Asteroid Blues

"Hey boys and girls, listen up!" a new voice sounded on the taskforce's net. "I'm Lieutenant Sofia Werner of the Heavy Cav - the Squalos, that is. I'm here to fill in on Lt. Delgado as he's being brought up again from the freezer." The remnants of the force gathered on the small courtyard as the lifters brought the massive TAG inside and set it down. "We've got new intel," she continued as the soldiers started to pick up their kit. "The package you got from the Japanese was lost to the Ariadna, and is probably half way across the Sphere by now. But the Hexas have uncovered that the delivery originated somewhere from the Jiyan site, which is under Yu Jing control. They have the approximate coordinates, and are confident that if we manage to pacify the area for a few minutes they can knock down enough doors to pinpoint the seller. Thing is, the dig site is a real war zone right now, with the Japanese and Yu Jing dishing it out there." She took a look of the ragged but undefeated soldiers around her TAG via the sensor feed. "But fortunately it looks like I've got people who are right at home in a war zone!"

"Figures," Sofia muttered to herself as the Task Force approached the ops site. "TF, be adviced: The zone appears to be in the control of the Japanese Secessionist Army. So watch your corners, there's going to be rabid samurai sticking their swords in everywhere!" There was a sudden whoosh! of a missile streaking past her TAG, and she turned it towards the source, a Japanese Heavy alarmingly close to their lines. "Alright, here they come! Hit hard and don't let up!"

"Ninja!" Henry Thiauld cried out, and painted the enemy on the command interface. His Feuerback clapped, but the shot missed the elusive dark shape. "Don't worry," Piter Mills, the Nisse, responded in a calm voice. "I've got his number." Sniper rifles rang out a few times across the block, until the shooting died down. "Told you, I eat Ninjas for snacks," Mills taunted.

More missiles streaked towards Sofia's TAG, and one impacted the chest armour. Readouts showed some damage to the cooling system, but nothing that'd slow her down. "Hell, have to give ground here, they're thrusting hard on my position. Sergeant Mitchell, if you're in position, any time would be a good time!" A shimmer appeared in the air not far from her TAG. "Yeah I'm here," Mitchell responded. "Gonna go play my magic on them..." he said in a sadistic tone. A moment later, the Japanese troops started to flicker in her HUD, switching from 'hostile' to 'neutral' repeatedly, until one of them settled as blank. The firestorm directed at her TAG died down, and she could hear the Croc Man's cruel laughter as he'd messed up the Heavies' squad link big time. "Alright!" Sofia cheered, "Back to the driver seat!" She edged her Squalo forwards, and opened up with the HMG.

"Moving to support," Thiauld reported, but there was a clap of a large-caliber weapon and he fell down with a grunt. "More Ninjas!" Sofie cried out as a black shape appeared on a rooftop nearby. "This is getting old really fast," Piter Mills muttered and there was a crack of his sniper - the black shape went down as fast as it had appeared. "Wow, two for two!" Sofie applauded him. "I'll get you a medal for this yet!"

"Status, LT?" asked William Mathis, the last Sepulcher Knight remaining in the Task Force. "Pinned down here!" she responded. "You're on your own, I'm afraid!" Mathis activated his Holoprojector, and nodded to himself. "Understood. Go with God." He was technically alone in the zone, and couldn't count on any support. So he did what he was taught in the seminar - when all else fails, sell your life dearly. He jogged up, and immediately picked up some suppressing fire from the Japanese flanking force. It hit his holoechoes, disrupting them, but he managed to get into the cover of a building. "God provides," he whispered to himself, and leaped onto the roof. Two Japanese soldiers were ready for him, but he took their fire on the chest. One bullet got through a joint, and caused a spike of hot pain in his arm. "God protects!" he roared, leveled his rifle and charged. After a quick firefight he kneeled next to a Japanese body, and took a breather. "LT. Right flank secure. Waiting for further instructions."

Something had changed as the second Ninja went down. The Japanese attack stalled, and quickly petered out. Sofia picked up on this, and her spirits rose. "We got their boss! They're milling about, now turn the tables!" She didn't wait for a response, just squeezed the trigger tight and floored the throttle. One Heavy froze like a deer in the headlights, and she peppered him with armour-piercing bullets. She realized that he was preparing a grenade, probably some sort of EM-bomb, as he fell down and the explosive went off harmlessly away from her. She had cleared the immediate area, but the rest of the squad was taking cover in a small side-street that her TAG couldn't fit. "Task Force, status?" she asked via the comms net. As there was no answer, she repeated the call, and halted the TAG. "Just me left, LT," Brother Mathis responded. "I think we should pull back while they're still reeling." Sofie swallowed hard, and took stock of the tactical situation. They could handle the current opposition, but the momentum was lost, and reinforcements were undoubtledly on the way. "Copy. Head home, help the wounded if you come across any. Not our day."

[On a side note, about halfway through the game we realized that my opponent had 1) deployed his Lieutenant in Hidden Deployment, thus he would have had Loss of Lieutenant for the first two turns, and 2) forgot to roll for Infiltrate for the said Lieutenant before battle. Since it would have irreversibly screwed the game if we'd followed the rules to the letter, or even with any amount of strictness, I decided to let it slide on the condition I would get the right to claim moral victory.]