This is the second part of the solo actual play I shared yesterday - thank you to those commentators who asked for another dose. As before, I've included the non-fiction details of how the game was played as italic text for those who enjoy that stuff. Hope you enjoy!

An explosion rips through the building and dust blows through the corridor, down from the far side of the hallway from Hal’s position. The sound of rubble falling is punctuated by the sound of a woman’s voice calling out.
“Hey, Hisham – we blew the wall from the next tenement. Here, now. Move!”
From just around the next corner, Hal can see the form of another person crouched and beckoning as the dust begins to clear.

Adding Rebels – yeah, it feels right that these are Rebel operatives – to the initiative order, rolling 2d6 = 9. There are 1d3 extra rebels in Hisham’s team = 3. Roll the last countdown die = 3, so still counting.

Hal decides he needs to get Hisham and move him to safety. He’s not entirely sure the guy isn’t dead, but he is damned well not going to leave him to the cops. Hisham is 3 metres around the bend. Hal can hear the beating of booted feet on the stairs below. Leaning out, he aims to kill the crouching cop with his autopistol and shoots. The cop decides to try and dodge the shot.

Rolls 2d6 = 7+1 (the cop’s dodge is a -1) which is a hit. The aim to kill adds +2 to damage, so rolling 2d6+2 = 13. Wow! 8 points into the cop’s body through the Mesh.

Hal’s autopistol barks as the cop lunges towards the lift to evade. The bullet rips into the man’s arm and blows through him with a spray of blood. A solid hit, Hal thinks to himself. Now all I need to do is get to Hisham before the main cop squad arrives. Dammit!
“Hisham’s down,” he yells as he ducks back to the wall.

“Feck!”
The woman hustles down the corridor to Hal’s position and crouches, bringing her rifle up to shoulder and peering at the situation. Seeing Hisham not moving she whispers, “You go get him, I’ll cover you. But hurry.”

The cop crouching moves near the lift and takes cover as he checks out his injury. He pulls out a stun grenade and aims towards the end of the corridor. His compatriot is lying on the floor groaning and pulls himself up to a sitting position next to the window, trying to raise his autorifle.

Roll Countdown = 1, still no reinforcements for the cops. Hope springs. I need a name for the female rebel and the top card suggests Marlene.

Hal springs forward, grabs Hisham and hauls him back across the floor to the corner.
Marlene aims to kill the cop crouching by the lift. Taking a careful moment, exhaling slowly, she squeezes the trigger.

The cop is crouched next to a bit of an indent in the wall where the lift door is, so we’ll let him claim -1 for cover while crouched. Marlene is skill value 1d3 = 3. Nice. She aims for an Average difficulty shot at a total of +2. Rolls 12 total, effect 4. Damage is 3d6+6 = 18. That puts 13 points through the cop’s armour and takes him to a similar shape to his compatriot. Still conscious but seriously injured.

The rifle cracks and the cop is bumped back onto his backside by the impact through his right shoulder. He grunts as Marlene smiles to herself for taking such a good shot.
The cop throws the stun grenade.

I’m going to rule that getting hit loses the cop the aimed throw. As he is seriously injured, he loses the minor action and just throws. It’s a Difficult (-2) test to put it on target at the end of the corridor. Rolls 2 (snake-eyes!) to fail very badly. The rules state a random direction 6+Effect metres. The effect was -8 so I can imagine the cop fumbling the grenade and dropping it nearby. It detonates for 3d6 stun = 10. This is an End check with -5 penalty (armour counts) or go unconscious for both cops. The thrower rolls 10-5 = 5 to fail, his pal rolls 10-5 too. Both cops are unconscious.

As the cop raises his arm the grenade slips from his grip and bounces to the floor nearby. With a flash and bang, the stun grenade detonates. Marlene and Hal duck behind the wall and are unaffected but when the flash and bang clears neither cop is moving.

Roll the Countdown die = 6. Here they come! Roll Initiative for cops on stairs = 9.

Hal picks up the limp body of Hisham and moves along the corridor about 6 metres. Marlene gets up, grabs the go-bag, and runs 12 metres to the next corner, back towards the breach. Her compatriots can be seen in the rubble watching the scene and one of them ducks back inside, presumably to make sure the exit is clear.

The cops on the stairwell reach the floor. Hearing no sound of gunfire they decide to breach the door and the lead police officer pulls the door while the second hustles into the corridor, gun up and moving as he sees the two downed cops and then turns to view the blown in door of Hal’s apartment, then the far corner of the corridor. “Clear!”

How many cops in the squad? 1d6+2 = 5. Maybe two sets of armed police and a detective.

Hal continues to carry Hisham towards the breach in the wall. He reaches it and slumps his cargo into the hole. He takes the go-bag from Marlene and nods. She crouches at the corner with the rifle up and watching carefully, aims to cover their rear. Her friend grabs up Hisham and begins carrying across the room to the apartment doorway, held open by the third operative.

The cops are moving up quick, two officers moving towards the corner past Hal’s apartment. The first cop steps into the frame of the smashed door and scans the apartment, noting no movement. The second cop moves to the corridor far corner and crouches, hearing movement ahead. Peeking out…

Testing the cop’s Recon skill here. I’ll assume he has a +1 and roll… 7 total.

Peeking out, the cop initially doesn’t notice Marlene’s rifle at the corner. Meanwhile, the next two cops stop to assist the two injured officers. At length, the detective enters the corridor with pistol in hand and cranes their neck to take in the scene.

I feel we might have the entrance of a possibly cool NPC here. Male or female? Odd/even, rolls… 4 = female. I need a name. Three names on the next card, rolls 1d3… Auspicar. Nice.

Detective Auspicar grimly notes the two bleeding officers on the ground among the shards of the window. The dust and debris from an explosion on Hal Brex’s apartment door. The casings on the floor along the corridor. The blood staining the carpet about 1.5 metres from Brex’s shattered doorway. She exhales slowly and moves towards the other officers leading the way.
“Steady,” she says calmly.

Hal ducks into the hole on the wall and moves through the apartment to the far side. Marlene, seeing the cops are close, backs up and slips inside the hole too. She is about 6 metres behind Hal. The other operatives are carrying Hisham towards the lift and stairs with deliberation.

Are there other police in this tenement? Seems unlikely, roll = No.

The rebel operatives lead Hal to the lift and together they head down to the basement. A ground access hatch is open and together they exit the building to the sewers below. Up above, Detective Auspicar arrives at the breached apartment wall and radios in: “Fugitive is in the wind, repeat Brex is in the wind. All units to converge on Tenement D, tenement delta. Suspect is armed and has support. Caution advised.”

Hope you are enjoying the emerging story as much as I am. There is more already and I aim to share the next scene sometime soon. But for now... game on!