The Ace of Spades Campaign - Alien Base part 03

The RSC 8996-aug Star System
Two days after departing from Fabergé, The Ace of Spades dropped out of hyperspace at the RSC (Revised Stellar Catalogue) 8996-aug star system. The flight had passed without any problems.

The majority of the thirteen all-female crew were on the bridge. Only Judith, Kyran and Rebecca were absent. Judith was relaxing in the sick bay with her pet daggertooth cat, Fizz, as company; Kyran was working in the engine room and Rebecca was sleeping in her quarters. On the bridge, Storm Galloway was piloting the ship with Kimberley alongside her as her co-pilot. Lynda and Sharuna were monitoring the sensors, whilst Celeste and Jeanette were manning the weapons stations. Observing the goings on were Danica, Katja, Julia and Gwendoline. Arrival at any new star system was always a time of excitement and expectation.

 "Lynda, Sharuna, sensor scans, please," Kimberley requested. "Tell me what we have here."

Lynda was the first to reply. "We have an unremarkable F2 star with six planets. The outer two are Jovian worlds, quite uninhabitable. The four inner planets are more interesting. The innermost has a mean temperature of 1,200 degrees Celsius with many molten metal rivers. The next planet is also lifeless and resembles Venus in the Sol system. The third and fourth planets compose a binary and both are violently volcanic. The smaller of the two is an airless planet that resembles Sol's Mars before it was terraformed. The other planet is an entirely different kettle of fish and is most interesting."

"Lynda's right" Sharuna confirmed. "I've just pulled up its data. It is about 14,000 km in diameter and about 45,000 in circumference. Its density, and thus its gravity, is low. Density is 0.84 Earth's mass, and its gravity is 0.93. The atmosphere is mostly carbon dioxide and nitrogen, with about 2% oxygen. The atmospheric pressure is about one half normal, giving an effective oxygen concentration of less than 1%. Another 5% is composed of various oxides of nitrogen. Of course, the atmosphere is laced with silica in the form of dust. It is certainly not breathable."

"Okay, that planet looks like our best bet to investigate," Kimberley decided. "Storm, I want you to pilot The Jack of Spades on a reconnaissance mission. Take Danica, Jeanette, Judith, Lynda and Rebecca with you."
"Don't forget Smiley," Lynda reminded her captain.
"Indeed," Kimberley acknowledged with a friendly smile. "Let's not forget Smiley."
Aerial Reconnaissance
The Jack of Spades was the ship's shuttle with a crew and passenger capacity of 10 but could fit 14 at a pinch. On the bridge, Storm deftly piloted the craft planet-side into the hostile atmosphere. Over half of the planet was covered in dust seas. The dust had a density of about half that of water; the quicksand that lurked in the deepest parts of the dust (quicksea - a mixture of smooth sand particles and water) had a density of about one and a half times that of water. To travel on it or under it would require some form of aquatic vehicle, which the crew did not possess. Fortunately, they could fly over these dust seas.
The mountains of the planet were quite rugged, despite the enthusiasm of the eroding winds. This was due to the volcanic lava flows constantly rebuilding the escarpments. The rest of the planet was made up of arid plains, which could be crossed easily on foot or by ground vehicle.

Before departing, Kimberley had Lynda and Sharuna scan the planet for any possible traces of the DSX Timothy. There were no distress beacons or radio transmissions but there were four sources of radioactivity that were detected. One was located in a mountain range near the equator. The other three ran in a line running south east, about 3,000km to the west of the mountains. The northern most one of these was on a plain and the other two were in or under a dust sea. It was decided to check out the one in the mountains first.
As Storm flew the shuttle over the mountainous region, Lynda announced, "This is a bust. It's just a natural outcrop of radioactive material, mostly thorium and uranium 235/238 in a 5%-15%-28% combination, with ordinary rock making up the balance."

"Fair enough," Storm replied. "One down, three to go. Let's check out that one on the plains."
As Storm flew west towards the source of radioactivity, they noticed an unusual geographical feature - a diagonal slash near the western edge of the mountain range that ran for about 1,000km. On the west side of this fault line, the terrain was two kilometres higher than the east side, making it virtually impassable unless you had flight capability. No sooner had they flew over this fault line than a nearby volcano erupted. A vast plume of smoke engulfed the shuttle and the small craft was severely buffeted. It took all of Storm's skill as a pilot to keep the shuttle stable and on course.
"Dear God, that was too close for comfort," Storm said with relief, when they flew into clearer skies.
"I'm glad you were piloting, Storm," Jeanette, who could also pilot the ship, remarked.
"Thank you, Starfleet Academy," Storm added with a grin.

Eventually, they reached the second source of radioactivity and Lynda made a startling discovery.
"Whoa!" she said excitedly as she viewed her sensor display. "This is no natural occurrence. This is from an atomic reactor, most likely a ship's or a small settlement's."
"Could that be from the DSX Timothy?" Storm wondered.
"Unlikely," Lynda replied. "It's too small for a ship of their size. One thing is for certain, it has to be alien in origin. Nothing on this planet could have made it."

