Surha: The Expedition (Part 2)

Surha: Algol Exports Contract

Izzaldin and the crew decide to take on the job from Bahram Karebadja, of Algol Exports to rescue the company's prospectors trapped on the Harballa Massif; the giant mountain range on the planet. Algol Exports gives them the contract and Izzaldin and the agent sign off for it. The contract stipulates that the reward is null and void if the Deathwish crew fail to bring back any of the survivors from the prospecting team as they are important assets to the company; mostly for the data they've acquired from their surveys of the area. The crew decide to purchase survival gear and exosuits at the Hope's End Bar and Provisions in order to operate in the harsh cold climate of Surha. Algol Exports gives them a snow crawler and a few supplies and send them on their way to the last known coordinates of the prospecting team.

Death in the Snow

The Deathwish crew journey across the ice planet and take in the surrounding environment. As they near their coordinates, the vacuum sealed hatches of the snow crawler suddenly bursts open. Cold air from the outside environment starts flooding in, instantly freezing the insides of the crawler. Some of the members of the Deathwish crew get cold burns from not being able to engage their exosuits environmental capabilities on time. Wahil manages to jury rig hinges to the hatches using spare parts bought at Surha and manage to seal the vehicle.

After a few hours, they come across something strange in the snow. It is a pile of frozen bodies. Wahil is sent out to inspect the bodies and they realize its the missing prospector crew; all shot with vulcan carbine blasts. Upon further inspection, 7 of the 10 bodies are accounted for. Frozen footprints lead away from the bodies towards the Harballa Massif. The footprints looks like some people were running indicating that it possibly might be the missing 3 prospectors or the killers. The Deathwish crew decide to follow them in the snow crawler.

The Crystalline Cave

The crew end up at the mouth of an ice cave. They decide to go inside to see if they can find the missing crew. Hassan thinks about throwing a rock in to see if there might be a hidden trap at the entrance to the cave, but the crew tells him to think better of it instead. He puts the rock down, and the crew walks in.

The crew discovers the cave is filled with beautiful crystalline structures. It is common knowledge across the Third Horizon that the crystalline structures they're seeing are unprocessed Orichalcite Ore; used in the creation of spacecraft fuel. As they walk further into the cave, they eventually end up in a large Orichalcite filled atrium with a woman tied to a chair at the centre. Suspecting a trap, they send Wahil in to sneak towards the woman to see who she is and if there are any traps. The rest of the crew take positions in the outer perimeter of the atrium scanning the environment for hazards and taking overwatch firing positions. As Wahil nears the woman tied to a chair, he realizes that the woman is none other than Herra, the lumber prospector they briefly encountered on Kua. Gagged and tied, Herra screams and starts shaking her head as if there is a trap set before them. Wahil acknowleges this, but pays her no mind and decides to use his brute strength to carry Herra in her chair over his shoulder and sprint back towards his crew. He makes it, and the crew decides to ungag and untie Herra.

Herra is incredulous to what has happened and what the crew just risked. She tells them that what they did could have cost them their lives. The Orichalcite Ore all around them is extremely unstable, and if struck with a reasonable amount of force, it will cause a chain reaction and the whole cave could explode around them. The crew asks her what happened to her after the crew was caught and sent to Titan-161. Herra recounts of how she was found on the Deathwish ship she was taken to a facility on the Rimward Reach and was questioned by the Consortium authorities. After a few days, they found out she had nothing of value, so they decided to drop her off on the planet, Surha. With no money, and no way to get home, she decided to take on jobs at the various mining companies on the planet to try to earn her way back to Coriolis and eventually, Kua. The crew also asked her what has become of Jinna. Herra replies she does not know as everyone was seperated after the skirmish on Kua. The crew then ask what happened to the prospector crew that she was with. Herra recounts that she and her crew were ambushed by what looked like raiders out to get their supplies. Seeing that their crew had nothing of value, the raiders decided to shoot them dead. She and a few others escaped into this cave where they've been hiding out ever since. After a few days, some of the prospectors she was with turned on her since she decided that it is safer to stay here than to risk walking outside in the extreme cold. They tied her to this chair they salvaged from the snow crawler wreck and escaped without her. She says they probably died of exposure due to not having the right equipment to combat the extreme temperatures of Surha.

After Herra described her brief story of how she got to Surha, it was then time to figure out how to get out safely. The Deathwish crew, after some small hiccups in avoiding being blown to bits by the unstable Orichalcite Ore, managed to get out and get themselves into their snowcrawler.

The Beast

On their way back to Hope's End, the snow crawler's engine cuts out. Wahil is sent out to fix the problem in the engine. As Wahil is sent out to fix the engine, something in distance appears. A black shadow is slowly coming closer to the exposed Wahil. Wahil, busy working on the engine outside, doesn't notice the black figure in the distance closing in on him. Jabbar decides to walk outside the craft to see if he can help Wahil, and immediately notices the black figure to be another dreaded Darkbound that he encountered on Titan-161. Unfortunately, by moving or by talking to Wahil, it could mean the Darkbound moving very quickly towards him and probably bring him his untimely death. Jabbar risks it and calls out to Wahil to not move and have his shock stick ready. Upon telling him this, the Darkbound that was once a few metres away was now face to face with Jabbar due to its incredible speed. Jabbar decides not to move, and after some time, the figure decides to move towards Wahil. Wahil, thinking quickly decides to ready his shock stick in front of him to see if he can goad the blind Darkbound into the stick and engage it. As the Darkbound gets closer, Wahil decides to engage the shock stick as it is within inches of his face. Wahil promptly stabs the Darkbound and manages to hold on until the Darkbound sucuumbs to the electricity. Wahil sighs in relief as he looks down at the Darkbound. Looking at its charred remains, it happened to be one of the lost prospectors who ran out of the Orichalcite cave leaving Herra behind.

A Just Reward

The Deathwish crew finally reach Hope's End Bar and Provisions and finish the contract with Bahram Karebadja of Algol Exports, and gives them their reward, an ancient portal tech force field belt. Bahram thanks them for a job well done and proceeds to leave the establishment. The crew gives out a huge sigh of relief as the job could have taken a turn for the worse in many cases. The crew decides to take on the other job at the bar from Xuro Security and they ready themselves for it.