Thursday Actual Play - Planetoids & Space Cowboys

The party was split again. The astronaut & his betrothed were in one ship & going about the business of examining the head which they had found last adventure. The thing was the heart & soul of a small scout saucer sent by the Derro to investigate what was happening in the system. It pretty much knew nothing but provided at least 15 minutes of role playing as the group asked it questions & it blinked yes twice or once no. It seriously creeped out 2 of the players . The thing was attached to the inside of a box by guide wires & a pulley system. It was merely sent on a mission & that's all it knew accept to beam back data to a system 4 light years away.

The saucer wreckage was crumbling under the assault by gamma radiation & it was in bad shape. There was hardly anything left & they searched about even as the craft melted right before their eyes!

They decided to leave & have the asteroid ship pick them up & after their other astronaut made his piloting roll he began to encounter a herd of 200 head of  Space Cattle  headed for the planetoid!

 The other party members decided it was time to leave. Another piloting roll was made & the ship won't start! Several more & a one was rolled! The engines were baked! Which is when the "meteors" were falling !

These weren't meteors but space cows descending into the atmosphere to feed & mine the planet which is when they got the call from the "Bossman" of the space cowboys! Seems they were laying to claim to the planetoid the pcs were on & laying down a damping field. 

No wonder the engines wouldn't start. The cowboys were herding the cows in quick fighters armed with heavy duty industrial grade stunners. The base was on the day side of the planetoid & was drawing power from solar.

Old USAF fighter left over from after the atomic horrors of Old Earth  converted for  space cow herding

The party got relatively friendly with the space cowboys but began to deduce something was fishy. The  cowboys were in an awful hurry to get the operation done & over with. Then one of players called out are the cows branded? Roll it !
They were branded! It belonged to a minor mining guild the players had dealt with a few games ago.
They made a call to the guild & a set up was made as the "cowboys" were brought aboard their asteroid ship!
 This is when the party learn some very important truths about things: 

1. They're actions a couple of games ago had wrecked the local economy  & the only work was for the house of Nordstrom which was using scrap & ore to build a space fleet. 
2. The space cowboys were suffering from radiation burns & skin cancers. They had been working 7 shifts out & not getting their meds to take care of things. The "bossman"  had them under contract & was holding it over their heads. After this job they'd be looking for work again. 
3. The minor guild was also hiring & might need an outfit like the party 
4. The party had a reputation as brutal space pirates, feared space pirates at that. They caused all kinds of harm to the system & it was the little guy who was suffering the most.
   

Within 72 hours the planetoid was mined & began to grow destabilized as the damping field was released. The space cows left & the ore was bled off .

A space craft picked up the ore load & carried it way. The party has much to consider now!