Storm opened the communications channel to the crew quarters where Judith, Rebecca and Smiley were resting.
"Strap in, ladies," she commanded. "We're going down to land. We have a possible sighting."
"Affirmative, Storm," Judith replied for both of them.

The Ace of Spades Campaign - Alien Base part 02

The Job Offer
Kimberley Wells, the charismatic red-haired captain of The Ace of Spades Class V scoutship, was on the ship's bridge when she received a radio call asking if she would be prepared to meet a captain of the Survey Scouts who had a job offer for her, if she was interested. She was, and so a place and a time were arranged. Later that day, Kimberley, accompanied by her bodyguard, Celeste the assassin android, and her best friend, Nurse Gwendoline Papillion, met up with Captain Devon Renton, a grizzled veteran in a nearby bar.

Renton was tall, aged in his fifties, and had a ruggedly handsome tanned face. He chewed on a thick cigar, which in deference to the bar's no smoking policy, was unlit. He was unarmed and he carried a data-pad in his left hand. Introductions were made and he quickly got down to business.
"The DSX Timothy, a small Survey Scouts vessel, had a flight plan that called for a wide detour to carry out some follow-up survey work while carrying passengers en route to Wilson's Planet. The Timothy has been overdue for more than eight standard days. Deep space scans from automated probes in the area have revealed nothing. The last known position of the vessel was near the F2 main sequence star RSC 8996-aug. That system is known to have six planets, one of which is classed as marginally habitable. The system is otherwise unsurveyed; what data is available is from a fly-by robo-probe two hundred years ago. There is no known phenomena that can account for the death or disappearance of the Timothy. No radiation sources, gravity point sources or other ship-killing stellar objects are nearby, and no record exists of hostile alien races in that area of space."

"I'm guessing you want us to find out what happened to your missing ship?" Kimberley correctly assumed.
"That's right," Renton confirmed. "Find out what happened to the Timothy and follow it up. A full report is needed. Should you find out that aliens are involved, we need to know about their culture, their technology, and above all, we must find their home-world. Attempt diplomacy if it seems possible, but do not endanger your ship, unless necessary to the mission. If you do not return within one month, a follow-up mission will be launched. Leave behind marker buoys if at all possible. Are you interested?"

"We'll take the job," Kimberley said without hesitation. "Do we get paid for this? At the very least I'd expect you to cover our fuel costs."
"I can certainly do that," Renton replied, "But regarding financial rewards I'm afraid not. You will, however, have the gratitude of the Survey Scouts and I'll make sure your report reaches the right people, which will surely enhance your reputation as independent explorers."
Kimberley looked at Gwendoline quizzically. Gwendoline just shrugged her shoulders and said, "It seems fair to me, Kimberley. We're not going to get a better offer here. Plus, this is what we do best."
"Okay, Captain Renton," Kimberley announced. "You've got a deal. We'll take the job."
"Great," Renton smiled warmly at her. "I wish you the best of luck."
Outward Bound
With no reason to stay on Fabergé any longer than necessary, Kimberley filed a flight plan to the RSC 8996-aug star system, which was 36 parsecs away in an adjoining star sector. Travelling at FTL:16 and with Kimberley making use of a short cut she discovered, she was able to reduce the distance to 32 parsecs. The flight time was just over two days and they were able to make it in one jump.

On the evening of the second day of their journey, the ship's young research scientist, Lynda Pelligrosso, called Kimberley and the other crew members to join her in her research laboratory. She stood in the centre of the room near her work bench. Standing just behind her were engineer Kyran Calaveri and computer hacker Sharuna Randall. All three were smiling broadly when the other crew members arrived.
"Hi, everyone," Lynda said excitedly. "I'd like you to meet our newest crew member, Smiley."
Standing in front of her was a very small robot with a bright yellow, circular body resting on three smaller circular wheels spaced equidistant around its lower body.
"Say hello, Smiley," Lynda prompted.
"Hello," Smiley said in a soft female voice. Her smiling expression did not change - it was permanently fixed in place.

"What the...?" Kimberley was temporarily at a loss for words, but she smiled back in amusement.
"Aw, she's so cute!" Gwendoline purred.
"What does she do?" Katja Sondquist, one of the ship's scouts, asked.
"I'm glad you asked, Katja," Lynda replied. "She's a reconnaissance robot. I thought she'd be useful in helping you out on scouting missions. You can send her ahead to see what's round corners or through potentially booby-trapped doorways."
"Is she sentient?" Danica, the bald-headed Venetian scout, asked.
"No, she isn't," Lynda answered. "Giving her sentience would take up far too much memory. She's more of a tool but she does understand simple instructions. She can communicate, although she only speaks Basic Anglic at the moment. She is also fitted with cameras in her eyes, so she can relay her observations back to whoever is monitoring her."

