Asteroid Blues

“Beginning the log for action debrief AB091819 dash 2. Commander Sol, if you would please start from where you left off.”

Claudius blinks his eyes once, twice, then carefully leans back again, unaware that he had been slowly leaning ever forward during the prior report.

“Commander Sol? I know you Toth types can get… excited when the AI comes up as the topic, but O-12 is more interested in the second incident. The one regarding the mercenary organization, the Spiral Corps. Now, if you would?” He gestures with his hands again.

“Ah, the expensive report. Of course O-12 is more keen on this. The damned robots cost us only a MadTrap, a few rounds of Feuerbach ammunition, and a couple weeks in infirmary for Hernandez for bite wounds.

Where to begin? Lieutenant Owens figures the aliens heard the earlier Feuerbach rounds’ explosive ordinance and rush in to investigate. Of course they find us with our guard lowered, as Lusquinos is asking around for all the data from the engagement they had just been in. Like, seriously, no one had even moved so much as ten feet from their positions just prior.

So, Razor Bharjaan had just started back into her Patrol pattern when she spots those Artichok-“

“Sol! Please refrain from derogatory remarks in the official records.”

“Sorry, those Tohaa troops moving in a group straight for her. She’d seen them noting the locations of various support pillars within the Maze and then tagging them with some various electronics. We assume marking them for some later action. Anyways, Bharjaan radios this in and Owens decides he’s still itching for a fight and gives her the order to shoot them the next time she can line up a shot. Which she does. Only barely wounds one of the group, but it’s enough to tie them down.

Unfortunately, those sneaky sons of b-“

“Sol! Language.”

“Those snakes had an ambush of their own set up as a Clipsos comes out of nowhere and leaves Bharjaan bleeding out on some ductwork.

Our AirCon tech got merc’d by the Triad’s Drahl that was no longer pinned, but Owens managed to land a solid hit into the perp. If you ask me, I think he and Bharjaan have got a thing going on. They keep giving each other weird looks at the mess hall.

By this point, the Patrol has gotten their collective ducks in a row and Corporal Fuck-it-“

“Sir, pleas-“

“Sorry, it’s her nickname. Corporal Luckett charges her Siriusbot forward and unloads on the forward Triad. I’m not sure if Luckett and Bharjaan have something going on, but Luckett seems to have something going on with everyone in the platoon. I swear, she had absolutely no inhibi-… oh, right. Yeah yeah, quit your angry staring. I’ll get back on topic.

So, Luckett, that madlad rushes in and straight ices two whole triads, with that lead Drahl narrowly avoiding the sticky mess of both her Siriusbot’s Riotstopper and her Red Fury.

Owens then covers Luckett with more of those ringing Feuerbach rounds and nails that Drahl, a Taagma Sniper, and a Chaksa. That last one almost torched Luckett, but she’s got the luck of the Irish and dodged back right in time. You can still hear her ranting about having to grow back her eyebrows! Hahahaha!

Delta Chen’s then drops in and proceeds to fish out all the electronics the Tohaa mercs laid down and calls in Owens to clean them up. It’s a wrap at this point as everyone just sweeps the tunnels. We didn’t see any more of the Tohaa, but we can’t have gotten all of them. No idea what they were doing in the ducts or what those electronics were for.”

“Yes… on that note, High Commissioner Gordon wants to know why your team decided to demolish the electronics instead of retrieving them for study. And how Lieutenant Owens’ Gamma class armor was barely functional upon your return. Please proceed to processing room Beta7 for additional inquiries.”

“Yay… another day of meetings. Did y’all at least get in a fresh shipment of coffee? The stuff you guys had last time must’ve been sitting in that warmer for days.”