Asteroid Blues

Lieutenant Zahia Soltani was in her own quarters, processing reports in her "off" time.

There was a knock at the door.

Quickly tidying the clutter which had accumulated on her desk, she pronounced "Enter."

Soltani swiveled her chair as the door slid open, and watched a familiar woman pass through the doorway. The last time she had encountered this particular member of the Operations staff, she knew it to be a Fiday wearing her face. But what of this time?

Taking note to talk to someone about her latent paranoia when she gets back to Bourak, Soltani asked "How can I help you, Mizz...?

"It's best you don't learn her name, in case you do meet her."

Mentally underlining the paranoia note, and suppressing the urge to rub her temple Soltani said "Very well. Is this a new mission? Didn't I botch the last one badly enough?"

"Not all missions succeed. You can be trusted, can you not?"

"I can."

"That is what we need. Your mission is already uploaded to your Geist. Please review it en route, we'll be taking a small shuttle trip. Follow me, if you please, Ma'am."

My Opponent's Deployment.

And my deployment.

And our reserves.

The still unknown Fiday got up and started putting on an EVA suit in the middle of the shuttle trip. Only one Ghulam followed her lead. "Preparing for rendezvous, Lieutenant." she explained.

"The mission briefing says we'll be rendezvousing with forward troops on-site."

"That's correct, but we are the forward troops." The two Fidays' faces twisted and melted and in barely a moment two Tunguska Securitates were putting on Haqqislam EVA suits in the small, cramped shuttle. "Your mission is to support mine. That detail of my mission did not seem important to yours. The shuttle will match velocity with the asteroid for our disembarkation, and then proceed to the landing zone for yours."

Soltani's team of Hassassins had successfully secured one of the quantronic beacons the mission briefing described being in a "condemned" section of Liberty Cargo's Administrative Campus. They were about to decode and transmit its signal when a Daylami on forward scout duty alerted Soltani to arrival of Tunguskan heavy security forces.

Very heavy security forces.

The Szalamandra charged the Muyib fire team's position, bowling through the Daylami, the second Fiday (reader's note: I tried to engage with Al Djabel. Turned out to be a bad idea. He burned.), and a Muttawi'ah, but had its sensors disrupted by a completely independent and not at all bankrolled by Hassassin Bahram journalist there to write a completely fair and balanced take on the situation.

At the same time, a Securitate team inched forward, under the cover of smoke to avoid the Shihab that started spitting HMG fire toward them the moment they came into view.

The mysterious Fiday maintained her position.

The fight immediately centered around the Szalamandra. Two Muttawi'ahs, and a Ragik with an Assault Hacking Device all converged on it, most of their quantronic and physical shots bouncing off its heavily armored shell.

The Asawira swung around the corner, adding its deadly Spitfire to the mix. After leaning out to fire at the TAG several times, and having the Muyib doctor patch it up twice, the Asawira finally silenced the enormous machine.

All the heat from the repeated Flamethrower blasts had damaged the team's close range comms, though, greatly reducing their ability to coordinate effectively. (reader's note: I spent all but two orders and all my command tokens on that Szalamandra.)

One of the Muyibs inched up and leveled his Heavy Rocket Launcher at the Grenzer across the field, seeing a clean shot at two heavy weapons. The Grenzer out-shot the Muyib, but his sacrifice was not in vain, as the Securitate with Heavy Machine Gun went down in flames.

The Tunguskan detail really pushed hard now, seeing that the Hassassins were not to be taken lightly.

A Spektr emerged from nowhere and attempted to steal away the beacon the Hassassins had been working on before the shooting started, but was stunned by the WarCor, and then shredded apart by a Muttawi'ah's Chain Rifle.

Against all odds, a Zondbot made its way across the Zone of Operations, withstanding flash pulses, Chain Rifles, and pistols, and brought the Szalamandra back into working order. The moment Soltani feared was here, and the TAG swung around and sprayed flames through the remaining Muyibs, Asawira, and Husam operative.

The TAG was rendered inoperational again, and the Zondbot was finally disconnected from its controller, but at the cost of the Muyib Doctor and Husam operative.

The Ragik advanced, while painting quantronic targets on the Szalamandra and Zondbot for intel retrieval, and took shots at a Transductor Zond, but failed to land any solid shots.

Meanwhile, the team's trusty Shihab injured the rogue Myrmidon operating with the Securitate team, driving it in to hiding.

I was too excited and we filmed after RingingEars' turn before I realized I hadn't taken mine yet, so the videos above and below cover Round 2 in two parts.

The Tunguskans made their last ditch effort and the Securitate Fireteams drove forward, the Myrmidon in the lead. Knowing patience would reward her in this situation, Soltani had the Shihab pick off rear team members which couldn't be protected behind a smokescreen. The Myrmidon protected itself from the WarCor's flash pulse, until the last vital moment when it emerged from the smoke and darted toward the beacon, but was stunned and unable to retrieve its goal.

With the Tunguskan assault broken, Soltani was finally able to focus on her mission: supporting the Fiday. She turned to the Shihab again, which picked off the last Securitate and the Transductor Zond which were guarding the approach to the second beacon. The Fiday was then able to maintain its cover while sneaking behind the beacon housing, and the disabled frame of the Zond, where it could safely drop its disguise and retrieve the beacon.

Lieutenant Zahia Soltani was almost not surprised this time when she returned to her quarters and found "herself" sitting in her desk chair.

"We have to stop meeting like this." Soltani said in as nonchalant a manner as possible.

"I'm afraid it would be inappropriate to make our meetings more public, or otherwise less discreet."

"Isn't it suspicious that I've now returned home twice?"

"The recordings will be doctored, the disguise is simply for any casual observers."

"Very well... I suppose you have a new mission for me?"

"No, I am simply here to congratulate you on a job well done, and thank you for having my back out there. A well executed mission, Lieutenant, it was a pleasure to work with you."

"Oh. Well, thank you."

"It's also not my place, but I happen to know you'll be rotated back to Bourak soon. Safe home, Lieutenant, inshallah, our paths shall cross again."

"I suspect they will."

With that, Soltani watched "herself" stand and leave the room.

Not five minutes later her Geist notified her of her transfer back to Bourak. She looked to the door through which the mysterious other woman had left and shook her head. "Hassassins..." she muttered.