Asteroid Blues

One of the biggest mistakes that can be made in this line of work is to let a new query supersede unfinished work. If you get too caught up with all the new people out to kill you, you can easily forget those who have already been planning your death, and like a jealous lover, the will remind you that you were theirs first. The arson at my latest safe house proved it to be anything but safe. As I fought down my instinct to make the quickest escape possible, I made sure all my notes were securely uploaded. It was one of the few times I am grateful not have the added protection of a Voorne, the last thing I needed as I suppressed my own thoughts to flee was another semi sentience urging me to run from the fires, especially if that sentience controls my enhanced physique. Whoever started the fire was sure to be watching the exits to insure I did not get out, but without the time to cut a new exit, I was forced to take my best worst option. Jumping through the blinds of the window, I expected it would be curtains for me, only to find to myself surprised to hit the ground, hard, but still alive. Fire suppression teams were already on scene to combat the flames, and as standard protocol oxygen was being vented from the closed environment. Casualties from the oxygen venting was of little concern, as an unchecked fire could endanger the entire asteroid in a matter of minutes, and if I wasn't going to be counted among them, I would need to make it to the fire doors before they locked. My lungs raked for breath as I ran, reaching the doors, and helping what stragglers I could through before they closed on the unit, suffocating the fire and anyone hapless to be caught on the other side without an environmental suit.

Artichoke Lou was the most obvious culprit. His penchant for arson is what had originally landed him in the Kosuil Unit, but this seemed a little extreme for his modus operandi. Sure he had torched a few blocks to get to his targets, but those targets had always been rival businesses, not individuals, and had been on planets, not closed environments. Risking the entire population of an asteroid to snuff me out would be a major leap in escalation, especially given I had not had time to dig further into my investigation, and to this point had nearly reached a dead end. Something was afoot and due to the ever evolving situation on Novyy Bangkok, I would have to wait for the other shoe to drop.

It appeared Yu Jing's protest that they had uncovered a plot to smuggle Seed Soldiers onto Novyy Bangkok in Durian shipments had gained enough traction that Aleph had sent a small detachment to the Japanese Bottom to investigate. I did not expect Yu Jing had supplied Aleph with anything more than a number of targets they wanted eliminated for political reasons, and played it up to the Artificial Intelligence that they were surly Shasvastii agents. Aleph in all its wisdom was more likely to kill them outright and collect their cubes for questioning at a latter date. We had stepped up patrols in the district in order to maintain the peace the Director of Operations for the area had intrusted to us, and it was not long before we spotted an Aleph force. We approached undetected, but the sudden klaxons warning of an immanent Shadow Shooter duel, heightened the Aleph forces' awareness, and one of their units spotted us as we moved into postion.

The Aleph forces scattered into cover to protect their informants. Netrods unfolded into action to reinforce the Aleph tactical web. The Proxy Mk 5 took position behind one of their informants in a walled courtyard. A Krakot mercenary crouched nearby, barely able to contain its drug enhanced blood lust. On their left flank a WarCor set up its recording equipment, no doubt editing out anything Aleph felt would tarnish its reputation with the public of the Human Sphere. The Shadow Shooter waltzed up to a display screen near Drakios and his two Devabots, nearby a Proxy Mk 1 stood by, ready to repair any of the bots should they require it. On the building next to it, a Shukra had laid prone atop a ledge, while a Lamedh took a position below. The Deva ducked behind one of the courtyards walls, intrusting its safety to the Zayin standing sentry on the building nearby, backed up by a Yudbot to initiate repairs should they be required. Below, crouched behind an information display, was the Danavas.

Our Taquel took cover behind a short wall, sending her bugs out to try to stymie an Aleph rush. Atop a rooftop with a seemingly commanding view of the field of operations, Armand stood ready, scanning the area, while below on a small ledge a Kealter covered the ladders, and on the ground below a Chaksa crouched. The Draal took a forward position crouched behind another low wall, while her Triad members, a Makaul and Kealter took positions close by. On the building rooftop a Kamael crouched low. The Libertos positioned himself to protect one of the the targets we identified Aleph would be after, and deployed some assurances to cover his flank. Behind a massive cargo container a Chaksa, and the Kerail were waiting for the orders to move out. The Shadow Shooter strolled up to a smaller container the Kauuri had taken cover beside.

Utilizing its personal albedo to render Armand's visor inoperable, Drakios rushed towards our lines, shooting one of the Taquel's 'bugs, and then sending one of the Devabots sung wide to confront the Taquel and Chaksa with its flamethrower. The last of the 'bugs smashed ineffectually on the other Devabot, as the Taquel dogged away from the flames, and the Draal deactivated the bot with a few well placed shots. The Chaksa however was not as fortunate and was brought low by the flames as he tried to dodge away.