"I'm impressed," Kimberley said sincerely. "Did you design and build her yourself, Lynda?"
"I did a lot of the work on her, but it was a team effort with Kyran, Sharuna and Jeanette helping me out."
"Well your timing couldn't be better," Kimberley remarked. "We'll field test her on this upcoming mission."
"Cool!" Lynda beamed. "I hope she proves a useful asset."
Note that Smiley is a simple Servobot, with 5 HEALTH, 18 DEFENCE, a SPEED of 6 and SOAK:5.

The Ace of Spades Campaign - Alien Base part 01

Introduction
The DSX Timothy has been missing for eight days and has apparently disappeared in the neighbourhood of an F2 main sequence star. Kimberley and are her crew are hired to learn what happened to the DSX Timothy, learn the intentions of any new cultures contacted and rescue any surviving crew members or passengers from the DSX Timothy. This scenario starts on a starport on the planet Robedonostov 2a (Fabergé) in the Saga starsector, 19.2 parsecs from Caliburnus 1 (Breuse).

Fabergé 
Fabergé is an ultra high tech ocean planet noted for its physics labs, specialising in gravity and what to do about it. There is only one city on the planet, located on Easter Island, and it is 77% physics lab with the other 23% being life support, the starport, hydroponics farm, living quarters and entertainment facilities. There are few luxuries - no good hotels, no imported food or drink - but the view is magnificent. The gas giant Tsar Pyotr rises dramatically over the transparent dome on Easter Island every 9.1 hours, filling 15% of the sky. Fabergéans rarely leave their dome; the atmosphere isn't completely terraformed, and the weather is usually unbearable - freezing during the long solar eclipses, hot at any other time. Astronomers regard the air as an insufferable nuisance, reducing visibility, but it's an improvement on the nitrogen-nitride mix that existed previously (the oceans are still rich in ammonia and nitric acid).

Most of the work done on Fabergé is "basic research" - meaning that Sync Ion Grav Incorporated (SIG) is currently running at a loss. However, the lab's reputation keeps the company's shares at record prices - much to the annoyance of Tri-Tachyon and Goliath Weaponry. Fabergéan physicists are using Tsar Pyotr's gravity to test experimental contragrav units and force fields, which if successful, could lead to improved tractor and pressor beams, better sensors, faster stardrives and FTL radio, even antimatter containment.
SIG is always watchful for industrial espionage and sabotage, and everyone on Fabergé is monitored constantly by SIG's incorruptible AI, Uncle Josef. Fabergé's human police force, the Watch, consists mostly of students and technicians looking for extra money or a break in their routine. Their police training and legal enforcement powers are minimal. Prices on Fabergé are high, except for computer software, which is 10-20% cheaper than listed. Fabergé is a UFP member planet with a population of 576,000.
The Ace of Spades arrived at Fabergé simply because it was the nearest UFP planet to Breuse. They dropped off their prisoner, mercenary Captain Erik Finn, with the Interstellar Police Agency in the starport. Kimberley was undecided as to what to do next or where to go. That situation would be resolved very quickly.

The Crew of the Starship Murphy

This post is respectively dedicated to Russ Morrissey, the author of the N.E.W. rulebook. Here I present the crew of the starship Murphy in 28mm scale form. Those of you not familiar with the N.E.W. rulebook will no doubt be asking who are they and why is this post dedicated to Russ? Well, Russ created the six crew members of the Murphy and included their stats in the N.E.W. rulebook as an example of how to create starting characters or for players to use as their own player characters. They are all rank grade 5 characters ready to start their first adventure in space. This picture below shows the portraits of them that appeared in the rulebook and was a huge help to me in choosing which figures to represent them in miniature form.

And here are the figures I chose to represent them.

