Asteroid Blues

***
"Looks like PanO has come out to play. Uh-oh: Look out team. We got a Tikbalang TAG in play. Try to avoid it if you can."

***
"Pluton One, heads up. Got eyes on a sensor bot approaching your position."
"Rogair. Mon presént weehl...mairde, we've been 'ad! Ai swair, zis nevair 'appens to me...

***
"ENEMY TAG DETECTED. FIRING."
*POOMPOOMPOOM*
"DAMAGE TAKEN. VISUAL SYSTEM OFFLINE. INITIATING DAISY SUBROUTINE. SHUTTING DOWN."

***
"Huh. Their TAG is retreating. Now's the time; push forward comrades!

***
"Tossing smoke! I'll get 'Zookie back online in a minute."
"Roger, Blue Raider."

***
"Alricht laddie. Time tae get so-"
*Thmpthmpthmp*
"...what the hell just happened to Bearach!?"
"TR bot got him! The git hopped a crate and got shot for it. Band-Aid, can you help him?"
"Will try!"

***
"Woohoo! Yuan Yuan here to save the day! Looks like y'all need some help with that TR bot. Welp, gonna sneak on over all quiet like with Valerie here..."
*Pbpbpbprrrrrrrrp*
"Wooo, Bulleteer and your TR bot are down! Thank you, thank you, I accept gratitude in beer and Lo Pan noodles."

***
"Newport, we need the telemetry data!"
"Roger, lead. Targeting TR bot...telemetry acquired!"

***
"Alright, replace this circuit board, patch up the hole...how you feeling 'Zookie?"
"UNIT ONLINE. DESIRE FOR VENGEANCE INCREASED BY 63.7%."
"Traktor Mul armed and ready! Mentat, you're on."
"Copy. Aaaaand targeting software boosted."
"UNIT READY TO ENGAGE CHUNKY SALSA SUBROUTINE. WHERE THE DEAD MEN AT?"

***
"Alright Band-Aid, you're on. Can you help him?"
"Not if you keep talking in my ear when I'm try to aim! There we go. Live, you beautiful bastard. Liiiivvvee!"
"Arch, whit hit me?"
"TR bot. Ready to fight?"
"Ye know it! Movin' up, ready tae shrit thon bot tae bits!"
*Pbpbpbrrrrrppp*
"Ha! Now wha's a shreddit mess, ye howlin nyaff?"

***
"Yuan Yuan here. Moving to engage the Bulleteer. Going to blow him sky high! Moving in-hrk!"
"Croc-man in play! Croc-man in play!"
"On it. Eat this!"
*Gunfire*
"Damn it. Shots went wide. Reaper here. Croc-man still active. Stay sharp!"

The Dog-Warrior makes his PH-3 roll, putting him back on his feet, thirsting for blood and vengeance!

First turn, PanO moved up their sensor bot, and discovered the chasseur and his mine, then scuttled over to reveal the prone Foxtrot. After discovering Vassily's ambush camo marker, the bot deployed a sniffer, then scuttled into cover. The Tikbalang advanced next, shot up the Traktor Mul, then retreated to a better position.

My first turn, the Irmandinho ran forward, and provided smoke cover to repair the bot. The dog-warrior leapt over the crate in front him, and suffered a crit and two hits from the TR bot, leaving him unconscious. The Yuan Yuan entered play flanking the Bulleteer and TR bot; a couple of orders saw him move up and go prone, followed by chain rifling both the TR bot and the Bulleteer.  The Bulleteer's shot went wide, and both bots went down in a spray of shrapnel. With no hostiles present, the Foxtrot stood up and successfully targeted the down TR bot, netting the Telemetry objective. The Irmandinho repaired the Traktor Mul, and the kazak paramedic was able to shoot the dog-warrior and get him back on his feet. The dog-warrior, with nothing better to do, advanced, and double chain rifled the TR bot, damaging it beyond repair. The Yuan Yuan tried to blow up the Bulleteer with a d-charge close combat attack, but a crit from the Croc-Man (cheekily hidden as a regular camo marker) knocked him down. The d-charges were defective, as the Bulleteer suffered but a single wound. The Spetsnaz attempted to remove the Croc-Man, but missed every shot. With that, we moved on to Turn 2.

***
"Good work team. Watch out though: That TAG is on the move again!"
"FIRING...DIRECT HIT. TAG HAS SUSTAINED STRUCTURAL DAMAGE. COME AT ME BRO."

***
"Ha! Whit a doaty daobber ye are! Couldnae hit the broadside o a barn wi thon flamer o' yours! Canae touch thi-*pnk*"
"Bearach's down!"

***
"ENGAGING TAG. FIRING."
*POOMPOOMPOOM*
"ERROR. ERRor. ErrOR. CRITICAL DAMAGE SUSTAINED. THIS UNIT...DID THIS UNIT DID GOOD? WAS THIS...A...GOood...uuunnniiittt...?"

***
"Wait, what's that TAG doing now?"
*Thump...krunch*
"Holy crap! It just stomped Bearach!"
"Stay frosty! If they won't show mercy, neither will we!"

***
"What's it doing now?"
"TAG is moving to the Yuan Yuan. What's it doing to him?"
*Thnk*
"How do you miss someone that big?"
*Splrch*
"It just popped him like a zit! Bastards!"

***
"Blue Raider here. Advancing..."

***
"Blue Raider, just got word of a coms node on that rock formation. Bring it down!"
"Roger that! Advancing...d-charges placed! Detonating!"
*BOOM*
"Rock formation down, that'll disrupt things!"

***
"Blue Raider, we need that Croc-man neutralized. You're the best equipped to deal with it. Move up and eliminate!"
"Roger that lead. Moving up to eliminate Croc-man. Firing!"
*Pbpbpbpbrrrrrp-tink*
"Croc-man is down! Glad I grabbed that extra armor!"

