Short cleverly written crime story with a riddle. A French farmer girl asks for your help.
Important: The riddle leading to the hostage's location no longer applies correctly, you must add +1 to the result to arrive at the correct solution. This quest was written for an older Ascii Sector version, which had one less entry in its list of planets.
Author: Quaker2k9
Space combat: tough, an Orion or better should work
Character combat: oh yes, be well trained and equipped
Length: short, maybe 20 min
Prequel: none
Sequel: A Lady in Trouble - Part 2
File name: lady1.qst
Walkthrough
A bartender tells you a woman on Manurhin (Vichy System) named Sandrine Grosjean is looking for a mercenary. Meeting her in the bar there, she promises 2400 credits to kill a man, who is threatening her family.
If you actually do, she ridicules you and refuses to pay, looks like she just cheated you into doing her dirty work. Instead, you must talk to him, who turns out to be CIS agent Rick Deckard in pursuit of the simple French farmer girl Sandrine Grosjean a.k.a. devious mafia drug dealer Sandra Grinder. You agree to help set a trap for her on Pyrdion (Loye System).
Arriving there, Bianca Brunelli, a fellow CIS agent, runs up to inform you that Deckard has been abducted by Grinder's gang. For whatever reason (who knows how criminals think) they have left a mathematical riddle pointing to their location, in short: Retros transport 68 t weapons in 52 h, Kilrathi 7 t in 4⅓ h, the difference after 26 h is the entry number in the Quine. At this point you can also secure a later date with Ms. Brunelli, if you feel like it.
68t in 52h /2 = 34t in 26h; 7t in 4⅓h x6 = 42t in 26h ⇒ 42-34 = 8. As stated above, this was for an older ASCII Sector version, we need to add +1. ⇒ The 9th entry in the list of planets is BPD-89 in the Belle System.
You haste to the rescue and are attacked by two Demons and a Centurion as soon as you approach the base. They register as Pirates, which makes sense for drug dealers, and they do use missiles. You should too, you can restock on BPD-89. Take out at least one of the Demons quickly so they don't overwhelm your shields.
After you land, you're immediately rushed by five gangsters (2 knives, 2 machine pistols, 1 assault rifle). Save your game and switch to Combat Mode before leaving your ship so you get the first turn. A smoke grenade can help pick them off one by one. Watch out not to hurt innocent bystanders, one of the bad guys is also gray, but they all have "(Gangster)" added to their names.
If you survive, head to the bar to find (and talk to) Deckard. Naturally, he looks a bit ruffled but is happy to see you. Unfortunately Sandra Grinder has already taken off to Nav 1 in the same system. Restock your missiles, save, then follow her. Now you're up against three Centurions! Same as before, only tougher. Approach them slowly, if you're lucky they won't spot and attack you all at the same time. Make sure you do fly over Nav 1 eventually, or it doesn't count.
After the battle head to Chi-Chi One (Baranda System) to meet Deckard in the bar. Grinder has escaped, but at least you have disturbed her operations a bit.
If you did ask Bianca Brunelli for a date, finally head to the hotel on New Frankfurt. Talk to her several times for a happy ending, during which you receive multiple … ahem … items from her (with possibly other hotel guests watching). After that, the quest is complete. If you talk to Brunelli further, she responds with default NPC answers, which will be quite a shock, considering what you just did. Alas, love does not last.
Achievement
None.