Asteroid Blues

After the previous exercise was called off due to a medical emergency, Yu Jing approached the Aleph spokesman about getting a chance to redeem their last performance. The Aleph forces agreed and this time used it to train the elite operatives of the Operations SubSection. This time, they would not be capturing one another, but testing which force could adapt to a changing battlefield better.

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Notes: We didn’t play the normal mission for the Cosmika HQ. We instead played it as Countermeasures. Some models have been proxied and that is listed below.

Map: We aimed to make our map a bit narrative, so we assumed that there was a ceiling to the map, hence no tops to buildings. All fences, shipping containers, and walls were considered infinitely tall. We also used the map that both Jag kara and I played on against MrJuki to save some time and effort.

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Lists:
OSS
Profile – Name – Model
Dakini Tacbot (Sniper) – Unit-1207 – Dakini Sniper
Dakini Tacbot (HMG) – Unit-1240 – Dakini HMG
Dakini Tacbot (Combi) – Unit-1136 – Dakini Combi
Dakini Tacbot (Combi) – Unit-1137 – Dakini Combi
CSU (Rifle + Shotgun) – James Smith – Shukra Shotgun
Proxy Mk.1 Hacker – Min Lee – Asura Hacker
Proxy Mk.2 Hacker – Min Lee – Naga Combi
Proxy Mk.5 (Forward Observer) – Min Lee – Dart
Sophotect – Sophie – Sophotect
Yudbot – Unit-2222 – Yudbot
Lamedh Rebot – Unit-1262 – Sil 3 Template
Netrod – N/A – Netrod
Netrod – N/A – Netrod
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Shakti (Lieutenant) – Shakti – Naga Sniper
Yadu (HMG) – Jessie – Deva Spitfire
Yadu (Drop Bears) – Tanvi – Yadu Multi
Lamedh Rebot – Unit-1138 – Sil 3 Template
HVT – Machaon – Machaon
HVT – Thamyris – Thamyris
HVT – Lucy Stevens – Free-lance Stringer

Invincible Army
Profile – Name – Model
Daoying (Lieutenant L2) – Zhulie – Daoying Hacker
Zuyong (HMG, Automedkit) – Fa Ren – Hsien HMG
Zuyong (Missile Launcher) – Cao Yi – Zuyong Multi
Zuyong (Tinbot B Deflector L2) – Bo Chen – Xi Zhuang
Zuyong (Tinbot B Deflector L2) – Sun Zhen – Shang Ji (spitfire)
Zuyong (Combi) – Hao Shi – Sun Tze v.1
Zhencha (Forward Observer, Boarding Shotgun) – Pi Yu – Zhanshi
Zhencha (Forward Observer, Boarding Shotgun) – Ren Yao – Zhanshi
Zhanshi Yisheng (Doctor) – Xiaoyu Yuan – Zhanshi Yisheng
Zhanshi Gongcheng (Engineer) – Taizong Li – Mech-Engineer
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HVT – Wu Fan – C-3P0
HVT – Li Guaozong – Han Solo
HVT – Chengda Rui – Diala Passil

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Just as before, the Commanders and liaisons were expected to meet before the battle. Due to the previous battle’s implications, the scale of this battle was increased. On the Aleph side, Shakti, the famous Yadu sniper would command the Aleph forces, while Machaon, Thamyris and an independent reporter Lucy Stevens would be on hand representing Aleph. Across the table stood, Lieutenant Zhulie, previous Yu Jing force leader, with representatives of the State Propaganda department, Wu Fan and Li Guaozong, and lastly a servant of the Emperor, Chengda Rui.

The location would be in the lower levels of the Cosmika HQ. It may have only just came under Aleph control, but they needed to be ready on a battlefield that could see action soon. In addition, it would lack civilians who could be harmed. The mission would be to test their forces ability to change tactics on the spot, so objectives would be given after the battle started. Making the meeting more of a formality.

This time Machaon kept a close watch on that wild child Thamyris, distracting him any time he tried to approach Lieutenant Zhulie about her owing him a date after the last mission.

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Aleph brought quite the force this time. Including the Proxy bodies, the Aleph force would be fourteen individuals, with a pair of Netrods, to boost control over the teams. Luckily for Shakti, she had Sergeant Jessie accompanying her to help keep control.

They didn’t see the Yu Jing forces yet, but Shakti knew they had to be here. She fanned her forces out, keeping her team of Yadus to the left and the Dakinis near the center of the line. She deployed her Lamedh Rebot to the far right, so she could watch both sides.

A few minutes had gone by since the buzzer went off, but she still couldn’t see the Yu Jing team, there were either hiding or had camouflaged troops..

“Screw it, we push up for Chengda,” Shakti muttered under her breath, to her team. She may not see the Yu Jing force, but she knew where the referee was, and there was no way Yu Jing would leave it undefended. She added on her comms, “Min and Sophie, get your asses in that center building and secure Li.” She then activated her quantronic interface and sent Unit-1138 for the far right referee, to smoke out the Yu Jing forces.

