Asteroid Blues

I won the Lt. Roll, and I chose Deployment, giving me the better defensive position for my beacon. As it was endgame scoring, Sven thought it would be a good idea to take the second turn. I would disagree, but it was his decision.

My YuanYuan walks in from the Hangar opening and smoked the gap the Zhuyong was guarding. This opened the way for the Al’Hawwa, who sneakily grabbed the beacon and was on his way back. Reaching the middle line, the Ninja decloaked and tried to shoot the Infiltrator. After three consecutive shots, the Al’Hawwa lay there unconscious. But he had managed to open the Hangar door, which enabled the TR Drone to lock down the area, with the Ninja in plain sight.

Sven did not like the Yuan Yuan so close to his deployment zone. So he decided to use his Zhuyong against her. However, three Orders and two smoke grenades later the Yuan Yuan was still standing, and neither of them had LoF anymore. Running out of orders, Sven decided it was the time of his Ninja to Dodge away from the TR Drones Firing Arc. This unfortunately failed, and got his Ninja killed. With the last orders and the Lt. the Hsien moved in and shot through the smoke at the YuanYuan. That finally got her, but she had been way worth her points.

Alright here I was, the Beacon right at my doorstep. Still going strong with six orders. I wanted to roadblock Sven a little bit. Hence I moved in my Fireteam, while staying out of 8 inches to the Hsien. The tough guy received some shots of ADHL in the back and was promptly immobilised. It was at that moment I realised, I had shot that Hsien in the back and taken him out EVERY SINGLE GAME…

Well it could not be helped. I repositioned the Fireteam and took a long range shot at the Zhuyong again with the ADHL. AND THAT THING HIT HOME AGAIN! So both of Sven’s HI was now glued to the spot… I would have understood his hate for me at that moment. Last order was giving the TR Bot Marksmanship and then shifting over to:

Sven thought a bit about where to put his Tiger Soldier on the board. I had limited his options to engage me in my Deployment Zone. So he decided to try and shut down the door again, in order to gain more flexibility in his movement. Unfortunately he missed the Combat Jump, but at least he found his way into a corridor, which would open up another attack route for him. A few orders later and two shots at my Ghulam Lt. (she tried to dodge, but…) and he had killed her. But that was already the end of his turn. Tiger Soldiers with 4-2 movement just take their toll.

Alright, I now had to achieve some objectives even though I was in LoL. I spent all of my 4 Command Tokens to get some regular orders. My Kaplan Fireteam ran through the Hangar towards the beacon. The Spitfire took out the Tiger Soldier and the Doctor picked up the beacon. With his own irregular Order, the doctor ran further up the DZ and dropped behind a crate. Beacon secured!

With the Tiger Soldier out of commission, and the TR Drone still in place, Sven decided to look for some action with his remaining four orders and his Zhanshis. Getting close to the ship in the Hangar he only had one order left to shoot at the Kaplan, and both critted…..

Well and that is the story of how I won that game 7-0. I am not proud of it, as my dice really loved me, while Sven was a bit out of luck. Some heavy weapons might have helped, so maybe we can improve on that sector.

Sorry Sven, better luck next time.

While her body rested, Halifa’s mind was racing. The Shasvastii were after the specific cargo they were sent to exfiltrate from Novyy Bangkok. The supplies they already had had in the hold were the few items they located before their intel about the Mag-Lev Train (see: https://asteroidblues.warconsole.com/battles/durian-khaar-vs-8bit-1569851829). But after they had hit the security team of that station, only limited surveillance was on the Train. What if the Shasvastii raided the Train while still at Liberty Cargo... At least they knew that their contractor had been no Alien, otherwise the Shasvastii would not have needed to raid the cargo hold (see: https://asteroidblues.warconsole.com/battles/durian-khaar-vs-matthias-1569970565). It had been three days since their encounter. Finally Halifa was abled to walk again without feeling the immense pain of the Nanobots trying to reconstruct her belly. The flesh, though a little lighter in tone, did show almost no traces of her severe wounds.Her Ghost reminded her of her meeting with the major. ‘Well’, she thought for herself, ‘it was about time. Hopefully he’ll not cut my head off for not getting our crap together sooner.’

