After a weeks delay due to illness we were able commence Grand Theft Astro!
House Solis has been secretly outfitting a Frigate on a remote asteroid mining base. A rogue intelligence agency of House Sindri, the Complicated, has discovered this and with an agent inside the House can get a team onto the base to hijack the Frigate for themselves.
They also were able to provide dossiers on the key staff of the facility.
For this one each player had control over a cut down character based around one of the Leverage style archetypes. Face, Pilot (Mira), Muscle (Helga), Spy (Toni) & SafeCracker (Robbie).
As these characters didn’t have statements their determination points could be used for Flashbacks instead. This allowed them to have a flashback scene where they were able to change one thing in the past which then reflected in the current scene.
They had a brief period setting things up beforehand which mostly built momentum, though one of the players rolled a pair of 1s while using their Find Trouble talent. After a bit of discussion we decided that the Face had been able to get cover with a less than legal Medical company and was able to replace the “supplier” to the base.
On arrival Toni got herself ingratiated with the Administrator using Passive Scrutiny combined with Putting Theory into Practice to ensure that she was his ‘type’. This gave her access to both his office and his ear.
Helga made friends with both the remaining miner and mine security. Or at least no-one wanted to be on the wrong side of the intimidating slab of muscle.
Mira became part of the team ferrying the ore to the bulk carrier. Helping relieve the stress of the Docking officer as she did so with her flirting and persuading her to relax a little.
Robbie rapidly hacked into the basic systems controlling the base, from phones to the schedules he had access.
The Face (NPC as the last player wasn’t around) stayed near the infirmary from where he was able to identify which of the House security were abusing combat stims to maintain peak performance, including their Captain.
With all the pieces in place they began slipping drugs into the House securities food to interfere with their combat stims, leading to short tempers and erratic behaviour.
Glitches and false alarms began occurring throughout the base putting everyone on edge and having the Chief Engineer questioning his reading of the systems. A trip to the infirmary allowed the Face to switch his reactor access with a fake.
Helga & Mira began stirring up the miners & pilots over the now more oppressive security.
While Toni with her new closeness to the Administrator began a whispering campaign against the Captain.
An accidental overdose of a House guard led to a psychotic episode with several dead miners and a rapid escalation of the characters timetable. This led to a full scale riot (instigated by the characters) which Toni persuaded the Administrator was due to the Captains stim addiction. An attempt by the Administrator to secure the infirmary led to a 3 way fight on the base.
In the confusion Mira led the miners to seize a passenger shuttle to escape. Doubling back ‘to ensure that everyone is off’ Mira and the Docking officer disengaged all the docking clamps and stole an ore transport and destroying the bulk carrier as they did so.
The Administrator decided to try and flee on the Frigate, unsuspectingly taking the rest of the characters with him as Toni was able to vouch that they were loyal to him…
This proved to be a rather fatal error as once they were aboard the Frigate and he had used his Command token he was unceremoniously murdered by Helga along with his secretaries.
Onboard the base the Captain ordered a full lockdown to prevent the escape of the Frigate. Cue another Flashback scene showing Robbie having rewired the system to trigger an overload of the base reactor… 
With a near clean getaway Mira docked with the Frigate bringing the Docking officer with her as they had grown close.
Helga only saw a loose end however and poor Deanna was literally stabbed in the back to the shock of Mira. 
(I believe the term used at the table was ‘Pikachu face’)
This made for an amusing diversion from the main game, with its emphasis on politicing and intrigue. The leverage style play made for a more immediate & faster paced game.
Next week we return to regularly scheduled campaign. I do recommend GMs experiment with things like this. They won’t always work, but occasionally you get a little gem. My players enjoyed the session so much that it is possible the Complicated will return, especially now that the players have a connection with their characters. (Even if Helga is a Murder Hobo)