Asteroid Blues

Jensen-DX3HR's eyes tracked across the strangely Earth-like cave chamber. His investigation took him deep into the Gorge sector remote facilities of Novvy Bangkok. This required his unit be reinforced, most notably by Yadu Assault Corps Officer Shakti and another of her troopers.

Jensen couldn't help but be nervous of possible constant Nomad interference this deep into the Gorge. His Lhost's infolink suddenly pinged him about a report of possible friendlies trapped behind enemy lines. With a healthy dose of caution, Jensen ordered the entire task force to move in and make contact while he hung back on oversight. He would soon have a lot more on his plate than what he asked for...

Shakti stalked lightly across a catwalk with a good field of view when her eyes spotted silhouettes in the distance. Without anything resembling conscious thought, she dived prone. Her brief visual, barely half a second long, was enough to confirm the presence of hostile alien activity in this sector. A heartbeat later, the entirety of Jensen's task force fanned out around her on full alert.

From her vantage point it became clear what the servants of the EI were after in this area. Multiple access terminals scattered around would allow them access into Nomad staging servers and beyond that, the greater 'Net itself. Their immediate plan of action became clear: kill them all.

Alien chittering and swift footfalls churned the air. It was quickly answered by staccato thunder from the unit's Zayin sentry, terminating one of the Taigha beasts with a rain of lead. The perfect timing however made Jensen suspicious of the supposed friendlies. It was just a little too convenient for the servants of the EI.

His suspicions were immediately confirmed when a dense cloud of smoke emerged on the catwalk. Shakti's cry of warning quickly changed as a friendly blip rushed into close contact with the Yadu officer and revealed its true form as a Shasvastii infiltrator. After a short scuffle her indicator on the tactical net winked out, followed quickly by the Zayin sentry. Its line of advance was clear: Jensen was next. A quick release of stimms from implanted glands ensured his hands stayed steady as he calmly awaited what was coming.

The xenos assassin rounded the corner quickly and gracefully. As fleet as it was, it couldn't quite outrun a bullet from Jensen's waiting combat rifle. It staggered back, only for a converging hail of tracers to rip it to bloody shreds as Deva Functionary Jesse-TR0K3T's fireteam trained their guns upon the alien. Below, a Taigha got close enough to disable one of the unit's Netrods with a spray of bio-acid before being gunned down.

That encounter was a little too close for Jensen-DX3HR's liking. A bit of xenos ichor actually stained his coat. He made a mental note to put in an order for the Typhoon Explosive System augmentation so that he could quickly and decisively end such encounters next time.

Jensen had seen enough. It was time to take the fight to the aliens.

"Jesse. Take your team, verify the other 'friendly'. " He instructed the Deva over the tactical net.

"Understood." He picked up the hum and whir of robotic actuators as Jesse's squad began to move, followed by the bark of gunfire as the team identified and disarmed area defense weapons from a safe distance

"Invalid verification code. Beginning visual analysis of subject."

"Don't take too long. I've got movement on the sensors coming towards you."

"Processing...just a moment longer."

"Your window is closing. Speed it up."

"Confirmed as Shasvastii." Jesse's message was punctuated by the roar of her Spitfire ripping into the Speculo

"Your window is almost gone. Fall back immediately."

"Roger, falling back to friendly positions."

"They're coming in on both flanks. Stand by to repel."

The first one to be picked up was a hazy figure that seemed to blend into the architecture. A sudden burst of blinding light betrayed its true identity as the Caliban prepared to attack. But that availed it not, for almost at the same moment pinpoint accurate rifle fire from Faridah Malik, the Sarif Industries attache seconded to Jensen's task force reached out across the field. The creature pitched backwards oozing its strange alien blood. He was impressed by the CSU member's performance.

Jensen might have thought to recommend Faridah for some kind of promotion or raise if not for a new bout of loud chittering noises. Scopes quickly picked up another Taigha racing across the field, with another chameleonic silhouette moving in its wake. The alien attack dog ran straight at Jesse's fireteam only to be cut down by a shotgun blast by a Naga operator it didn't notice. Deprived of the distraction as cover, its stealthier counterpart only managed to plant a mine before Jesse's fireteam identified and obliterated it.

"They're beginning network intrusion", the Posthuman Denton suddenly spoke over the commlink.

"Be advised you're in the lethal radius of an enemy mine."

"I'll take the risk." The air rippled as Denton entered his dormant stealth proxy. Almost immediately after, a dull thump sent an expanding tongue of fire and submunitions surging toward him. When the dust had cleared, the proxy Lhost had emerged with surprisingly little damage. However the blast had thrown off Denton's shot. With its task complete, the Combined Army drone withdrew its mecha-tendrils from the access port and hid itself before Denton could put it down with his long rifle

"Jesse, take your team and sweep the flanks. The rest can begin net counter-intrusion."

A single ping sufficed as acknowledgement. Her squad's march was accompanied by the rolling thunder of their guns raking into the enemy's robotic units seemingly swarming around the central chamber. Behind the protection of Jesse's firepower, the remaining Yadu hacker jacked into a nearby auxiliary terminal. Its protective ICE quickly crumbled before his hacking suite, allowing the ALEPH team to run their own package that would both purge EI presence from the local networks and dig for any data that could be of value.

The central room was clearly built as a data isolation chamber. Preliminary scans had verified that any network traffic headed in or out of the chamber would be swallowed by multiple signal distorting and absorbing layers embedded in its walls.

However, that didn't seem to bother the Shasvastii operatives. The last Taigha beast ran straight at the antipersonnel mine planted by the Naga Namir. Its little corpse sailed backwards almost as quickly as it flew in, but regardless its job was done. The critter had cleared the way for an alien operator to move into the room and gain access to the primary remote terminal in the room.

"They've deployed a Dazer." Namir called in, referring to the new and highly effective area suppression weapon used by the Shasvastii

Jensen clucked in annoyance at the new development. Based on the reports, a Dazer would greatly inhibit the ability to operate within its short area of effect. Coupled with the chamber's inherent data isolation, it created a significant hurdle that Jensen would have to surmount.

The clock was ticking. Shasvastii operatives had already accessed the main terminal, which meant counter intrusion and network expulsion were ideally ran from the very same place. The logical choice was clear.

"Yadu-1, you're up. Get into the main chamber. Covering fire now!" Echoed assent was drowned out by the rain of firepower being flung at Shasvastii positions, preventing them from interfering. The deafening noise made up for the ominous silence that seemed to swallow the Yadu when he entered the objective area

Jensen reached into his coat pocket and produced a cigar from a sealed pack. His Lhost had implants that would filter out nicotine in his bloodstream, but that didn't seem to abate the habit at all. He thumbed the auto-lighter patch on the side anyway as he waited.

The waft of tobacco smoke couldn't obscure the flashes of gunfire leaking out from the open doors of the isolation chamber. They soon gave way to tense silence. Fortunately, he didn't have long to wait before the Yadu trooper emerged bloodied but whole and gave a thumbs up.

"Package secure. Network purge complete, extraction underway."

"Copy. All units, commence meatspace cleansing. Take no prisoners."

The cigar twitched in his mouth as he swung the rifle up to his shoulder. Time to get to work