Halifa opened the old wooden door in front of her and found herself in a tidy cabin of an old Galley. The air smelled of salt water and it was scented with all kinds of spices from the different branded canvas bags in the corner of the room. Near a Diwan stood a man in a modern green uniform, brandished with the red insignia of Qapu Khalki. His long hair was tied up to a knot and he was facing the window, where the harbour of a long lost city could be seen.
“Are you feeling better?” The man asked with an accent that made his words sound harder, than he actually meant to say them.
Halifa took a seat on one of the cushions around a tea table: “Doc did a great job, it was painful, but I can work again.”
– “Good to hear,” the Major replied, “we need to be faster than those Aliens, if possible. I want you to infiltrate Liberty Cargo.”
Halifa’s eyes widened: “But Sir, that is Hexahedron territory. They’ll hunt you, the fleet will...”-
The Major interrupted her: “Which is why the fleet will not be part of this. This is a job for the Corsairs.” Halifa was not amused: “Sir, we are way to strained to attack a Hexahedron facility, we don’t have the men, and assets. I do not even think you have them, and I won’t have my men thrown into the Lions jaws.” –
The Major turned around and his face showed Annoyance: “First of all, I do not waste my assets even less so the soldiers under my command. Additionally: I said infiltrate, not blow up the damn building. You’ll have a Kaplan Team, and a local Network specialist. You won’t go even near their security perimeter. Instead you will only place a Signal Beacon, replacing their broken Transmitter. I know that a slight Landing Mishap has damaged one of those shortly. Your team is small and it will not raise suspicion, nevertheless if something goes wrong get out quickly but with minimal damage to their property or personal.”
Halifa rested her Head on her Hand and completed the Majors thought: “Once we are back at base, the Transmitter will activate the Mag-Lev and bring it right to the Transport Hub, am I right, Sir?” – “That is the plan.” the Major nodded in Acknowledgement, “there’s a reason you are my captain after all.” He added a smile.

The room suddenly went dark and Halifa was back at her Command Center. She had already packed all the necessary Items, but she was missing one more thing. Her trusty Heavy Machine Gun. It could not harm to be on the safe side...

“Oh no it is those guys again.” Halifa massaged her nose bridge, “We are not even inside Yu Jing territory, what the hell are they doing here?” – Fasid, the Kaplan Doctor commented: “To be honest, we are not in Haqqislam territory either. But it is odd.” Sanchez their Network Expert added: “I think our transport was spotted and someone called them as a control squad. No PanO Units, no Hexa ties.” Halifa had to admit, that made sense. “The Plan remains unchanged, swap the Beacon and let us get out of here. India, since you are enjoying your new Lhost, make your way through the Hangar.” The Claxon of the atmospheric seal was Halifas confirmation. “Someone called for some smoke?” the YuanYuan jokingly remarked, as she made her way down the landing strip.

It was now Naair’s turn. With a silent go, she sent the Al’Hawwa to his work. Halifa felt a sting in her chest as the cloaked operative neared the enemy line. L1ZT did not return, they did not find her cube nor her body. A dear friend marked KIA, another Name to pay respect to before the scales of judgement. Naair’s success message waved away the dark thoughts clouding Halifa’s mind.
“Alright now get back to us, immediately” she said more to herself than to the Al’Hawwa. Naair was already on his way back, he was wary of the heavily armored Hsien Warrior just around the corner and the cursing Zuyong he heard through the smoke. Suddenly a flash right in front of his eyes. Instinctively he jumped to the side as the steel arrowhead hit the side of the Shuttle right next to him. A glimmer of black on the pristine surface of the hangar wall made him duck again. He blindly fired his shotgun in the general direction of the arrows. As the bullets slid through the Thermo-Optical Camouflage he could make out the figure of a woman sending more arrows his way. He had reached the closed hangar door and activated the control panel, when he felt a sharp pain in his hand. Sparks flew from the panel while his hand had been punctured and bolted to the controls. As his blood connected with the energy stream a violent shock smashed him to the ground, ripping off the arrow. But the door slowly opened.

“NAAIR!” Halifa shouted, “Wasi-079, OPEN FIRE” The Shibab Remote spun up its HMG, sending round after round precisely past the unconcious Al’Hawwa. The shifiting visual of a woman danced through the hail of bullets. Her elegant side steps and jumps made her look like a acrobat or dancer. Then suddenly blood sprayed the white side of the hangar and the black figure of the enemy Infiltrator slumped to the ground. Halifa spat out: “You won’t get him, dirty Ronin! Good job Wasi-079”

The Zuyong had enough of it. Those pesky insects of pirates. He was the State Empire’s fist, the guardian of the unheard masses. He had to protect them from greed, that of the enemy and of their own. And the YuanYuan would be the first to feel his wrath today. He stepped out of cover and raised his Combi Rifle. India however had other plans and promptly chugged a smoke grenade right at his feet. The Terracotta Soldier stumbled forward but just as he exited the smoke cloud, India shouted again: “Hey Orange boy, think fast!” The Zuyong catched the cylinder and another cloud of smoke engulfed him. “Stop this insolence, you shall pay” the soldier shouted through the dense cloud, trying to hit anything with the back of his gun.

