Asteroid Blues

Infinity

The Train Job

300 POINTS
Ariadna
OccamsTaser
VS PanOceania
NachoCola

Montaigne lit up again. One thing he had plenty of was cheap cigarettes. What he lacked was medical supplies, spare parts, and most importantly bullets. And it’s really hard to mount a guerrilla campaign against the most powerful militaries in the ‘Sphere without anything to shoot at them. The ambush at the dig site had cost them time, lives, and ammunition. Montaigne knew he could ill afford another colossal fuck-up or his little revolution would be over before it began. To that end, one of his informants in the docks had told him of a train coming in carrying a massive load of supplies for the Panoceanian contingent here on Novvy Bangkok. It had enough loot to keep his small band fighting for years. The only problem was his contact had only seen the shipping manifest, and had no idea how well defended it would be.

……

Montaigne put his hand to his throat mic. “The train is due to stop here in five. Get me a line of mines in its path and interlocking fields of fire when the security detail offloads. The rest of you, keep down. Don’t fire until I give the word.”

With a hiss, the massive mag-lev train slid into the staging point. Montaigne could see the piles of crates strapped in between a small armored vehicle and several containers filled with starship fuel. Through his binoculars he scanned the security team as they began offloading equipment. He let out a low whistle. It must have something of real value on board to warrant this kind of a squad. He could make out several Hexahedron goons, an Aleph dignitary, and one of the elite Aquila Guards. At this point, it was beginning to look more like suicide than anything else. The Aquila stopped in his tracks and raised his rifle, firing a single shot into one of the mines his team had placed and alerting the others. The train yard went silent for a moment, and then all hell broke loose as concealed Ariadnans rose up and began firing at point blank range into the Panoceanian security detail on Montaigne’s shouted order to fire.

Tracers flew in both directions. Montaigne watched as several of his troops took hits and fell back. He raised his HMG and fired a long scything burst into a fusilier standing on the rail car. The man doubled over as the soft tissue in his midsection blew out, spraying the cargo with gore. The Panoceanians for their part had formed a defensive pocket around the train and the area around it had become a killing ground. Tracers flew back and forth in eye aching blurs of green and red that left hazy after images in the eyes of the combatants. Several of the mines tripped and sprayed into the defenders, turning one of them into a cloud of red. The Aquila had laid out anyone that had dared to exist in his line of sight until a round bounced off the engine compartment of the train and slammed into his helmet, destroying the sensitive optics and dropping him to the deck clutching his ravaged face. It was the break Montaigne needed and he rose from cover, advancing while laying down short bursts from his FN.

From the end of the train, what looked like heat haze turned towards him. He raised his weapon, but it was far too late. The missile landed at his feet and he felt the shockwave pick him up like the hand of an angry god, tossing him five meters back towards the warehouse he’d been sheltering in. He landed in a heap of shattered armor plates and blood. Hovering at the edge of consciousness, he watched as his second, another former Moblot by the name of Amelie Berchard, took up the charge, firing her underslung shotgun into the Swiss Guard. With that, the defense of the train fell apart and the Panoceanians fell back in good order, dragging their wounded with them.

Berchard let them go. She looked back at her commander, ensuring he was still breathing. It had been ugly. The train itself was carpeted in bodies in two different shades of blue. She walked to the first crate and opened it. A smile crept its way across her scarred features, an unfamiliar expression for the veteran soldier.

Worth it.

OOC: Another very tight game. My French spent it getting pounded on (74-174 VP!) but I opted to go 2nd which helped me take the center in the end. Even then, the last two orders saw the Swiss Guard camped on the objective, hitting me with a 14 on his ARO, requiring me to crit him or lose the center. Luckily, I did and took him down. Then to move to the center with my Datatracker Moblot, I was crit by a CSU on the left side antenna. Again, I managed to crit that roll and canceled the hit. Had I flubbed either of those rolls, it would have been a 0-6 for my opponent. So close. But as you can see, the train itself was surrounded by good cover and elevation on both sides. It turned it into a nightmare for either of us to hold, which was awesome.

That’s why I love this game though.

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