Asteroid Blues

As I entered my latest safe house, it took me a moment to realize something was not right. There in my chair, that I was sure was empty moments before, sat a nondescript Tohaa, a Tohaa that was wearing my face, only less haggard, even more disturbing was that this Tohaa gave off no pheromonic trace. I reached for my gun, but the Tohaa, casually getting to his feet, told me we had no time to settle our differences. He said he was aware of my investigation, and that I had been helping to shelter Naami, and that he personally had been behind several of my deaths. I should have returned the favor, but it seemed like he was building towards something, so I let him continue. It seems he had uncovered a small Shasvastii operation in the Japanese Bottom, but would be unable to rally the resources within his organization quick enough to disrupt what ever they had been planning. I was just about to plug him, when he mentioned both Aida Swanson and Victor Messer had been seen in the area. This gave me pause. These were two of the Sphere's most wanted Shasvastii operatives, and if their was even a small chance of recovering either of their cubes it would be well worth my time, and letting this stranger live. I called in a team, and told them as little as possible, but once Shasvastii were mentioned no-one really questioned the attack. Of course this was the tempting kind of intel which reeked of a trap, so I poured a quick drink, fired up a cigarette, uploaded my cube files, and set my cube to wipe if my heart rate flat lined. Its the kind of quick ditch method which would leave this body vegetable if I was revived, but would also prevent anyone from extracting any information from my cube if they recovered it. Then I strapped on my holster, and walked out the door.

The stranger radioed us when he was in place. Somehow he had managed to blend in with some of the Shasvastii, and taken up a position near one of their suspected agents. We were just arriving on scene when those cursed Klaxons sounded again to signal another Shadow Shooter duel. A Chaksa was of course very interested in this gun fighting automaton, and got as close as he dared. The Shadow Shooter for its part ignored the Chaksa, and took cover behind the building Armand had staked out. While the Kamael took cover on the right flank behind a building as far from the front line as possible. The Taquel had taken cover behind another building, and spread her 'bugs to cover as much area as possible. The Libertos deployed next to one of our key human businesses contacts, and set a mine out to deter any rushes to his position. The Draal took cover nearby behind a small crate, after deploying a mine to bolster the Libertos' position. Her Triad's Makaul and Kealter were nearby behind a building. Behind the small structure to their backs was the other team's other Chaksa. The other Kealtar had taken a position behind a centralized building, and his position was covered by the Kerail and his Surda.

Aida and one of the Taigha had seem to have become suspicious of the stranger, or maybe believed he would be backing them up, and had taken position nearby behind a tower, and one of the suspected Speculo agents. The Shadow Shooter lurched into the cover of a massive storage container just in front of another of the suspects. The cargo containers the suspect hid behind was swarming with odd readings that meant likely camouflaged units. The only other visible Shasvastii were on the left flank and consisted of another Taigha, and a Jayth team with Victor at the lead.

The Draal lept from her hiding place and raced towards the console in front of her, and the Makaul moved up to provide her with support, but as soon as he rounded the corner a missile streaked towards their position. The Draal cartwheeled out of the way, but the Makaul took the brunt of the blast and was vaporized.

With this threat revealed the Draal advanced, keeping a stack of crates between her and the Noctifer. Once she reached the crates she placed a mine before crouching low to get to the console, and verified the identity of the suspected Speculo agent that was near Aida, and found that it was the one which had been asteroidside the longest, and would be the primary target. With this new information the stranger moved towards the Shasvastii's backline, Aida and the Taigha suspected something odd, but were unable to determine why their comrade had seemingly retreated from his position just when it appeared they would need him the most. The stranger took cover out of their sight and fired on the Noctifer and mortally wounded him.

With the Noctifer reeling from the pain, the Draal raced forwards and finally brought him down, as the Noctifer was unable to get a good read on her position through her Stratus Cloud.

