Lucas decided he wanted to have a go at training with Bishop. They practiced some of their classic tactics from previous ops together and it helped Lucas to remember some of the good old days. Recent events had him reflecting on his mercenary career. It was a little difficult however to concentrate on his reflections while Bishop kept talking about his new love of the crystalline plants on Shard's End. Bishop was so engrossed in the subject that A-113 went and hid in the repair bay to fix up the damaged seeker sight.
Meanwhile, Sebastian and Jeb hit the markets while Linda and Tyris went out to wander around. Sebastian picked up a trade shipment for off-world while Jeb secured a military fuel cell sensing their time on Shard's End was coming to a close. Linda found herself at a nice scenic crystal garden that Bishop had suggested to visit and took the time to relax. Tyris on the other hand was seeked out by a local looking to get a package off-world and recognized him from the other day securing the delivery point for Optimized Deliveries. Tyris agreed and brought the package back to the ship.
While the crew went about their day, Matt made his way to a rendezvous point to meet up with a representative from Interstellar Connections, a private organization operating on Shard's End. They met Matt in a non-descript office building in the middle of the business district. Matt checked in at the reception desk and was promptly taken into a meeting room towards the back of the building.
The room was rather plain, but there was a lone individual there who greeted Matt and motioned for him to take a seat. He nodded and took one near the rooms entrance. The contact pulled up a digital map of what appeared to be a slum neighborhood. An objective was highlighted in the middle of one of the buildings.
"I need your team to secure this building. A group of local Roid Gangers has taken over the facility from our company and we need it back. The objective marker is an access point which the gangers appear to be trying to access with no success."
Matt nodded in understanding and stood up. The contact tossed him a data rod with the mission intel and he made his way back to the ship to inform his crew.
Later that day, the crew gathered around for their mission briefing. Matt laid out the main plan of attack, and designated Jeb and Bishop to defend the Bug-out while they were away. Gathering their gear, the rest of the crew set out to the slums where their target was located.
It was gloomy when the team showed up near the building. A think fog was covering the area and provided the perfect cover for their approach. They each took their positions and prepared for the signal. Once Matt was sure they were all in place, he gave the all clear to open fire.
As Linda aimed to take the opening shot, the masonry she was using to support her arm gave out and her opening shot went wide, alerting the Roid Gangers to their presence. Tyris jumped into action quickly and closed with the nearest ganger, driving his dagger into their chest, before letting lose a shot from his pistol straight into the side of their head. The ganger dropped like a sac of bricks to the ground.
The rest of the near by Gangers, now fully alerted to the fact they were under attack began to race towards Tyris. As they came into view, Linda had repositioned herself and let loose with a grenade from her launcher. The shot was clean this time and she wiped out half of the on coming attackers.
The attack drew the attention of the Gangers and they began shotting their pistols at her wildly, but several of the shots found their mark and Linda fell from her perch. This gave the opening however to Tyris, who closed the distance and quickly cut down the remaining Gangers.
The rest of the team swept the building and determined it was all clear and gave the signal that the mission was accomplished. Sebastian helped Linda to her feet, but she was pretty injured from the fight and would need a few days to recover. Tyris had noted one of the pistols used by the Gangers was of note and picked it up. He also found a mysterious substance, which might have been the chemicals the Roid Gangers had been using. He collected some samples of it for Interstellar Connections to examine.
Matt contacted his contact at Interstellar Connections to confirm that the access point was secured, and that they had the mysterious sample for them to examine. The Rep congratulated Matt for his team's ruthless efficiency, but asked that this be their final mission for Interstellar Connections, as such a barbaric display of violence did not sit well with the board of executives, and so they should go their separate ways.
Their business concluded, they headed back to the ship where Jeb began to provide some medical attention to Linda. Bishop had also converted a room into a crystal plant arboretum, and tried to convince everyone to go spend some time there to enjoy it. Linda said she'd go look once she felt better.