At the far left is Sasha Bolotnikov, a reckless human smuggler who loves playing cards. The cigar smoking Sasha is the leader of the group and captain of the Murphy, an old Seeker Class V Scout ship used as a freighter for smuggling and other missions. A Russian smuggler, she spent time in prison on Ganymede after being caught transporting illegal spices. Upon release from prison, she immediately dove right back into her former career. Cool as a cucumber, Sasha is known for her luck at cards. She is armed with a laser pistol. For her figure I used a North Star Renegade figure from their Rogue Stars range - see here - http://www.northstarfigures.com/prod.php?prod=9108 She comes with another Renegade and the set costs £6.00 for the pair. She is not converted at all. I simply painted on her eyepatch over her right eye.
Next up is Gorrat, an illiterate Ogron star marine who likes to watch sports. If Sasha is the Murphy's heart, Gorrat, the enormous Ogron marine, is its muscle. Nearly 7 feet tall, clad in heavy, somewhat battered battlesuit with exposed circuitry and jury-rigged patches, and carrying his favourite Trans Sun FC33 Antimatter Rifle, Gorrat is always spoiling for a fight. He is slow on the uptake, never learned to read, and relies on the others to do most of his thinking for him. He does, however, somehow absorb a lot of random sports trivia. Gorrat is fundamentally good-natured and has a big heart. The figure of Gorrat also came from the North Star Rogue Stars range and is the large Thug - see here - http://www.northstarfigures.com/prod.php?prod=9046 He costs £6.00. He came with a small pet which was supposed to sit on his left shoulder. I left it off. I also left off the sword that was supposed to hang on his back. I remodelled his face, added his tusks and a bandanna and I found a suitable rifle for him from my spare parts box. I stuck him on a 30mm diameter slottabase, just to give him an extra bit of height over the others, who were all glued to 25mm diameter MDF bases.
Third in line is Ashonn, a young disfigured Venetian Star Knight who believes in fairy tales. Ashonn was badly disfigured by a training accident when he was younger, which has made him hard to look upon. Ashonn is in love with Earth's culture of fairy tales, and views them as true historical stories from which he can learn. There was never any doubt as to which figure I wanted to use for Ashonn and that was the Hasslefree Miniatures of Mystic Warrior Kev from their range of sci-fi humans - see here - http://www.hfminis.co.uk/shop?product=mystic-warrior-kev~hfsf120&category=sci%252dfi-%26%0D%0Aweird-war~sci%252dfi-humans He costs £5.00. With Kev being a bald headed Star Knight, all that I had to do was extend his ears to make them pointed to convert him into a Venetian, which I did with a couple of very small blobs of Milliput. He is armed with a laser sword, which is blue, denoting his starting rank.

Moving on, next in line is Dr. TikTok, an erudite android medic who is fascinated by religion. Not much use in a fight, TikTok is the Murphy's medic and general science officer. Originally a technical on a moisture farm, he decided to pursue an academic education. He is formally educated, but has little experience outside academia. A qualified doctor, and well-educated in various technical disciplines, TikTok is competent but has a cold nature and a tendency to lecture; fortunately this is compensated by his naivete which makes him strangely likeable. TikTok is fascinated by mythology, especially religions. He was another character for whom I knew exactly which figure to use to represent him. He is based on ALF24, the Robot Assistant from Reaper's Chronoscope range - see here - http://miniature-heroes.co.uk/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=487_501&products_id=24098 He cost £5.22. I have not converted this figure at all - he was perfect as is. TikTok is armed with a phaser pistol.
Second from the right is Holmes, an alcoholic human psychic who collects insects. Holmes never wanted to be a psychic. His talent was discovered by accident when he badly injured another child with an instinctive psi-blast. Viewed as an outsider, he learned quickly to charm his way through awkward situations, and developed into an intuitive, perceptive man with a firm grasp on psychology. Eventually, after obtaining a college degree in linguistics, he gave in and answered his calling, setting up as a commercial telepath. I wish I could tell you who produced this figure but sadly, I can't. He was gifted to me by a fellow blogger, whom I'm no longer in touch with. He is a metal figure that came with an oval integral base. I cut him off that base and glued him to an MDF base instead. If anyone recognises him, please let me know. Holmes is armed with a slugger pistol and a laser knife.
The final figure of this group is Talik, an ambidextrous Felan burglar who plays classical music. When you're looking for Talik, look up. This black leather-clad Felan is at home on precarious ledges, leaping across the width of entire streets, and climbing to gain high vantage points. Talik is a burglar, adept at sneaking and picking locks, although she suffers from a very short attention span and extreme forgetfulness. Finding a good figure match for Talik was a struggle at first, until I remembered a certain figure from my Horrorclix: The Lab set. I had a swap of a Pride Warrior, a female feline fighter who, with a bit of minor conversion work, would be perfect for Talik. I cut off her "Wolverine" claws from her right hand and her katana from her left hand. I added a holster made of Milliput to her right thigh and she was good to go. A very easy conversion. She is armed with a disruptor pistol and her claws could be classed as a weapon by some. Unfortunately, this figure is long out of production.

So, how will they fit in my The Ace of Spades Campaign? They share much in common with Kimberley and co, so they could end up being friends or friendly rivals. I may use them if I have a scenario that is designed for starting characters. At some point in my campaign, Sasha and Kimberley will meet up.