Taking advantage of the hole it had created in our defenses Drakios moved into the open to take on the Draal, while the Devabot continued to harass the Taquel with its flamethrower. In the first exchange Drakios was wounded by the Draal, but the Taquel was not as lucky this time, and was engulfed in flames.

Pressing its advantage again the Drakios was able to kill the Draal's 'mate, while the Devabot maneuvered to unleash a gout at the Kealtar on the ledge who was just able to roll away from the flames. Drakios unleashed another burst of from it red fury at the Draal while the Devabot attempted to burn down Armand who was able to duck out of the way, while the Sabatuer was finally able to end the Drakios' threat. With most of their momentum spend, the Danavas moved forward and shot out some repeater coverage, before revealing one of its targets.

The Danavas then retreated back under the cover of the Zayin's HMG.

Seeing a narrow shot on the Proxy Mk 5 the Draal raced forward and was able to kill the Posthuman in one burst.

Moving forwards the Draal then killed the Krakot which had not moved from its position due to Armand and the Kauuri. She moved up to the console, and revealed the identity of the target the Mk5 had taken cover behind, and was able to bring him down before moving back to a safer position.

The Danavas moved up under the cover of white noise to activate the console the Draal had activated and was able to varify the identity of its primary target

Seeing a blurry figure moving towards their position the Draal and Armand were able to identify it as a Libertos just as it ducked out of view. Approaching the target cautiously at first, the Libertos finally burst from cover and shotgunned him down before the Makaul could cover the position with smoke and the Draal killed the Helot freedom fighter.

A flair of activity from the Danavas foreshadowed what was to come next. Its jet engine thundering, a Garuda landed near the Draal's Triad, and using a building as cover began firing on the Draal.

She dodged the first volley of shots, and then another caught her and killed her 'armor. She had almost made it to cover before the third volley took her to the ground.

As the smoke from the Makaul's grenades began to dissipate the robot trained its sights on the positions of the remaining triad, failing to take into account that others could infiltrate from the air. It reacted too slowly to the sound of my gun, and Garuda was disabled.

The Kerail raced from his hiding placed and tossed a smoke grenade to cover the console, but his aim was off, and the smoke failed to deploy effectively. He tried two more times before an effective cloud of smoke obscured the console. Taking advantage of this cover, the Clipsos appeared from its hiding place, and after a failed attempt was able to activate the console and verify the identity of a second target.

As the Clipsos ducked behind a low wall nearby, the Shadow Shooter ambled towards the target, and cautiously strolled through the Zayin's fire lane until it reached its destination. It turned around the corner and gunned down the target.

The Shadow Shooter tried to determine the location of one of the Aleph operatives we were sure was out there, but failed to discover it.

With their primary target killed, the Aleph team had nothing to do other than prevent our forces from achieving our goals. The Zayin, assisted by the Danavas crawled down the building it had been perched on, and was able to kill the Kauuri, and then killed the Surda before taking a wide angle to target the Shodow Shooter, and kill it too. With these threats removed the Danavas switched the console back to her control, and then waited for the Clipsos to show itself. The Lemedh and the Deva took positions to cover the other side of the building if the Clipsos should make it past the Zayin and Danavas, while the Shadow Shooter on their side moved up to cover the remaining console.

I moved from my position and shot the Draal with my medkit, but her wounds were too severe, it looked like I would be doing a recovery job instead. Seeking to clear the way for the Clipsos, the Libertos moved from its position to see the Zayin. Dart revealed itself to discover, and the Libertos fired on the Zayin. The remotes targeting was thrown off, by the unexpected sight but its armor prevented any damage as the shotgun blasts impacted on it.

I took a chance to shift the Shadow Shooter from the console, and took the shots, though when the smoke cleared neither of us had managed to hit our target.

Armand took a few steps across the rooftop and disabled the Lemedh to clear one of the obstacles facing the Clipsos. The Clipsos reactivated its camouflage and made a dash towards the console. However, as soon as it got within sight of the Deva, the Aleph construct was able to reveal him. The Clipsos took a chance and ran through past the Deva, and staggered, but did not stop as a round impacted on his armor. Taking a moment to assess his situation, we realized that despite his efforts, Aleph forces were to well dug in and would be able to extract the target we were after before we could verify its identity and take it out. Not wishing to endanger any more of our forces or expend any more equipment, we withdrew.