Trouble on Rigel IV

Background

Rigel IV is a colony world of Unity, a Human Space Empire. It is a fairly well developed world with a number of scattered Townships with some Military bases for defence.

Three days ago a larger Alien ship came into orbit and discharged a number of powered canisters, one of which landed in the Town of Midsummer and the ship then left orbit.

At first the Governing body were inundated with cries for help from Midsummer and then all went quiet. The military sent in a recon drone to try and establish what had happened but they quickly lost contact with it. The Military decided to send in what passed for a Special Forces Company on this planet, “The Black Cats”.

 

Mission

The Black Cats sent in their most expendable team led by Lieutenant Mal ******** (the names of the heroic team leaders have been redacted to protect their identities), supported by Political Commissar Patrick ****** and Senior Sergeant Doug *******. The foot troops were a two-man recon team, a four-man Fire Team including one man carrying an LMG, a Sniper and a five-man local Militia team armed with carbines.

They entered sector four of the township – a mainly residential area. Their orders were to find out what had happened to the Civilian population and to complete three main objectives:

1. Hack the sector’s computer and reroute power to the Beacon using the Terminal by Memorial Gardens.

2. Having successfully hacked the computer, get to the Beacon and turn it on and evacuate before it fully charges up.

3. Retrieve a Data Package from the sector 4 post box (Professor White a local resident had sent a message before all communication was lost that he had placed an important Data package there and having done so he had taken refuge in a lorry). The team were advised if possible locate and rescue The Professor or ensure he does not fall into enemy hands.

The team were advised a number of small shielded containers had been dropped into the Sector by parachute containing various scientific McGuffins which may aid them if found and if they are able to activate them.

 

Plans

The three Team leaders conferred and decided on the following plan of action:

The Commissar who had the highest technical knowledge would go to the terminal next to memorial gardens on the left side of the sector and hack the computer. He would be supported by the Militia team.

Senior Sergeant Doug supported by the Recon Team would head for the Beacon to switch it on once the Computer had been hacked and on their way check out a nearby lorry for the Professor who was thought to be hiding in a lorry.

Lieutenant Mal would lead Fire Team 1 to try and reach the Post Box on the right side of the sector and retrieve the Data Package and check to out a nearby Lorry for the Professor.

The Sniper would climb the tallest building on the right near where he had entered the sector to provide covering fire for all the teams.

The forces motion trackers indicated there were movements of unknown numbers near all the objectives and in the centre of the sector.

Commissar Patrick’s tale

The brave Commissar led his force forward towards the computer terminal next to memorial gardens and as he did so he noticed there was a roadway to his left leading into this part of town. An initially unidentified movement to his front turned into a small mob of hugely mutated citizens armed with improvised weapons. They did not look friendly  and were dispatched with carbine fire from the militia and the use of his own Hand Cannon (The most powerful hand gun Unity provides its forces) dirty Harry style.

The squad’s motion detectors then indicated a stream of bodies were moving along the road to his left towards his position. The Militia were tasked with building a makeshift barricade across the road to stop the entry of the mutants. Accounts differ as to what happened next some say a group of mutants arrived before the barrier was completed what we do know is one member of the militia was wounded and another died but the barrier was completed and the entrance from the road way was blocked off.

Having prevented further mutants coming down the road the Commissar made his way to the Computer terminal by the Memorial Gardens and tried to hack into the computer system. The Militia deployed close by protecting the Brave Commissar whilst he tried again and again to hack the computer. Multiple groups of mutants were now gathering to the south of his position from where his forces had originally entered this part of town but thankfully so far they had not moved towards his position. Elsewhere things were looking grim; he needed to succeed.

Senior Sergeant Doug’s tale

The Sergeant and the Recon team he was leading started out to the right of the Commissars force and he moved towards the nearby lorry looking for the missing Professor but it was empty. His force then moved on towards a position left of centre of the town towards the Beacon but  The Recon team and the Sergeant soon got caught up in providing fire support to the  4 man Fire team which was to the right of his position covering the middle sector of the town. The Fire Team was coming under heavy Mutant attack.

It became clear the Fire team’s firing line was not going to hold as it became engulfed by a large mob of Mutants only one man escaping in the direction of the tower on the far right: a position occupied by the team’s Sniper. Frighteningly it was observed that two fallen comrades of the Fire Team had convulsed on the ground and had become Mutant members of the Horde. Having overrun the Fire team’s position the mob turned towards the Recon team. The Recon team used their superior running speed to distance themselves from the oncoming mob and took up a position on the rooftop of a nearby building (all those hours on the running track were paying off).