The Crew of the Ace of Spades in Space Suits

Do you remember this scene from my Raid on Sterling scenario? In it, Celeste, Gwendoline and Katja are searching the Wallerian, a "ghost ship" drifting in space. Gwendoline and Katja are wearing space suits. I used these two old Grenadier 28mm figures to represent Gwendoline and Katja. I have very few figures of people in space suits and even less of females in space suits. These were the only two I had that were appropriate for my player characters and is the reason why only two humans made the journey over to the Wallerian.
This got me thinking. I really needed space suited versions for all of my crew members of The Ace of Spades, apart from Celeste, who as an android doesn't need a space suit. So began my search. These past few months I couldn't find anything remotely suitable for my needs. Crooked Dice Games seemed my best hope but their female astronaut types didn't grab me very well. As luck would have it, when I was searching for pictures of the crew members that I showed in my previous two posts, Google Images offered a picture of three 28mm scale figures of females in space suits from the Black Hat Miniatures range of Cobalt sci-fi figures. One look at them was enough for me. They were perfect! Even though there were only three different figures in this set, I knew that I could easily convert them to make all 12 characters that I needed. They are listed as COBM25 - Female Troopers in Spacesuits and they cost £6.00 for the three figures. Here's the link for them - https://www.blackhat.co.uk/product/cobm25-female-troopers-in-spacesuits/

I ordered five sets, just to give me more choice of who to choose for each character, and I'm pleased I did, as I ended up using five of the one at the right, four of the one at the left and three of the one in the middle of the photo above. Here they all are alongside their normal looking figures.

From left to right are Kimberley Wells the captain, nurse Gwendoline Papillion and engineer Kyran Calaveri. All three space-suited figures were converted. In the case of Kimberley, this was simply repositioning her arms ever so slightly, and filing the sides of her phaser pistol to make it look slimmer to better match her 12mm Slugger Pistol.

For the new figure of Gwendoline, I snipped off her pistol from her right hand and replaced it with a phaser rifle from my spare parts box. Note that I have painted the phaser rifles of both figures white so that they match the colour scheme of the phaser rifle shown in the N.E.W. rulebook.
With the new figure for Kyran, I slightly bent her left arm so that she was pointing her phaser pistol forward. I also repositioned her right arm, moving it closer into her body and I added a wrench to her right hand. Yet again, this was taken from my spare parts box.

Next up, we have from left to right, bounty hunter Julia Frostorm, pilot Storm Galloway and gunner Jeanette Grey. The space-suited version of Julia was holding a short-barrelled rifle. I filed the end of it flat and drilled a hole into it so that I could extend its barrel by inserting a piece of copper rod. Now it looks much more like Julia's sniper rifle. Whilst I was on with this conversion, I also replaced the rifle on the normal figure of Julia. Originally, she had a heavy rifle that I'd converted from her two-handed sword into a Ripper Gun ( a weapon I had designed for my GURPS Space campaign). When I began my N.E.W. campaign, I changed this to a Microwave Sniper Rifle. The rifle the figure now has is a huge sniper rifle from the Warlord Games Judge Dredd Long Arms Weapons set and is a very close match to the gun shown in the N.E.W. rulebook that she uses. Note that it is as long as she is tall! I also added a holster made out of Milliput to her right thigh.

For the space suited version of Storm, I simply bent her slightly forward at her ankles to show she is running. This was the easiest of all my conversions.
I used a similar technique used on Julia for the new figure of Jeanette, to make her rifle look longer, only this time I inserted a short length of paper clip into the rifle to extend the barrel. She uses a laser sniper rifle, which is not as long or as powerful as Julia's microwave sniper rifle. She also had a holster added to her right thigh.

Moving on, we have from left to right, Doctor Judith Kramer, research scientist Lynda Pelligrosso, Smiley the Servobot (she'll be introduced in the next scenario) and computer hacker Sharuna Randall. Judith never uses guns so I cut off her pistol from her right hand. I added a medical scanner to her right thigh, made out of Milliput.
Smiley the Servobot was made by me, out of four balls of Milliput and three short pieces of plastic rod. She is a wheeled, non-sentient robot, designed by Lynda, with a bit of help from Jeanette, Kyran and Sharuna, to aid in reconnaissance missions as an advanced scout. 

I tried to match the space suited versions of the characters as close as possible to their normal versions. So for Lynda, I removed the pistol from her right hand, and repositioned her right arm so that it is resting on her science scanner, which I made out of Milliput and added to her right thigh. I also added a holster to the left side of her belt.
Sharuna is another crew member who won't use firearms, so her her pistol had to be cut from her left hand. I made her computer deck out of mounting card and glued it in place on her right side. I repositioned her right arm so that it was holding the computer in a similar manner to her normal figure. Finally, I added the red cable from her computer to her head with a thin strip of Milliput.

The final three crew members are from left to right, Venetian scout Danica, human scout Katja Sondquist and cat burglar Rebecca Ellington. For the space suited version of Danica, I added a long sword from my spare parts box to her right hand and a holster made out of Milliput to her left thigh. The longsword is not an exact match, but it's close enough and I'm happy with it.