Jessie, took point as they cleared through the offices ahead. “I see one,” Jessie said as she approached the window on the far side. “I think he spotted me.”

“Take him down,” Shakti said, covering Jessie.

Jessie sprinted to the window, and fire immediately racked the building around her, even so, she dropped the HMG she carried on the windowsill and let loose a long burst of precise fire. The smart rubber rounds, collided with the heavy gold armor. A hit was registered in the system, but it was counted as only a partial penetration. The heavily armored trooper fell down by the fake death wound systems in his armor.

A glimmer caught Tanvi’s eye from behind a shipping container to the left. “Contact,” she said calmly, as she hunkered next to the window. “Something guarding the referee.”

“Bears,” Shakti called in response.

With that said, Tanvi pulled the two drop bears she had on her bandolier and with a left handed throw, tossed them near where the glimmer was spotted.

Almost immediately they went off. The red paint from the mines coating the site of the container, and a woman, was laying on the ground pretending to be wounded. It looked like the descriptions of Zhulie, the other teams Lieutenant.

As the explosion happened, Jessie saw a medkit fly for the downed trooper across from her. A bit of cover fire hit from two members of the man’s team as he grabbed his HMG and let loose a burst of fire on Jessie, only she was ready for it. He got raked with fire again. “No penetration” popped up into her display as the fire thickened and forced her to dive for the ground. As she fell a shot clipped her shoulder, but bounced off the armor, not registering in the system.

“Get these guys off us Min!” Shakti called on the comms.

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Min Lee got the call, and her and Sophie darted for the building ahead of them. Min leaked through a window in it and ducked into cover. Almost immediately after, Sophie followed, jumping her Mother-Forge through the window with her as she skated in.

Sophie’s head up display immediately detected the presence of a target. “Lieutenant,” Sophie called over her comms. “We are to blow a server here. Request permission?” Upon receiving the affirmative, she skated through the officers and found a large box, meant to represent a crate and placed a demolition charge on it. She ducked for cover and called out a warning on her comms as it detonated, blowing out the window of the building.

While Sophie carried out her tasks, Min say Unit-1138 approach and picked up enemy signed on the other side of an atrium. There was a team there pinned by fire from Jessie. “Get these guys off us Min!” Shakti called on the comms.

“On it,” Min called on the comms. She let rip a barrage of fire from her SMG as she grabbed a grenade and chucked it through a window in the atrium. A huge electrical storm came from the blast, and suddenly the fire from the team on the other side stopped.

Realizing how exposed she was, she backed into the office again, keeping up the fire with her guns as she went.

Faster than she could react, Min spotted two shimmers in the air, one fired a blast of shotgun fire, coating Unit-1138 in paint. The second shimmer ran up to the quadrupedal bot and activated a device on it, immediately cutting it from the network and disabling it. Min spun to fire at the figure, but it had run around the corner and a blast was heard, along with Sophie’s screams.

“I’m still up, but the bastard has got me pinned.” Sophie wheezed into the comms.

As she spoke, mission objectives popped up for both Sophie and Min. Sophie was to scan the referee, Li, that was behind the man who had shot her, and Min was to capture the far referee, Wu.

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“We’re pinned here Lieutenant,” Min said over the comms.

“Push forward,” Shakti called to her team. All three vaulted out of the office window, taking cover behind the shipping containers Zhulie lay behind.

As they did so, a shimmering individual came into Jessie’s sight and she unloaded a burst into him. The shots struck true. He didn’t go down at first, but it was a long burst of fire, and eventually he fell.

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Now clear, Min rushed out of the building to flank the man who had shot Sophie and let rip a magazine of fire into his back. As she did so, Sophie provided cover fire on the team behind the Atrium. The posthuman pushed her enhanced body to its limits, running through missile fire as she lobbed grenades into the elite Zuyong troops she passed. They seemed to seize up immediately.

Crossing a large square, she came up to the referee, Wu, and held her SMGs up to him. “You’re coming with me!” She barked at him.

“Oh…” He stammered, “Of course.”

With him in tow, she moved around, to flank the team of Zuyongs she had disabled and let loose barrages of fire, but they were ready this time, and she was raked across the chest with a burst, just before the called for the end of the mission came.

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As Min made her reckless push, Shakti noticed the grenades thrown at the team that had them covered. They froze up. A mission objective popped up. “Execute Lieutenant Zhulie.” Seizing the opening left by the distraction, she rounded the shipping container. And with a trio of shots, she made sure the task was completed. One rubber bullet to the head and two to the heart.

With that, Zhulie wincing from the pain said the mission was done. The O.S.S. troops had out played them.

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While the Yu Jing force was a bit sad over their loss, Thamyris offered to take them all drinking, with permission from Machaon. They spent the night telling stories of battles from opposite sides. At least the ones they could talk about…