Asteroid Blues

Although not mentioned anywhere in the narrative, there were smoke EVERYWHERE during the game. So I picked this BGM.

Also appropriate for the bullet dodging in the Armory.

Initiative: QK won the initiative roll and decided to keep the initiative. Caledonian chose the deployment zone and had QK to deploy first.

---

“You know, this was supposed to be a low-profile mission,” by the time Arsalan reloaded his ninth rocket and aimed at the tenacious Highlander Grey, Haura the Odalisque could do nothing but sighed.

Due to the recent events between Haqqislam and Ariadna on Novvy Bangkok, the diplomatic dissonance soon escalated to military conflicts. The Qapu Khalqi platoon that Haura belongs to were ordered to infiltrate the Ammo Module in Ariadna’s territory, raid the Armory and rejoin the main company on the Battery Field.

Infiltration, by definition, was NOT to be detected by the defense units.

But with Arsalan’s stubbornness and his now eleventh rocket shot, by now the entire compound should already found out what they were up to.

“Well, you can’t blame me for that. That Highlander Grey just wouldn’t die!” Arsalan the Hafza armed with heavy rocket launcher replied with annoyance, “Plus, it was the Yuan Yuans that triggered the alarm!”

That, he was right.

Right before the Djanbazan fireteam led by the heavy machine gun specialist Waqas advanced from the right flank, three Yuan Yuans dropped from the night sky. Haura was actually surprised to see them landed without a scratch, especially with the hacking interference from the Caledonian defense group. Well, two landed safely, and one landed pretty much right next to a fireteam of Volunteers.

With Waqas’s covering fire and his own chain rifle, that Yuan Yuan did manage to live. Moreover, they took down the entire fireteam before the Yuan Yuan finally hit the ground. This was what surprised Haura. She did not expect the pirate to make it this long.

However, because of the carelessness of the bullet rain, alarming siren now replaced the silence of the Armory compound. And they could see wave after wave of Volunteers and Highlanders rushing their way.

“Hey Arsalan, time to move out!” Farah, the Gulam doctor, called out to the rest of the group after Arsalan confirmed the Highlander Grey with armor-piercing HMG finally burnt to ashes. “Ehwaz and Daggaz are still alive inside the Armor, they need help!”

“That’s…… surprising.” Arsalan frowned, apparently not trusting the survivability of Al Hawwa’ at all.

Upon the Yuan Yuan triggering the alarm, Ehwaz the Al Hawwa’ specialist rushed to the Armory and unlock the heavily-secured entrance. Daggaz the Al Hawwa’ minelayer followed her lover soon after. The fat Yuan Yuan wanted to join them to raid the place, but he was shot down by a spray of bullets from the Armory before he reached the door.

They could only hear gunshot fired and antipersonal mine exploded. Their sights were obscured by the heavy curtain so there could be an ambush inside the Armory, they wouldn’t know.

“Patch that pirate up and send him in.” Ordered Arsalan. Farah frowned when she heard the command that was directly against her ethics. Even though he's a pirate, the worst of the worst in Human Sphere, a life was still a life. And he didn’t even have a Cube!

“What? He’s just a Yuan Yuan.” Arsalan loaded another rocket shot and guarded the left flank of the Armory. He was sure that the Djanbazan fireteam would make sure their right flank stayed secured, so he only needed to make sure no one came from the left.

“I understand your feelings, but we need to head to the Battery Field ASAP, too.” Haura patted on Fara’s back.

“Order received.” Farah bit her lips. She didn’t need to like what she had to do. This was war after all.

With her skill, the fat space pirate was brought back to consciousness. He cursed the Hafza fireteam leader as soon as he heard about his plan, but with no other options, he charged inside the Armory with chain rifle blazing.

And then, he ran out.

“Holy motherfucking shit!” The pirate yelled at the Hafza, “Never tell me to do that shit again!”

“Room clear?” Arsalan asked without emotion.

“As clear as it can be, motherfucker.” The Yuan Yuan spat on the floor, “Just check it yourself, asshole.”

Haura sighed, and took the lead by charging into the Armory. What she witnessed made her hesitated before calling Farah for some assistance.

It was a total mess inside the Armory. Probably because of the firefight happened not long ago. She could still see the vestige of the explosion of the antipersonal mine on the entrance in front of her with a corpse of a Volunteer lying on the ground.

Next to him was Uxia McNeill, lying on the floor with her beloved shotgun. She was unconscious, too. And judging by the wound, she was taken down by the fat Yuan Yuan’s chain rifle.