The Recon team had whether by design or accident drawn the main Mutant mob towards them leaving the Sergeant isolated from his team.  The Sergeant after firing a few shots in support of his Recon team and cutting down a Mutant with his trusty chainsword (a weapon invented and made by a workshop in Nottingham), remembered his main objective and manoeuvred towards the Beacon; all the time keeping a safe distance from the mutant mob i.e. ensuring The Recon team was closer to the mob than he was, as it seemed the Mob moved towards the closest enemy.

The Recon team on the flat rooftop of a building came under fierce attack from the Mutants who climbed the sides of the building to reach them. The distant sniper provided fire support but one recon trooper was wounded and it looked grim but they were buying time for the Sergeant to reach the Beacon.

The Sergeant nearing the Beacon got a message from the Commissar “The Computer is hacked power has been diverted to the Beacon switch it on”. He flipped up the protective cover and pressed the big red button and then heard the hum as the Beacon started to power up. He wondered how the Lieutenant was getting on and if it was time to call in the Evac ship.

 

Lieutenant Mal’s tale

He entered the main part of sector 4 with the Fire Team and the Sniper – they were some way to the right of Sergeant Doug’s force. He ordered the Fire team to form a firing line covering the centre of the sector as the motion detectors showed a lot of movement there and the Sniper was ordered onto the flat roof of a tall nearby building. The Lieutenant moved up to support the Fire Team hefting his short range pump action shot gun.

The Fire team soon came under pressure as two large mobs of Mutants converged on their firing line. The combined fire from his shot gun, the Fire team, its LMG and supporting fire from the Recon section did not stop the Mutants from reaching the fire team and cutting down two of its members and stunning the LMG trooper. One of the downed troopers mutated into a member of the hoard.

The LMG gunner was too stunned to get away all he could do was blast away with his LMG but was surrounded and brought down by the mob and immediately rose up again as a Mutant. The final member of the Fire Team terrified by what he was seeing ran towards the Sniper’s position joining him on the rooftop of a two story building. From here they watched most of the Horde move toward the Recon Team.

Meanwhile The Lieutenant saw an opportunity to run towards the post box while the Horde was engaged in close combat with The Fire Team and as he ran he noticed his motion tracker showed movement coming down a road to his right but he calculated that he should reach the Post Box before they could get to him.

The Lieutenant reached the post box and spent time retrieving the Data Pack but the Horde from the road was closing in on his position despite the covering fire from the Sniper. He thought he was done for when a message came through from an Evac Skimmer which had been sent to retrieve the team – he directed it to drop down in a nearby clearing and moved towards the evac point passing by a nearby lorry which triggered another small group of mutants to emerge from around the front of the lorry.

Mutants to the front of him Mutants behind him, all looked hopeless, when the Skimmer arrived and opened fire with its LMG’s cutting down all the Mutants bar one who charged the Lieutenant who deftly dispatched it with a close range pistol shot. Rather than immediately boarding the Skimmer he took time to check out the lorry and found the Professor hiding inside it – together they climbed aboard the Skimmer.

Denouement

Meanwhile Senior Sergeant Doug got the message through his earpiece that the evac Skimmer had arrived he ran from the Beacon towards it getting on board just before it took off.

The Commissar also got the message about the Skimmer’s arrival but it was too far away for him to reach it in time. The Commissar and surviving members of the Militia squad were in the Memorial Gardens as they watched the Skimmer climb up over the roof tops above the Sniper’s roost and head out of town their only consolation was the Team had achieved all of its objectives but would they live to celebrate its success?

The Beacon slowly powered up – the Omega 5 citizen pacification programme had been initiated all those in Sector 4 not inside a building or wearing protective head gear would suffer at least a debilitating headache at worst an exploding brain (Mars Attack Style). Sector 4 of Midsummer had been reclaimed but at some cost.

The other 5 sectors of Midsummer are still controlled by the Mutants

 

Rules

The rules used to play this game were Bug Hunt by Ivan Sorensen (part of the Five Parsecs from Home Compendium) The game is a Solo game but it can be played cooperatively  and we were playing the campaign mode .

Postscript

Of the forces left behind the Sniper got away on foot as did the 3 members of the Militia team and 1 recon trooper. The Commissar concerned the wounded member of the militia team would slow them down and frightened he might turn mutant took the wounded militia man to one side behind some bushes – the surviving militia team members say that then they heard a scream some thrashing about and then a mutated trooper and Commissar emerged from the bushes and they had no option but to open fire. Recommendation: take a combat medic and The Padre on the next mission.

Photos are a reconstructions of actual events as remembered by the Survivors.

 

[Note: Jonathan umpired this game at Northfields Community Centre on Friday 25 April 2025 – Ed.]