Asteroid Blues

Following the battle at the Jiyuan dig site, Task Force Storm Wind had been put on reserve waiting reinforcements. After repairs, Lieutenant Sofie Werner had been assigned back to the Varuna Immediate Reaction Division, awaiting deployment. The wait wasn't long - their liaison officer chimed in not long after the paintwork was dry on Sofie's TAG, and informed her that a Panoceanian soldier had gotten involved in a barfight with some Ariadnans at the Pakngein Spaceport. As a rapid response unit, the squad had to bail him out with threat of heavy weapons, before the situation escalated.

They got in contact with the Fusilier, Corporal Silva, before they reached the bar. "LT!" he commed as soon as he got in range of the squad's comm net. "I know, you're here to drag me off to Liberty Base, but hear me out! I swear, I saw one of the russian bastards who hit us at Liberty! I recognized the unit markings, they're from the Tartary Army Corps. I followed him into the bar, but he had a whole platoon to back him up and I didn't really want to try my luck so phoned home." Sofie mused for a second - but not much longer. "Alright. Spread out, boys and girls! Clear that bar out, and if you get a handle on one of the russkies don't be afraid to hold him down! I'm sure the Hexas would like to ask them some pointed questions."

Patsy Garnett's squad advanced up the left side, thinking to go around the back door when Silva and the LT went knocking out front. The intel officer pinged her HUD, and let her know that there was a lot of something up ahead, possibly traps or an ambush. She popped a smoke grenade around the corner just in case, and made ready to charge as something heavy landed nearby. There was an unintelligible shout from the team's medic, and a rough bark of a shotgun. The squad's other ORC, Nate Williams, managed to spin around in time to see a big hairy man turning the corner, firing from the hip. The shotgun blast got Fusilier Jones, and scratched Nate's armour, but his quick-drawing right hand managed to get his pistol out and nail the fat man before he got another shot out. He holstered his pistol just as another Fusilier, Alice Cameron, cried out and pointed with her rifle. Nate ducked and turned around, but Julie's aim was true and the second ambusher wend down. "Wow, we really hit the hornet's nest now!" Patsy exclaimed as she took stock of the situation.

"Yeah, that's the place," Fusilier Silva pointed, "the one with the Japanese markings over the door." Lieutenant Sofia set her TAG up to cover the street, and signalled the Kamau team to back Silva up on the entrance. One of them had a Multispectral Visor, so she could get a good view of the insides before they stormed it. Silva started walking towards the door as something moved on the roof, and a gun barked before his mind could process what was happening. "They're on to us!" One of the Kamaus shouted, and they raised their guns, looking for the attacker. The unseen attacker gunned them down, leaving the Machinist Stephen Morgan standing alone in the open. Sofia abandoned her positon, and backed the TAG up to cover Stephen, scanning for the attacker. "Stay down, Steph! They built this thing for just these occasions!" The HUD showed several ground contacts advancing up the street, so she activated the defensive mode.

"Patsy!" Garnett's comms screamed with the LT's voice. "We're being overrun at the front! Push on, see if you can get some intel on these goons!" "Right-o, chief!" she shouted back. "We're on it!" She gestured for her squad to follow, and set out in a swift jog, her SMG ready at the front. Another ambusher popped up, and she fired a reaction burst at him. "Patsy!" her squad's infowar specialist cried out. "Just a sec! Keep him ducking, I can tap into their comms!" Patsy missed a beat when she reacted to this, and the Ariadnan's rifle punched a hole in her thigh. "Alice...! Tell me you got something already?!" she shouted at the hacker. "Done! Take him out please!"

"Their boss is just 'round the corner, that way!" Alice pointed and dropped a marker on the intel net. "A'right!" Patsy responded, and continued her jog with a slight limp. "Stay sharp, they've been ready for us every step of the way!" They vaulted a tall curb, and Patsy readied the squad for rounding the last corner. Nate with the big rifle, Alice with the hacking device primed and ready, and Kev with his sharp reflexes. She took a deep breath, held out three fingers, and dropped them one by one. "GO!!!"

Stroke of luck! The russians had been occupied by the TAG:s last stand, and were facing the wrong way. The squad let their weapons loose, and took the bodyguard down before he could turn. It would have to be confirmed from the footage, but she'd bet good money it had been Kev's rifle shots that hit the target. She needed to get the boy a sniper rifle one day. The russian boss was smoking a cigar on the roof of the bar as Patsy's squad surrounded him, and his cocky grin died down to something like mild distress as he realized that the squad had managed to sneak past his rearguard and traps. "Alright, mister. Looks like you'll be coming with us, now!"