With Katja's disruptor rifle, it was the perfect length for the one the normal figure was carrying. All I did to it was add a power-cell clip to its underside in between her hands. I added a holster to the right side of her belt and a laser sword (unactivated, obviously) to the left side of her belt. Both were made out of Milliput.
Finally, with Rebecca, I cut her left arm at the elbow and glued it back in a new position so she was touching her helmet with her hand. I filled in the gap at her elbow with Milliput. I also bent her right arm at the elbow so she is lowering her pistol.
All of the conversions were very simple but worth the time and effort as they make the new figures much closer matches to the usual player character figures I use. You can see from the photos that many of the space suited figures are taller than their counterparts. That can't be helped and it certainly does not make me like them any less. Personally, I think they are superb figures. There is no escaping the fact that they are females in spacesuits.
One thing I haven't discussed so far is their colour schemes. To be honest, it didn't take me too long to settle on this metallic purple colour scheme. I thought it would like striking and would be so different to what you might normally expect. Also, it is a close match to Celeste's metallic purple armour and Gwendoline's body armour. Note that I have painted the initials of each character on the back of their helmets as a quick and handy aid to identify who's who.
You'll be seeing some of these new figures in action very soon, when I post my next scenario of the campaign, Alien Base. Hopefully, this will start next week as I'm all set to go.

Portraits of the Crew of The Ace of Spades 02

I continue my look at portraits of the crew of The Ace of Spades to show them in different ways to how their 28mm scale figures are presented. After all, they won't be dressed or armed as their figures are all the time. Doing these two posts allows me to show them in a variety of clothing, armour and weapon options, where appropriate. Here are the six that I didn't show last time.

Kimberley Jane Wells - Ship's Captain - Age 25
This is the portrait of Kimberley that I use as the background picture for this blog. As soon as I saw it I knew it would make a great background picture. I made a few alterations to her hair digitally, to more closely match Kimberley's hairstyle. Whilst it is a very atmospheric portrait it doesn't show Kimberley's face, which is hidden in shadows. So, obviously, I had to search for more portraits so that I could show Kimberley's face, and here they are.

Once again, fire rages all around Kimberley as she races from danger. Kimberley does not go looking for trouble but more often than not, it comes looking for her. She tries to avoid conflict wherever possible but if she has to fight, she will. And she's very good in a fight, through lots of practice. Although not as good in combat as the likes of Celeste, Julia, Danica or Katja, she is more than capable of defending herself and her friends. This is a terrific portrait of Kimberley in action, armed with a heavy slugger pistol and a laser knife. Her armoured suit looks like it could be a Vector Armour Piercing Resistant Body Armour Mk.2. This Light Armour provides SOAK:6 against all damage including Armour Piercing rounds, which usually reduce the SOAK value. This is something Kimberley would definitely wear. It might be worth purchasing a few of these for the crew!

When I saw this next picture I just went "Wow!" With her shoulder length red hair and figure hugging suit, this had to be Kimberley. Kimberley does have the kind of figure that turns heads and her red hair and confident manner means she always attracts attention. The white suit she is wearing looks like it has been sprayed on her. It is actually a Krayte Industries Armorgel Light Armour, which is made up of  hundreds of gel pads and provides SOAK:3 against most damage but SOAK:7 against Blunt damage. Kimberley is very heavily armed here, with her 12mm Slugger Pistol in a shoulder holster, a short sword slung over her back and a phaser rifle in her right hand, fitted with a scope sight. She clearly means business here. She looks very stern, doesn't she?

This next portrait shows Kimberley in a very seductive mood and I fell in love with it as soon as I saw it. In the original illustration she had very long flowing hair all the way down her back. But everything else about the portrait looked just like Kimberley. Thankfully, with the picture having a white background it was a simple matter to digitally shorten her hair to shoulder length, matching Kimberley's usual hair length and style. Once I was able to tear my eyes away from her magnificent cleavage I was entranced by the playful look on her face. It is a superb piece of artwork.

There were two things that immediately attracted me to this portrait. First up was her beautiful eyes (so big and so expressive) and second was her vivid red hair. In the original picture there was a small alien pet resting on her right shoulder, which I digitally removed. It was a distraction and it had to go. She looks wistful and stylish in this picture and very, very beautiful.

Kyran Katherine Calaveri - Engineer - Age 26
Kyran, Kimberley and Gwendoline are the three crew members who have spent the most time together and they are very close friends. Kyran is the ship's engineer and she has a passion for driving and repairing cars. When I saw this picture I knew I had found the perfect portrait of Kyran. Yes, Kyran is very busty, as this picture shows. The only alteration I made to this picture was that I removed a logo from her right breast and wrote her name, Kyran, in its place. There is so much I love about this picture. It sums up everything there is to know about Kyran - her playfulness, her sexuality, her studiousness, her love of fast cars and of course, her love of engineering. The light grey jumpsuit she is wearing in this match is very similar to the one worn by her 28mm scale miniature.

