Asteroid Blues

Novvy Bangkok
October 4, 2019
Personal Log of Sgt. Randal Jackson

Everything on this goddamned asteroid is screwed up. We're actively fighting Haqqislam, we're at peace with PanO and relations with the Nomads are sour. Talk about a hell of a reversal from the commercial conflicts. Everyone is accusing everyone of being infiltrated by the Shasvastii to boot. Which is what brought us the the Nomad's Bot facility. We were conducting a reconnaissance in force with the objective of gathering any intercepted comms traffic that the Nomad's have not seen fit to share. What we hadn't counted on was running into ALEPH forces that had a very different agenda in mind. Needless to say, bullets were exchanged and our relations with ALEPH have probably taken another hit, not that they were stellar anyway, we did try to throw them off of Dawn last year...

When I say we were conducting a recon in force I really mean in force. We brought three, THREE damn Blackjacks with us. On our left was Foxtrot Sgt. Lopez and our HMG Blackjack crewed by Cpl. Collins. The right was covered by Foxtrot SSgt. Rogers and a T2 Sniper Blackjack crewed by Cpl. Matthews. My Marauder squad was also on the right. I had brought along my trusty HRL and we were joined by Operative SSgt. Ryan, SSgt. Ramirez, Cpl. Williamson, also with a HRL and Lt. Bradley. We were supported by Maverick Cpl. Andrew Connors. The center was covered by two Grunts, PFCs Sylvester and Stuart, three Minutemen consisting of SSgt. Cardoza, Sgt. Anders and Sgt. Thompson. They were backed up by Blackjack number three, another T2 sniper, crewed by Cpl. Crawford and Foxtrot PFC O'Brien.

The ALEPH forces opposing us on the left were the usual Dakini team, supported by a Yadu, a Proxy Mk 5, a Shukra and a RUDRA with a K1 marksman rifle. On the right was a Sophotect, Asura and two Devas. In the center was a hidden Proxy Mk. 2.

As our forces collided it was clear things were going to get ugly. Cpl. Andrea Connors opened the battle by racing to the Deva and trying to take it out. Unfortunately, her luck failed and she was once again sent to hospital. I opened the assault by blasting the Dakini HMG. The fire from the blast consumed the robot, leaving nothing but a blackened, half melted husk. The helper bot behind it just ceased to exist. Cpl. Matthews engaged the Deva and forced it back, terrified of the T2 rounds that had torn chunks out of its cover. SSgt. Rogers hacked into the first Nomad console and began extracting data. The grunts in the center charged into the main console room and secured it while the Minutemen team moved towards the room and unsuccessfully engaged a Dakini. Cpl. Matthews engaged the Yadu HMG and his heavy rounds quickly eliminated the threat, leaving nothing but a sparking corpse. PFC O'Brien tried to engage the Proxy Mk. 5 but failed horribly as she was brutally cut down, body tumbling down the crater. My squad then slowly moved around the crater rim with the intent to eliminate the Proxy Mk. 5 and Dakini sniper. Cpl. Williamson first sighted in on the Proxy, immolating it, before moving again and trying to sight in on the Dakini but was too slow, a round tearing through his shoulder as he fired, sending it wide. I realized belatedly that we were too clustered in the center and a single well placed blast could do serious damage.

ALEPH forces then counterattacked. The Sophotect boosted the Rudra which then engaged Cpl. Collins. The firefight was brief, with rounds bouncing off each combatant but the K1 ammo finally won out and Cpl. Collins' Blackjack was rendered useless. The Deva that had retreated from Cpl. Matthews returned and tried its luck again, big mistake, for it. Matthews placed a perfect shot, the heavy ammo ripping out the center of the Deva and tossing it back like a ragdoll. It was one hell of a sight. This distraction provided an opportunity for the Proxy Mk. 2 to ambush us with a boarding shotgun. My concern about being too bunched up nearly proved a disaster. Sgt. Anders and SSgt. Ramirez engaged it but only managed to disable the TO camo. Sgt. Anders was taken out by the blast while SSgt. Ryan ignored her wounds and kept fighting. Ramirez meanwhile shrugged off the shots and stayed fighting. That man is steadily becoming a legend in the USARF. The Proxy fired again, this time the shots going wide, while Ryan, Ramirez and I pumped rounds into it and finally destroyed it before suffering more damage. Ryan then collapsed from her wounds and had to be medevaced. We were fortunate that the ambush did such relatively low damage. ALEPH wasn't done yet. The sniper Dakini fired again, this time targeting Cpl. Crawford. The rounds tore through his helmet, killing him instantly and leaving a bloody mess behind. With the way clear, the Asura advanced to extract data from a console and then moved to secure the area.

Grunt PFC Sylvester moved to the left flank of the control room and burned the Rudra that had taken out Cpl. Collins. The robot was unable to withstand the flames and was swiftly reduced to a smoldering wreck. Sgt. Lopez used the flames to cover his breach of another console to begin further data extraction. Sgt. Anders advanced to the control room console while SSgt. Cardoza attempted to engage a Dakini, but once again failed to eliminate it. Meanwhile, my squad moved around the flank of the Asura. SSgt. Ramirez did some major damage with his slugs while Lt. Bradley finished her off with his flamer. Turns out robots really don't like fire.

The ALEPH forces were in bad shape at this point. This was soon made worse by the attempt of the Dakini sniper to advance on my team. He came into my line of sight and I let loose with rocket fire. The Dakini didn't even get a chance to fire before the rockets hit, reducing he and his buddy to just two more charred robot husks. Desperation set in and the remaining Deva charged us as well but SSgt. Ramirez stood his ground and blew it apart with round after round from his shotgun.

We continued our relentless advance, spearheaded by Cpl. Matthews in the remaining Blackjack. He moved to his left, taking on two Dakinis as he did so, destroying both in a series of firefights before targeting and securing the ALEPH HVT. I moved up to the top of the crater and proceeded to fire on both the Shukra and the Sophotect. The Shukra, like the rest of the ALEPH troops was burned to a crisp again but the Sophotect defied the odds and dodged out of the way. Lt. Bradley moved to follow up and the acrobatic Sophotect dodged yet again. The Sophotect then attempted to engage us but once again was able to survive all incoming fire and was able to slink off.

With the area secured, we extracted the intel we were after. The intercepted communications were very interesting.

Randal Jackson signing off

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kPCzX8czloM&feature=youtu.be&fbclid=IwAR3zWKed5gqgn3_B8jgtti4IQJwb_L9P5_Ti_j5YFRv-m1fprAEq-OjQ6AA
This is the video link since it seems to not work in the report for some reason.