Suddenly he heard heavy gunfire and instinctively ducked down. Just in front of him he heard something fall down like a wet sack of rice. His com opened with the face of his superior Hsien officer “Sergeant, this is not the correct mindset for such an operation. If you had properly reported this threat, we could have solved this problem without all the hassle.”“Understood Lieutenant, what would you have me do?” The Hsien seemed to start a sentence, but then his face turned red, “What is this, why can’t I move?” he shouted. The Zuyong looked towards the access corridor, and saw the Hsien Warrior engulfed in a white substance that seemed to get hard very quickly. Right behind the mighty figure he spotted two black and white soldiers. Instinctively he fired a shot in their direction, but instead of getting a hit notification, another blop of this white syrup hit his armor. Within seconds he was completely unable to move. “I believe they used some kind of adhesive, Sir.” He reported to the Hsien, “What are your instructions?” – The Hsien answered with a deeply frustrated subtone: “thank you for the assessment, now we wait for the Engineers”

The Kaplans moved swiftly. As soon as the Hsien had engaged India, they had taken position around the corner. A swift blast from the ADHL and the mighty Chinese Warrior was only a disfigured statue. That nosy Zuyong was evenly surprised by Rafid’s sticky gun. Doc Fasid checked the vitals on India: “She’s out, no way I get her recovered before we end this engagement. She’s not dead, but close.” The team repositioned: “Captain, what are your orders?”

Halifa was about to address the Kaplans, when they heard the sound of a jetpack, followed by the screaching of metal on metal. It came from a Corridor to Halifas left. “By the prophet’s beard,” she said, deactivating the noise canceller in her ears. “Team, stay alert, I believe we have a...” She did not finish the sentence, as bullets were flying in her direction. The first volley hit her cover, sending sparks flying. The Tiger soldier was too close, she could not get her Machine Gun bearing right. So she tried to get distance between her and the Assailant. Behind a Support beam, she found full cover and sat down. There she realised, she had let go of her Machine Gun. ‘Oh no,’ she thought, ‘I really liked that one.’ It was only after that she realised that her left arm was completely red from blood. “Secure the perimeter and get that beacon sending,” she ordered, then darkness engulfed her.

She woke up again, as Fasid, the Kaplan Doctor was administering her arm. “Ah welcome back Captain,” he remarked and kept focussing on the bullet wounds in her shoulder. “How long was I...?” – “Just a few seconds, Captain. We took out that persistent Tiger Soldier. Those Zhanshis on the other side thought they could impress us, but a short Spitfire burst made them think otherwise.” – “The beacon?” Doc Fasid pointed at his backpack out of which a long metal rod was sticking out. “Survivors?” – “Pretty much everybody, we are picking up the others in a minute. You might want to talk to that Hsien BEFORE we drip the dissolver on the Adhesive.” Halifa stood up, supported by Fasid. Wasi-079 was being secured by their Network specialist. The other Kaplans guarded the Access Hatch and the wounded soldiers. Limping Halifa made her way across the Hangar. Only now she realized how big and at the same time crowded this place was. Finally she stood in front of the massive warrior in orange and blue. Before he could throw a insult to her face Halifa started: “I believe we started this relationship on a bad foot.” she groaned a bit feeling the pain of her wounds under the anaesthetics. “We have no quarrel with you, we want our cargo, we want to make sure no Shasvastii or other Aliens get to it and that is it! We have no interest in the State Empires dealings. If you have any job in this facility, please proceed. But do not try to pursue us.” Halifa looked straight into the mans visor. In broken english he replied, gnashing his teeth: “We will not stop you, Corsair. Neither will we pursue you today. But be aware, the state empire does not forget.” Halifa shrugged, which immediately caused a sharp pain in her shoulder: “Ah, I could not have expected more.” Turning to her team she added: “Alright, gather up the others and be quick, we have a train to catch!”

As you can guess, the story does not end here. Alas I won't be abled to get another game and finish the storyline, unfortunately. But maybe, just maybe we will se this posted at another place another time.

So long I wish you guys all the best, and remember: Bostria is a Speculo