03 - Genesis Toroid

AA Team space haulage

On the Crispy Wolf, the space freighter left stranded by a raider attack in the asteroid belt, the party discusses what to do with the 'Wolf and Yo' Momma's Ass, the pirate ship which attacked and boarded the freighter. The crew knows the Soviets want the war criminal in suspended animation aboard the Crispy Wolf and had promised to pay the raiders for assaulting the freighter to get him back.
In the exchange of fire between the Cookie Cutter and Yo' Momma's Ass, Mazen scored some devastating hits on the pirate vessel with the 'Cutter's weapons. Likewise, the pirate's nav jammer, provided by the Soviets, fried the nav comm on the Crispy Wolf. Both the freighter and the pirate ship need repair at a local hub of civilisation amongst the stars. As for the corpses of the defeated pirates, the heroes jettison them into space via the 'Wolf's airlock.

The remaining crew of the Crispy Wolf agrees to follow the Cookie Cutter in their navigationally blind ship to Genesis Toroid, the nearby space station. The heroes, now calling themselves the AA Team after their breakdown cover subterfuge, return to the Cookie Cutter. They set up a towing hitch to the battle-beaten Yo' Momma's Ass and haul it behind them.

The docking authorities on Genesis Toroid clears the Cookie Cutter and its convoy to land at the station's central hub. The AA Team is dismayed to see the lurking hulk of the Soviet capital ship Novgorod near the station, as the party has secreted the frozen war criminal, Grigory Krovozhadsky, in the cargo hold on its own ship.

Part exchange

In Genesis Toroid's hub, two mechanics and engineering services vie for business with cheerful advertising in the station's vast hangars. Basil's Gear is fairly straight-laced whilst the smell of marijuana surrounds the workshops of Rocket Salad. The AA Team get a quote for fixing the pirate ship and decide it would make more sense to sell the crate for scrap. Better yet, they strike a deal to part-exchange the wreck for a yellow Astroflea class space shuttle. The team leaves the Cookie Cutter with the mechanics so that an expanded shuttle bay can be added for the 'Flea. The grease-monkeys will also add weapons and a defensive ink dispenser to the shuttle.
Using the space station's comms uplink, the AA Team get in contact with Colin Decker, the crew's fixer, who they left on the asteroid Olympus Reef and from whom they got the lead on the Crispy Wolf. Decker congratulates the team on a job well done in his broad saffa accent and tells them there's likely to be a bounty on the pirates' heads - dead or alive. If there's money to be had, the crew should negotiate with the station's authorities.

Get that sweet booty

Barry the butler bot remembers that he took a selection of photos of the pirates' bodies, after the fight aboard the Crispy Wolf. He marches to the reception area of the police station, and announces that pirate captain Dangent is dead, that he and his comrades killed him and that he, Barry, can prove it. The desk sergeant agrees to take a look at the proof, but Barry realises with horror that he had his camera turned the wrong way round when he shot the photos and can only provide some clumsy-looking selfies instead. Defeated, the butler bot returns to the party without the bounty.

Faux Hawk decides to try her luck instead. She accesses the computers on the Crispy Wolf and finds CCTV footage of the pirates not only boarding the vessel but also of the final showdown on the bridge, where Barry, backed up by Mazen, Terry and Faux Hawk defeated the raiders. Faux Hawk copies the video files to a memory stick and hot-foots it to the police station.

The desk sergeant at the reception area checks Faux Hawk's memory stick for viruses in a separate scanner within which a little light turns a reassuring green. Satisfied, the cop transfers the flash drive to the main terminal and immerses himself in the sea of crimes committed by Dangent and co. Meanwhile, Faux Hawk spots a Post-It note stuck to the cop's desk. The string of letters and numbers written on it in biro looks to her like a password. With the cop busy, she tries to palm the note. However, she catches the desk sergeant's attention as she does so. The cop gives an indignant shout, rousing all of his colleagues in the reception area.

Faux Hawk flees the station with the cops in chase. Looks like the AA Team's stay on the station is going to be a lot of fun.