The Draal moved to the tower Aida was behind, and attempted to kill the revealed Speculo Agent with her 'bomb, but failed. Seeing the Draal needed an opening, the Stranger sacrificed himself to kill the Taigha and Aida, freeing up the Draal for a run at the revealed Speculo Agent.

The Draal made quick work of the Speculo agent with a few rounds from her viral pistol, then, after she placed a mine at the base of the tower, she raced up the ladder and took cover behind the parapet.

The remaing Taigha rushed towards the Taquel's position, but stopped short of the 'bugs awareness. Victor activated a program shortly before several Cadmus Seeds landed deep in our backline. Two of them were assaulted by the 'bugs, and also set off the Libertos' mine, but as all this exploded around them their image shimmered and faded. Luckily the kerail was alert and he and his Surda turned to face the remaining Seed.

With the 'bugs gone the Taigha rushed towards the Taquel once again, but she was able to send her 'bomb to sever whatever control link the creature had with its Shasvastii masters.

The Shadow Shooter dashed forwards, took aim at its rival Shadow Shooter and quickly destroyed it, much to the disappointment of the Chaksa. Apparently not believing this would be enough of a dual to satisfy those subscribed to its feed, it began firing on the Taquel, killing her 'armor. One of the odd readings we had picked up from the Shasvastii lines moved to one of the consoles, and the Shrouded was able to determine the identity of our business contact before it reactivated its camouflage. The Shadow Shooter rounded the corner again and fired at our contact but it was able to duck around the building out of the shooter sight.

Not moving from his position, the Kerail shot the Seed that had landed nearby as it sent a hail of flechette at the Surda, who, unfazed stalked towards the Shadow Shooter. The Kerail threw smoke to envelop the Shadow Shooter, but the construct dodged away, right in the path of the Surda. The Surda and Kerail both charged forward, and the Shadow Shooter attempted to shoot the Kerail, but was gunned down as the Surda's Pulzar washed over it, and the camouflaged Shrouded.

The preceptor and his 'beast continued their rush to the Shasvastii lines. The Taigha attempted to slow them but they dodged the hail of shrapnel it unleashed in their direction. They had nearly reached Messer when the Caliban fired on them with its shotgun and wounded the Surda before the Kerail cut it down with a burst from his SMG.

The pair continued their assault. The Surda rushed into Messer wounding it with a Pulzar blast before the Shasvastii was able to take down the beast with its rifle.

I His 'beast dead, and the job unfinished the Kerail took cover, and rounding the corner ended the threat of the hacker with a quick burst of his SMG. The Taquel moved from her cover and killed the Taigha which had been distracted by the Kerail. She then moved to the console and verified the identity of another of the Speculo Agents.

The Jayth tried to take out the Kerail with a burst from its red fury, but only sucdeeded in killing his 'armor. The Kerail ducked out of sight, but the second Jayth rounded the far corner of the cargo crate, and finally killed the Kerail.

A blur from the rooftop above her was all the Taquel saw before the Malignos revealed and killed her, taking no heed of Armand as the Mercenary's round impacted on its armor.

The Cutthroats advanced without caution, and relied on their optical disruptors, and luck to protect them from Armand. It seemed luck was on their side as twice he missed his mark, but as the Jayth rounded the corner in attempt to take out our business contact it saw Shasvastii coming and dodged back behind cover.

With their momentum spent, and no-one able to further activate consoles to reveal more of our business contacts, the Shasvastii slunk away, hounded by our forces.

I moved as quickly as I could to where the stranger with my face had gone down, but as I turned his body over to recover his cube, I was shocked to fine that someone had beat me to it. The removal was careful and skilled, and it seemed unlikely the retreating Shasvastii would have taken the time for such a recovery in their haste. My chagrin deepened when I found Aida's and Victor's cubes removed in the same manner. I was no closer to uncovering what the organization that had killed me was, or the identity of the stranger, and now it appeared they had attained cubes of two high profile Shasvastii Speculo Agents. It seemed these hard times would only be getting harder.