Asteroid Blues

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CLASSIFIED
YuánDùn Units ONLY :
Operation Kēng hòuwèi

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Captain Hóng Lóng,
Congratulation on your quick defense.
We have recovered your main swallowed by the hull breach.
We have sent them back to you, with reinforcement.
Ennemies are all over us!
Hold the line, Captain!
We are the Emperor’s Shield. Glory to the State Empire.
Colonel Peng Shou of the YuánDùn Division
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Captain Hóng Lóng was wary. Even though the Ariadnan had been delt with promptly, reports of fighting were coming constantly on the comlog.
And the Hull Breaches were getting worse.

Zúyǒng Jian was at the ready, the solid rock he always had been.
Reinforcement had arrived. Daofei WeiYuan and a Su-Jian. And two new Kuangshi to replace the dead.

This time it seemed like an Haqqislamite squad were heading straight at them.
Captain Hóng Lóng, decided to not fix something not broke, and to maintain the same defensive tactic which proved succesfull. This time, he had the initiative, so he placed his men to prepare for a quick advances in the street and courtyard, whith him, Jian, and Zhànying Guozhi (back from his sojourn in the void) and Zhànying Longwei on overwatch on the other side.

Restless, or too eager for redemption ( at least they all wanted to believe that) the Kuang Shi each launched themselves forward in both Western and Eastern streets and in the central courtyard, right behind the Pagoda.

On the Eastern side, Celestial Guard Meili felt uneasy, and not because she too had had a free sejourn in space (lucky she was equipped with a respirator).
She looked behind her at her fellow soldier.
One of the reinforcement.
For some reason, she felt something was not right.
She could not put her finger on what exactly, though.
But given her concern, her comrade Captain, Celestial Guard Shen, could immediately.
They had been infiltrated! It was an ennemy Assassin, right behind them!

Hearing Captain Shen shout out, Zhànying Guozhi above turned himself quickly and opened fire, dispatching immediately the Fiday with precisely aimed fire.
The men of the Imperial Service were startled.
They had reacted well, but it could have been much worse.
But something like this should not have happened.

Beside Guozhi, Zhànying Longwei opened fire with a missile on the Fasid in front of them on the opposite building.
His shot was aimed correctly, and the resulting explosion jerked the Fasid backward, damaging his armor, and projecting him right into a hull breach wich swallowed him.

On the Western side, Zanshi Ling saw something weird on the building in front of her and tried to investigate.
But the ground shook, and an explosion in the hull created a breach which sent her to the void of space.

Despite the loss of Ling, Captain Hóng Lóng investigated as well the same shadow and discovered the enemy Tuareg sniper.

"Sniper", shouted the Captain immediately.
"On it", came a reply from Daofei WeiYuan, who was infiltrated way ahead and well placed for a deep strike.
He revealed itself to the horrified ennemy shooting with his boarding shotgun, while the Zhayedan wasn't able to aim his fire correctly.
The Zhayedan was killed outright, and the blast also take out the Ghulam womann although it could not hit the Tuareg above.

The Daofei, now revealed, shot twice at the Tuareg, who would not remove Captain Hóng Lóng and Zúyǒng Jian from her sight.
But grit alone (and cover and camo) could not hold forever against the relentless assault of WeiYuan and she finally died.

On the Eastern side, the Su-Jian advanced.

While Sergeant Enlai got into position in the compound.

Followed by Dr XiaoQuing on the other side.

At that time, Haqqislam was already in a pretty bad position. The strategy which had worked against Ariadna was working here as well.
The Yu Jing great wall was strong.
But an ennemy Ragik landed gracefully in the garden behind Captain Hóng Lóng's line and none was ready for it.
The ennemy woman advanced and opened fire at Zanshi Huian and Captain Hóng Lóng.
Huian died immediately from two precise round, but Captain Hóng Lóng was lucky, protected by cover, and by a new explosion from a hull breach which swallowed the Ragik.
Bad luck for the invaders.

