Asteroid Blues

Battle Date 09/20/2019 – The 12th “Sharkfin” Varuna Division found themselves recalled to the Liberty Cargo: Spaceport upon information provided by Aleph that a Tunguska strike force was set to try an infiltration into PanO territory. The mission was simple, destroy the enemy and prevent them from taking the Spaceport.

The battle started off poorly, though PanO intelligence in conjunction with Aleph had given the Varuna forces ample time to prepare, they quickly found themselves caught off guard by the voracity of the Tunguska forces. The Kamau sniper in the opening moment of the battle took a critical hit from a missile launcher wielded by one of the elite Grenzer units, the result was not pretty. In addition a Zulu Cobra quickly found himself incapacitated by a Total Reaction REM that had found its way on top of the Spaceport bus stop. Varuna ended the beginning of the battle on the back foot and on the defensive. Tunguska took immediate advantage of the situation and the fact that Varuna had brought plenty of REMs and even a Heavy Infantry elite ORC unit which provided them with hacking targets. The ORC Trooper found himself isolated from the rest of the army and quickly went to ground behind a shipping container as he could no longer coordinate with his team. The infamous Mary Problems made her way up to the overpass to secure it against any REM intrusions as a previous hacking attempt on a Bulleteer with a heavy shotgun had failed though all other REMs had been incapacitated.

Varuna’s own counterattack proved to be unique in that a lone Zulu Cobra Killer Hacker managed to break out and severely wound Mary Problems taking her out of the fight with one swift and strategic hacking attack. With very little options Varuna once again found themselves taking shots of opportunity with the Zulu Cobra Lt. taking out another REM which had worked its way up to Varuna’s lines. On Tunguska’s second counter attack the ORC trooper found himself assaulted by a Heckler but was saved by a Fusilier from his now disconnected team noticing the dire situation he was in.

At the end of the battle all seemed lost and a desperate plan was concocted. The Bulleteer with heavy shotgun, the same one who took out the Ikari Datatracker, found itself to be the only hope. It drove with precision up the lower highway taking out a Flash Pulse REM along the way. It narrowly avoided a hacking attack from a hidden Interventor and crawled up the side of a building to take a last desperate shot at the Tunguska forces. It fired down the line consisting of the Grenzer and several Securitates. The Grenzer survived and retaliated utterly destroying the Bulleteer but not before it managed to incapacitate two of the Fireteam’s Securitates. On the final push by Tunguska a lone Securitate attempted to assassinate the ORC Trooper who fell unconscious but not before the Fusilier of his previous fireteam again took out another target by incapacitating the Securitate.

The battle ended with both sides bloody, beaten, and utterly in shambles. PanO braced itself for another counterattack that never came. Tunguska held fast in its own lines and both sides ultimately retreated deeper into their territory. Varuna suffered heavy losses and reinforcements are inbound. No report on the Tunguska forces but visual assessment says they too suffered heavy casualties. It is likely we will never truly know what it cost them. – Warcor Daniel Williams embedded with the 12th “Sharkfin” Varuna Division.