Big Wreck Session 6 - Ahngrim

The players arrived at the snowball planet of Ahngrim, a cargo hold full of high tech weapons destined for a low tech world. But paid for in advance - they were simply the couriers. Landing at the port they are met by both the port warden and Lady Gis Abella, the Imperial representative of this client-state of the Imperium. The class D port does not have a suplus of ammenities. Before they can unload, they are asked to keep the cargo on-board the ship, as the sole warehouse lacks both a front door and locks. Agreeing to do this in exchange for fuel, they talk to the warden and find that the old port, about 10K away, probably has some derelict drop tanks that they may be able to use. The big Wreck is 4 parsecs away, and Jarred does not want to live his life out on an odd starship out in the middle of nowhere.
Getting Eustace and the snow bear, Fluffles, to pull the port's single grav sled, they first go shoppping to get some stylish bear fur clothing to brave the cold. The city is dug into the chasm behind the port, a literal steam punk decor of huge brass pipes all over using the natural venting geothermal vent the city is built around.
Their trek across to the old port is relatively uneventful - while they do see a small pod of the 8 legged snow bears, those bears simply gaze at the Travellers as they cross the natural rock bridge across the Chasm. While minor steam clouds came from the depths, there was not enough to obscure the somewhat dangerous trek over the deep fissure. At the old port, they were met by Cletus, the old warden from the old port. Looking back into the small warehouse, they do indeed find a collapsible drop tank, and with some block and tackle and successful rolls, they get the things loaded and secured to Fluffle's grav sled.
The return trek was a bit more eventful - 3 bears decided to charge the group as most were walking this time around, the sled loaded with the tanks. Kelya takes a single shot with a laser rifle and makes a clean kill at almost 100 meters off. Santiago, tease that he is, waited for the two remaining bears to get a bit closer, and with a shot from his gauss rifle, kills the second bear with a clean shot. The remaining bear takes the better part of valor and turns tail. They load the bears into the sled and complete the journey.
Back at the port, a confrontation takes place with the port warden, the Lady Gis, and a group of yo9ung people ready to get their rifles. The Knightess Gis asks the players, as a personal favor, if they could retain the rifles: there is violence brewing and she does not think a well armed society will  be, in fact, a polite society. Santiago makes a compelling and somewhat terrifying speech to the crowd, and they disperse agreeing to not take the guns, while the Lady Gis pays them the credits they spent on the weapons. Those weapons will be stored at the port until another trader comes by and she can sell them then to recoup her expenditures.
Getting the tank attached to the now refueled Freekin Awesome, the group lifts off to the Vanguad class fuel station to get the tank filled and ready to go. They are warned by the port warden of an incoming ship, and the group stays up in the cafeteria when Zandra and a henchman with an S lightly etched his forehead show up. Loud arguing with the station crew ensues, and the group decides to try & help things along by talking with the SolSec agent. Her pleas to return the device and not go to the Big Wreck, as they will be destroyed, go unheeded and the group, pretending to have no idea what she is talking about, prepare for the jump to the Big Wreck.

Now, I feel I hurried a bin in this part of the adventure: I think we could have spent another session there had I built out Ahngrim a bit more. The brass fittings were a spur of the moment decision when describing the city, and that spoke to me of some more of a steam-punk vibe, although this is even earlier tech at TL 2. Steampunk may be more TL 3 or 4, but I'd have to look up the tech levels.
We were also down to half the group, two out due to a cold or other medical situation. Which also brings up a point about our gaming group: we do seem to have dwindling numbers. While most of the group, including me now, have others they game with, we need to figure out how to bring in new members. But that is a topic for a different post.
The final session is coming up. I've got parts of a couple of games I plan on bringing for that last session. Got a pretty good idea of what I want to do, and while it may end up being a TPK, we shall see.
A few loose threads from the current adventure: no one has managed to get a vacc suit. I'm going to go with the ship's locker has a couple of suits, but will have the normal or even worse DM to dexterity, which will affect shooting and general moving about. May make the characters thinking about getting better space suits!