***
"Van Zant, rise and shine! This party ain't complete with you!"
"Roger that. Moving in now."

***
"Van Zant here. Got eyes on a fusilier. Firing...fusilier down. Looks like there's a knight here too. Moving up..."
*Extensive gunfire*
"Knight neutralized. Maintaining position."

PanO's second turn consisted of the TAG moving to the Dog-warrior; eventually putting him down with HMG fire (after several attempts with the flamer). The TAG, after having suffered a wound from the Traktor Mul, focused its full attention on the remote, critting and dealing two more wounds, removing it from play. The TAG then moved base to base with the Dog-Warrior, and spent two orders killing the Dog-Warrior (he made his first successful armor save). The Tikbalang then moved to the unconscious Yuan Yuan, and after a miss in CC, finished him off as well, earning PanO the Predator classified.

My second turn saw the Irmandinho throw smoke and move up, then successfully planting and detonating d-charges on a rock formation, earning the Sabotage secondary classified. The Irmandinho then moved up, tanked a shot from the Croc-man, and downed him with his chain rifle. With the secondary group done, Van Zant entered from the west flank, and promptly Van Zant'd Fusilier Angus. He then focused on the nearby Knight of Santiago, eventually dealing two wounds and taking it out of the fight.

***
"Looks like we've decapitated their leadership; they're in complete disarray!"

***
"Uh-oh. Sensor bot is trying to scan me. Throwing smoke!"
*Poosh*
"Smoke deployed! Don't think they can see me."

***
"Look out! Kamau is on the move!"
"Damn, he's hacking into my coms! Resetting!"
"I got you Blue Raider! Firing!"
*Blam*
"Kamau is down! You ok Blue Raider?"
"Yeah. I was able to reset in time."
"Roger that. Stay alert! They want something off you, that's for sure!"
"One: I would never bring anything that could compromise the mission with me. Two: PanO are a bunch of scrubs; they could never reach my level."

***
"Something's up. Their engineer just hopped off the building!"
"Damn, shots missed!"
"What's he doing?"
"I don't know, but he's beelining for Blue Raider. Watch out!"
"Revealing!"
*Assorted gunfire*
"Blue Raider here. Why did a machinist just slide face down next to me?"
"Van Zant here. Tagged him as he was headed your way. Think he was trying to pull off some nanoespionage on you."
"Thanks for the support!"

***
"Watch out team. Tikbalang just took an overwatch position."
"Uh-oh. He's got 'is sights on me! Moveng to-*thwp*"
"Pluton One is down!"

***
"Blue Raider. Approaching sensor bot! Firing chain rifle!"
*Pbpbpbbprrrrrrp*
"Sensor bot is down! Can't get any closer though, otherwise that TAG's going to nail me. Little help?"
"Roger, Blue Raider. Lead here, moving to engage the TAG. Fire the hole!"
*Whomp*
"Nice shot Lead! TAG is stuck, repeat, TAG is stuck."
"Roger. Blue Raider, you are clear to engage."

***
"Blue raider here. Moving in...Bugs are in place on the sensor bot! Now to scrap it...Damn these d-charges! Must be a defective batch. Last set; trying again."
*Boom*
"Holy hell, what are they armoring these things with, pure tesium? Time to do this the old fashioned way!"
*Thnk*
"Sensor bot down!"

***
"Uxia, care to return the favor to these PanO bastards?"
"Of course. Movin' tae the machinist."
*Shtk*
"Machinist doun."

***
"Uxia. There's still the knight left. Let's send give Bearach a friend."
"He'd like thon. Movin' up!"
*Vicious stab*
"Knicht's no comin back from thon!"

***
"Nice job team. Data is secure; let's grab our dead and wounded and head home."
"What about the TAG?"
"Spray some graffiti on it, then head on out. Think that'll hurt the Blues more than losing it."
"Roger that!"

PanO started third turn in loss of lieutenant. The sensor bot kicked things off by trying to forward observe the Irmandinho, who successfully deployed smoke to avoid the attack. The Kamau hacker went next, standing up and running towards the Irmandinho in an attempt to score a secondary classified. Unfortunately for the Kamau, the Spetsnaz was able to land a shot in ARO, and the Irmandinho was able to succeed in winning the face-to-face with a reset reaction. In desperate need of objectives, the machinist jumped off the building he was hiding on, and ran towards the Irmandinho. After running through a gauntlet of gunfire to try and reach the smoke, he fell to a shot from Van Zant, skidding to a halt at the Irmandinho's feet. The TAG took a tall position to watch the field, and after downing the chasseur, ended his turn.

The Irmandinho ran towards the sensor bot with his impetuous order, and successfully chain rifled it. The Tikbalang posed a problem, as the TAG was covering all approaches to the remaining objectives. As such, Vassily did something he almost never does: Launch a surprise attack on the TAG with his arkylat-kannone. Vassily managed to score a hit with the adhesive weapon, and the TAG failed its PH roll, becoming immobilized. With free reign, the Irmandinho ran forward and engaged the sensor bot. After successfully completing the Nanoespionage Classified, the Irmandinho tried to destroy the bot in close combat with a d-charge, but missed on his first try. One attempt later, the bot stood with a single wound remaining. One last close combat attack left the bot a pile of scrap. Uxia then moved to the unconscious machinist, and eliminated him in "close combat". Full of bloodlust, she approached the downed knight, and ended him as well, earning the Predator classified, as well as the bonus objective point for 3 close combat kills.

After tallying objectives, Ariadna had won the day, 10-1!

The data recovered was most concerning; Haqqislam appeared to have compromised by the Shasvastii! Where will this lead? Who knows...