remaining was: Were you safe down there? There still was a minefield out there. And this base does have to belong to somebody. If they ever return, they probably won't be very happy about your presence.
While everybody pretended to search for useful items for the crew, everybody was actively looking to add some treasure to their own pockets. Without anyone even remotely tech-savvy, your crew completely ignored the terminals and screens.
After some days, you were convinced that you found enough supplies to last until the Colombus would come and pick you up. With the minefield still waiting outside, you had no desire to leave the base again any time soon. This proved to be a fatal mistake...
There was a secondary tank attached to the ventilation system. Exactly seven days after you entered the secret base, a hidden mechanic switched the ventilation system from breathable oxygen to toxic gas. You didn't hear it, you didn't smell it, but it killed your whole crew within mere seconds.
Result of Encounter
Your crew died to toxic gas: 100 damage
Colony Health remaining: 0
You have been eliminated - Thank you for your participation and better luck next time Captain!