“Farah, it’s safe. Please help get Daggaz and Ehwaz up.” Haura took a position and guarded all four entrances. With 360-degree visor, there would be no blind spot for her.

When Farah entered the Armory with Leila Shariff, she gasped and quickly patched Daggaz and Ehwaz up. With her superior treatment, both of them were pulled back from Hades.

“Ok, please, love, next time, dodge.” Ehwaz coughed out some blood and slowly stood up. He reloaded the heavy machine gun he took earlier from the panoply in the Armory. “Your life matter more than that volunteer.”

“Hey, at least that mine took him out.” Daggaz pant and staggered towards the panoply, trying to get something…… anything at all. Perhaps due to the dizziness from blood loss, she failed a couple times to retrieve anything. Finally she gave up and set an antipersonal mine down in the middle of the room and walked to guard the west entrance.

“Enough chit chat, we got company.” Arsalan yelled from outside of the Armory. Everyone inside took a defense stance as they heard the sound of footsteps louder and louder.

They all held their breath. By the sound of it, it must be at least a fireteam of Caledonians.

“FOR FREEDOM!!!!” Suddenly, a Caleonian yelled and charged right into the Armor with his chain rifle blazing.

It was a mess.

A much bigger mess than the street fight in Harry’s Bar. The one she was put down by a robot geisha.

That was a nightmare.

And this? This was hell.

All of her companions were shot to death by the first Highlander. Although Ehwaz with his heavy machine gun together with the antipersonal mine Daggaz set took down the Highlander, there were more swarming the Armory. A lot more. And angrier than the last one.

Haura had no back up. She knew Arsalan would not risk coming into the Armory to fight a head-on gunfight against the Highlanders. She knew the Yuan Yuan would not come in to assist her. She knew the Djanbazan fireteam was too far away to help.

She was all alone.

But she would not go down like this.

She needed to go to the Battery Field.

She needed to defend this Armory. For her platoon. For her sectorial.

For her country.

She grinded her teeth, withstood every single bullet from the thunderstorm of the Caledonian, and kept firing her boarding shotgun.

She held her ground. No matter how torn her clothes was. No matter how her broken body became. She held her ground. Until there were no more Highlander charging in.

---

“Holy shit, don’t shoot!” The voice of the fat Yuan Yuan broke her trance. Haura realized she was aiming at the fat pirate without thinking, finger almost pulled the trigger. “Damn you’re a beast!”

She looked around, for the first time the aftermath of the carnage registered into her mind.

The Armory was flooded with blood. Both Caledonians’ and Haqqislamics’.

She could barely make out the bodies as most of them were shot repeatedly by chain rifles or boarding shotgun. It would be hard for the technicians to extract the Cube from them, Haura thought.

“Here, take this.” The pirate took a auto-medic kit and threw it to Haura, “You might want to patch yourself.”

Haura looked down. She looked horrifying. LIke some monsters from B-rated horror movie from the early 21th century.

Suddenly, she felt exhausted. Her legs gave out, and she could not help but fell down to the ground with her back against the wall.

“Holy…… don’t you die on me like this now.” The Yuan Yuan almost rushed towards the Odalisque, but stopped short when the three Djanbazans entered the Armory from the east side.

“Back off, Yuan Yuan scum.” Waqas waved the pirate away with his heavy machine gun, “Don’t you dare touching her.”

“He was just trying to help. I am fine.” Haura smiled. Seeing the reliable Djanbazans did give her a sense of security.

“Good. Now let’s pack up and go. This area is secure, I’ll call in backups to help…… cleaning this up.” Waqas frowned as he scanned the Armory with his multi-spectral visor, “I’m glad we got William Wallace just right outside.”

“He was here?!” The Yuan Yuan gasped.

“Right there, if you want to meet what’s remaining of him, just get out and you’ll see.” The Djanbazan hacker spoke without looking up. He was too focused on making an inventory list.

“Let’s just…… leave. I’ll need a drink.” Haura chuckled. She never got to hear what the others replied as she fell into a peaceful slumber.

---

It was an very intense game.

Uxia put down both Al Hawwa and claimed the Armory for Round 1. I was able to retake the Armory in QK Round 2. The Odalisque made almost all of her ARM saves (failed once, into NWI) and took out all of the Highlanders.

I still felt it was a very intense and close game. The outcome would turn against me if my Odalisque did not survive the wave of Highlanders. If she fell and William entered the Armory, I don't think I'll be able to get it back in Round 3.

It was a great game.

(Also, dropping mines in the armory and taking the advantage of the curtain rule is nasty. Now we only need some spec fire into the Armory to be nastier......)