The First Galactic Empire, thought to be the creation of Terra, collapsed 6,000 years ago.  The Second Galactic Empire, started with the establishment of the Star Empire of Yorkin, formed some 2,000 years after the fall of the first.  But civil war and unrest caused first damage and then the destruction of the Second Empire almost 500 years ago.  Now The Company controlled all interstellar trade, ship drives, and fuel.  “The glue that binds the far flung outposts of humanity together,” The Company, so huge that its name had been lost and forgotten, now controls humanity in the galaxy.

Dacks McCool was mission leader of an inexperienced E Team in Fiscal Year 1390.  The “E” used to describe the Exploration Teams that The Company sent out to explore worlds heretofore only checked by deep space probe was also used for the other term for the teams: Expendables.  These small teams of specialists were dropped off at planets that had been deemed suitable for colonization by probes.  They stayed on the planet for 90 days, cataloging it and making sure it was suitable for a full colony.  Many of the teams didn’t survive, hence their nickname.

Gyr Tam was the mission’s security specialist.  Gaston Cayce was the group’s pilot.  Denn Pax was the medic.  This is the story of their exploration of one such far-flung planet.  No one knew exactly who assigned planetary code names except that whoever did didn’t admit it for personal safety reasons.  In this case, they had just cause.  The planet had been code-named “Kukamunga.”

On March 22, 2010, I ran a game of Expendables with Steve, Ken, and Erik as a one-shot to test out the game for a review in Knights of the Dinner Table Magazine. As there weren’t enough players, I ran the medic as an npc.

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