I must admit, I was in two minds about whether to include this second picture of Kyran or not. On the one hand, we have a very busty attractive female engineer repairing a robot, with her trousers covered in grease and she is wiping sweat from her brow. So far, so Kyran. On the other hand, she has purple hair! Okay, I suppose Kyran could have dyed it, but I can't imagine why she'd want to do something as drastic as that! Also, there is a slight oriental cast to her eyes. I suspect this illustration was done for a Manga comic or graphic novel. But, if we ignore those drawbacks, this could well be Kyran struggling to repair a robot. One thing that I absolutely love about this picture is the cat sprawled out on the floor, lying on its back, something you don't often see cats do.

Now this third picture shows a generic engineer, wielding a blow torch, wearing sensible work overalls with no cleavage on display and carrying a well stocked tool belt and pouch. I could definitely see Kyran dressed and equipped like this as she affects repairs on The Ace of Spades. It is not quite as good as the first picture of Kyran, but it is certainly a close second and is very befitting for Miss Calaveri.

Lynda Pelligrosso - Research Scientist - Age 26
Finding good pictures to use for Lynda proved to be a lot harder than I'd imagined it would be. Indeed, I could only find one, and it is shown below after these two photographs, of a blonde woman who most definitely bears a close resemblance to the ship's young research scientist. When I was searching through Google Images, I checked out female sci-fi costumes and discovered this and the next photo. I have no idea who she is; she's an unnamed model, but as I said, I was struck by her close resemblance to the figure I use to portray Lynda. The long blonde hair with the black roots showing is 100% Lynda. Ditto, the shapely curvaceous figure. In this costume, she looks like she has stepped straight off the set of Gerry Anderson's UFO TV series. I loved that series and I still do. If anyone brought out a set of figures from that series (especially the Moonbase women) they'd have my undying gratitude.

This is the back view of the costume shown above, worn by the same model. There were a number of photos of this model in this costume but I chose these two to best show off Lynda. The pistol she is carrying looks very dainty but appearances can be deceptive. Lynda is usually armed with a phaser pistol, the weapon of choice of most of the crew of The Ace of Spades. There is no reason why this couldn't be a variant version of the phaser pistol. I'm sure there must be numerous companies who manufacture them.

This third picture of Lynda shown here was the best portrait I could find of her. Once again, the long blonde hair, with the black roots made me immediately think of Lynda. Plus, she is more demurely dressed here than in the two photos above. In this portrait, she is wearing PI3 Arachnofibre Weave Light Armour. Harvested from the silk of Melusian Energy Spiders, this thin weave has a matt black finish which seems to suck in light from around it. It offers SOAK:2 against most attacks. Against Heat attacks it offers SOAK:6. However, it is ineffective against Blunt attacks. She appears to be armed with a dart pistol, which makes sense, as Lynda prefers to avoid combat wherever possible. This is a very beautiful portrait that captures Lynda so well.

Rebecca Faye Ellington - Burglar - Age 23
I was lucky enough to find some great pictures to use for Rebecca. Whilst I was looking at pictures of sci-fi female scouts, I came across this very cool portrait that I thought would work so well for Becky. Officially, Kimberley has Rebecca listed as a scout, but all of the crew know she is a burglar. Becky is usually armed with a knife and a phaser pistol. In this picture she has ditched her phaser pistol but still retains her knife. And what a vicious-looking knife it is. That's a proper combat knife. She is carrying two data-pads and from the concerned look on her face I'm guessing she's checking a security diagram of a building she's in, looking for a way in or a way out, depending on whether she's starting or finishing her mission. She is dressed in casual clothing, but she could be wearing a leather vest or possibly a Kevlar vest for some sort of protection. She normally wears a high quality leather jacket, which gives her SOAK:6.

I really struck lucky when I looked through pictures of sci-fi female thieves on Google Images. This second picture is just so perfect for Becky. Actually, it would work just as well if Becky was a fantasy thief. This shows Becky in the process of stealing a very rare golden mask protected by some kind of force field. Becky is a highly skilled cat burglar, so it is perfectly in keeping to see her hanging from a rope like this. Once again, she has her knife at her side, although this is a different design to the one shown in the previous picture. The ring of old-fashioned keys hanging from her belt were probably stolen from a security guard to her allow her access into this room and/or building. The black leather costume is somewhat revealing but very much in keeping with her character. I do like her filter mask and the fact that she has tied her back into a ponytail. It makes her look quite different to her normal appearance.

This next picture closely matches the previous one in terms of composition. Here, Becky is hanging from the rafters of a high-vaulted room. This time, she has strapped her knife to her back for an over the shoulder draw. The ring of keys still hang from her belt. Her armour is a GE33 Stalker Impact Suit, which is often worn by stealth special forces as it can be worn under loose clothing. It is lightweight, and flexible but hardens on impact, providing SOAK:2 against all damage except Blunt damage. Against Blunt damage it offers SOAK:5.