The second ennemy Ghulam rushed toward Daofei WeiYuan and opened fire.
Too far for the shotgun, WeiYuan let it fall on the ground and got his pistol out to fire in return.
No damage was done to either of them, so the firefight continued.
The Daofei felt numerous round connect, but all were deflected by his armor or cover.
Another hull breach opened at that moment which took out the enemy Ghulam.

Tarik was enraged and charged in.
The Su-Jian in front of him, he unleashed his rage upon it, fiding its target each time, each shot in turn deflected by the Su-Jian's armor.
They fired again, but again, a hull breach opened above them, wounding both.
Zhànying Longwei in overwatch aimed carefully his missile launcher and fired, taking out the frightening Tarik Mansuri.

The Haqqislamite Lieutenant, now alone with a Kawarij, declared retreat.
But the ennemy Kawarij would hear none of that.
He had prepared to go down fighting, and would take as many ennemy as he could with him.
So he advanced and fired at Zhànying Guozhi who retaliate. They failed to hit, so they fired again, both.
Zhànying Guozhi felt two round connect painfully as he fell on the ground, hard.

The Kawarij was not done, so he moved in and targeted the Su-Jian.
Again, the shot are deflected by the mechanical beast's armor.

Zhànying Longwei is once again on point, and fire his missile launcher right on target.
The Kawarij fanaticism ended here.

The lone survivor of the Haqqislam forces fled the field of battle.

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Captain Hóng Lóng was glad the fighting was over. They had hold the line.
But at what cost? Many had perished, and many more were wounded.
His tactic had once again proved succesfull, but he was exhausted.
Yet, he was also proud, for his soldiers had proven that there was honour amongst Yu Jing, and he knew most of his fellow commanders were also true to their oath, and, most important, to their brothers in arms.

Together, Yu Jing stood strong. And it is a lesson that the traitor had forgotten, helped with the individualist hypocrisy of the Panoceanian and the rest of the Human Sphere.
He felt that he and his fellowed commander had this time proven more than most that they were true to their fellow human and stood above petty interests, hunting down the real menace and fighting to defend their people.

The dead were buried, honour distributed, and as he stood in front of their grave, Imperial Agent Hsiu took the time to visit with Sun Tze himself.

- " Captain, you have proved to be one of the most able and precious assets of the State Empire."
- "Thank you, Agent."
- " I have studied your tactics, and I must say that even though luck was on your side, you have shown great calm and precision under stress." added the Strategos.
- " I was not alone fighting. Luck was on our side, but the hull breaches will soon kill most of our men. And if I was lucky, it is only to have such people of Yu Jing fighting with me. They are the one who deserve your praise."
- "And praise will be given. Honour your fallen. You shall soon be reassigned. And you and Jian have once again been noticed."

And on that, they both departed and left him to mourn.
He looked above, new explosion breaching the hull. How long will they be able to last?
Their will and honour sustained them. But they were treated as an evil force by the rest of the Human Sphere and were a more easy target than the Combined Army for the hypocritical powers.
He looked at his men. Fallen and living. And swore an oath to himself.
-"We shall hold the line."
Zúyǒng Jian came nearby and put a hand on his shoulder, nodding.
- "We shall hold the line."

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First time playing against Haqqislam.
First time my opponent played them, too.
I must say I was in for a surprise, for they had quite some nasty surprises.
But again, luck was on my side, with very good roll, and the hull breaches which once again took out half of the ennemy forces on their own.
It was a very enjoyable game for me, at least, and I'm getting a better grasp of my forces.
My Spec Ops mini is now painted, so I'm thinking that Captain Hóng Lóng will soon get a promotion and a haircut...

First battle of Captain Hóng Lóng, during Asteroid Blues :
https://asteroidblues.warconsole.com/battles/thorongil-vs-noos-1569256894

His second battle :
https://asteroidblues.warconsole.com/battles/thorongil-vs-noos-1570461479