This fourth illustration of Becky is another one that had me debating whether to include or not. In the end I did, simply because it is such a gorgeous piece of artwork and it would have been a shame not to show it. Becky had a very troubled childhood, growing up as an orphan, running away from her foster parents and surviving on the streets as a member of a street gang. This portrait harkens back to those troubled times. It shows Becky as she is now, but the way she is dressed is that of a street ganger ready to rumble. I could totally see Becky dressing like this in order to infiltrate a street gang in order to gain some insider information. Becky knows how to take care of herself and she certainly looks like someone you wouldn't want to mess with in this illustration. She looks so cool!

Sharuna Randall - Computer Hacker - Age 21
Even before I started this project, I knew that there would be some crew members for whom it would be difficult to find good pictures of to match the look of their figures. Sharuna was one of those. However, I knew that I would be guaranteed to find one perfect portrait of her and it is this one here. You see, her figure was based upon this very same illustration found in the Shadowrun RPG rulebook. This was drawn to show a female netrunner, and the Ral Partha 28mm scale figure I have of her is almost an exact copy of it. The only difference is that on the figure, her left arm is raised. I painted my figure in a different colour scheme shown here. For example, I gave her darker skin, a different T-shirt colour and design, and a different coloured computer deck. I was pleased to add Sharuna to my new crew, because I didn't want all of them to be white females. Just as I didn't want all of the crew to be human, so I wanted a bit of ethnic diversity amongst the human members. This is how Sharuna usually dresses. Note the absence of any weapons on her. Sharuna hates guns and will not use one. She and Judith are the only two crew members who will always be unarmed. However, unlike Judith, Sharuna has learned some martial arts moves purely for her own protection.

It made sense to look for suitable pictures to use for Sharuna under the female netrunner category of Google Images. With the way she has hair shaved off at one side and her being dark-skinned, it was a struggle to find any pictures that even closely resembled her. When I saw this one I was absolutely delighted. Okay, so she has straightened out her normal curly hair, but that's okay. Everything about this portrait is pure Sharuna.  I'm not sure what the crackling energy effects around her hands are about but it does make her look cool and dangerous. She may not be highly skilled in combat, but she can still cause an opponent a lot of damage with her computer hacking skills. In the 26th century, when my campaign is set in, computer hacking is almost unheard of. With the advent of near infinite local storage, ultraquantum encryption and cyber-defence systems, and finally the almost complete decline in the need for massively networked infrastructure, remotely hacking into a system became extraordinarily difficult. But Sharuna is one of a rare breed - a highly efficient hacker.

This third picture that I found for Sharuna has two glaring faults with it but I'm including it anyway. The first problem is obvious - the character shown has cyber arms, which Sharuna most certainly does not have. The second problem is less obvious unless you are aware of Sharuna's attitude towards guns. She will not touch them. Guns scare her. So it is inconceivable that she would be seen firing a pistol. However, the rest of the picture is just perfect for her, and so I have included it.

Storm Galloway - Pilot - Age 27
Finding pictures of sci-fi female pilots was very easy but finding ones to match the looks of Storm was not so easy. I could have copped out by choosing pictures of pilots wearing helmets, but I think they are more appropriate for star-fighter pilots and not pilots of much larger spaceships like The Ace of Spades. This first portrait that I chose for Storm is a close match to her 28mm scale figure with the phaser pistol held in her right hand and the figure hugging jumpsuit. This suit shown here is better armoured than her standard synthetic weave jumpsuit. It is a Moore-Stolypin NUK 52 Nanosuit. It is versatile tactical combat armour with the ability to adapt to different conditions. Normally, the nanosuit provides SOAK:5, but if it absorbs damage from an attack, SOAK verses that damage type subsequently increases to SOAK:10 for one minute. The suit can only adapt to one damage type at a time, so if it takes damage from a different type, the weighted SOAK switches to the new damage type. Such a suit is very expensive, costing 15,000 Credits.

I have to admit that I fell in love with this second portrait of Storm as soon as I saw it. It is a stunningly beautiful piece of artwork and shows Storm with her hair loosened, which does make it unusual, as Storm generally keeps her hair tied back. The armour she is wearing in this picture is the Mk.1 version of the Vector Armour Piercing Resistant Body Armour. Kimberley was shown wearing the Mk.2 version. The Mk.1 version provides SOAK:5 against all damage, including Armour Piercing attacks, and is slightly cheaper at 700 Credits, compared to the 950 Credits for the Mk.2 version. The helmet she is carrying is not part of the suit but just a standard closed helmet, granting her +2 to SOAK, but a -2 penalty to her Defence scores due to her reduced spatial awareness when wearing it.

This third portrait that I chose to represent Storm is a beauty. The hair is longer than Storm normally has but that seemed like a minor point to me. Everything else about this picture was spot on for Storm. The armour she is wearing is Overman Rigid Metallic Clothing. While a little clumsy to wear, this clothing provides excellent protection without resorting to actually socialising in armour. Classed as Light Armour it gives SOAK:4 against all damage types. Her rifle could be one of a number of designs, an assault laser, a slugger rifle or most likely, a phaser rifle. Whatever it is, it has been fitted with a scope sight.