Asteroid Blues

Commander Harkon reviewed his orders whilst en route to the drop zone on his strike teams drop ship. An Ariadnan Tartary infiltration team is believed to be aggressively patroling into areas of interest to O-12 high command. Harkon and his strike team were being sent in as a rapid response force, to perform an early strike againts the interlopers and push them out of the O-12 AO.

Harkon looked around at the men and women under his command before they dropped. His Kappa unit, 3 troopers, would hold the Strike teams Drop zone and provide rear security. The Varangian guard unit also 3 strong was to provide close quater fighting support to other units and to put down effective smoke screens. Two Kytta Remotes would provide the team with effective communications back to O-12 high command, and a Lambda combat medic would provide close health support to the team. The Gangbuster operative and elite Sirius team would provide the team with early warning and specialist troops that were able to advance ahead of the main force quickly. The Epsilon Trooper attached to the team would provide extremely effective overwatch with his MSV and Multi sniper, he would be the teams guardian angel. The lumbering form of the Gamma unit trooper would be the Hammer of the team, he would light targets up with his state of the art Fuerbach whilst enjoying excellent protection inside his advanced power armour. Lastly the Delta commando would remain aboard the dropship and deploy once contact with the enemy was made, he would be able to surprise the enemy and insert into their lines. Ofcourse Harkon himself was an elite Alpha operative, equipped with state of the art communications and combat equipment and an academy trained Officer of the highest order, he was a tested field commander and capable tactician. Harkon put faith in his experience and the expertise of his team.

The enemy was believed to be a Tartary Army Corps forward Recon unit. The O-12 strike team expected to come up against several infiltration units such as the ‘Strelok recon unit’ and members of the renowned ‘Frontoviks Battalion’.

The green deployment light buzzed on in the dropship and Harkon cleared the information on his HUD. The pilot intercommed to the Troop bay, “Drop drop drop!” And on at a time the team repelled down to their deployment zone. The AO was a Terminal sector designated Sector 5b. This was were arms and munitions were transiting in and out of the main Xarax Battery. The zone was littered with Terminal equipment and large shipping containers broken up by administration buildings. The field was dense with terrain so Harkon split his team up to cover more ground . His Epsilon operative took up an overwatch position on one of the admin buildings, he was supported by a Varangian who would provide smoke screens and close support. The Lambda also took up this position as it was safe for him to operate his syncronized servants from. The sirius team took the middle ground early in order to hold the important ground there and the Gangbuster took the left flank in ordet to quickly access one of two shipping consoles that contained important information that O-12 needed to capture. The heavy form of the Gamma, took a central position so he could provide fire support to either side of the team. Harkon took a safe and commanding position on top of another admin building with the 3 Kappas, adjacent to the Epsilon. From here Harkon could safely relay information between High command and the field and orchestrate his teams actions. The other two Varangians took up positions next to the Gamma and gangbuster.

First contact was uncertain, several shadowy figures began to tactically approach the Strike teams positions. It had to be the TAK recon unit. As the teams forward observer the Sirius relayed the enemies rough position to the Epsilon in overwatch. The Varangian threw down a smokescreen on the Epsilon. Sergeant Max Carner, the Epsilon trooper, activated his Visor and immediately his vision pierced the veil of the smoke. Using the information received by the Sirius team he honed his sniper in on a Veteran Kazak trooper. He fired two accurate shots at the Kazak however the enemies heavy armour appeared to save him from the first round but the second round caused a serious wound. The wounded Kazak took cover. From his position Carner began to pick out Shrouded targets and designated them however most appeared to be decoys until one, on top of another admin building opposite to Carner shot back. The target appeared to be non other than renowned Tartary marksman, Vassily Plushenko. Max realised he was in for a tough gun fight, so he steadied himself, confident with his superior position, shrouded in smoke, and his advanced tech. SGT Carner fired again and again one of his shots found its mark, Vassily while not killed by the shot took a grave wound and went down. Early on in the engagement the Tartary Recon Team was in dissary as their Commander was down.

The objectives being, the two shipping processing consoles and the central tech coffin were of utmost importance and so far were completely uncontested. Harkon needed to change this. As Sgt Carner took cover to avoid return fire the enemy Vet Kazak, still bleeding, advanced and disabled one of the Strike Teams Kytta bots and took up a good firing position. The Tartary force also took one of the consoles early by sending a stealthy strelok to capture it. Harkon relayed his orders and the Gamma moved to action. Corporal Gabriel Mendoza was a veteran O-12 Trooper, working his way to the elite Gamma unit. His Advanced power armour made him all but impervious not only due to damage resistance but with an advanced life support suite built in. He would need this as he attempted to engage the vet Kazak, a Heavy rocket launcher armed Frontovik was able to spot Cpl Mendoza moving. The Frontovik let a barrage lose and Mendoza returned fire with a howl of his Fuerbach. The Gamma missed and the rockets impacted on his heavy armour plates. When the smoke cleared however Mendoza was uninjured, his armour absorbed the impacts. He then rounded a shipping container and engaged the Veteran Kazak in a firefight. After a short exchange Mendoza bloodily obliterated the Kazak with his Fuerbach before attempting to flank the Frontovik team however he was not able to put effective fire onto their position.
On the left flank the Delta operative, Specialist Howton, dropped in, hidden by the mass of shipping containers. He rounded on the Strelok holding the shipping console and engaged her with his Spitfire. Howtons spitfire roared and a number of high powered rounds bit into the lightly armoured and surprised strelok and put her down.

The enemy Recon unit attempted to recover the situation. A Frontovik attempted to hold onto the console and advanced on the Recently deseaced streloks position. A protracted Firefight broke out between the Frontovik and Specialist Howton and the Delta was forced to seek better cover. The Frontovik led Line Kazak fireteam in the enemies centre, realising the way was clear advanced towards the O-12 position. The HRL loosed again and destroyed Trooper Ryten, a Kappa providing ground level overwatch. Then the Fireteams Gunner, a line Kazak moved to engage Corporal Mendoza. The HMG hit home as the Gamma’s Fuerbach was to slow to respond to the sudden burst. Several rounds pierced the Gamma’s power armour, the rocket impact must have caused a weakness. It was only due to the advanced life support systems of the Power armour that Mendoza was able to live.

Operative Valentine, the Strike teams Ganbuster squad member, realised that the Frontovik holding the console he was tasked with controlling was supressing Delta Howton. Valentine was able to outflank the Frontovik and at close range his SMG was deadly, the Frontovik dropped riddled with high velocity bullets. Thinking it was safe he then made a dash for the Console despite reaching it and activating it for O-12, yet another Frontovik was lying in wait. The Enemy fired a powerful T2 round at Valentine, and the gangbuster went down in a bloody mess. Delta Howton seeing this attempted to avenge his comrade howver after yet another protracted firefight also succumbed to a deadly T2 round. The enemy fireteam had now locked down the centre of the field and the O-12 Team needed to take the central tech coffin to complete their objective. Sgt Carner again stepped up to the plate and ended the Frontovik toting the HRL. In tandem with his Varangian guard offsider they managed to clear out the rest of the fireteam except for the HMG. Mendoza ended that engagement by finally hitting home with his fuerbach, the explosive rounds left nothing of the Kazak. In Unison with the Sirius Trooper, Sasha Wanton, Mendoza moved up to secure the tech coffin as he was the teams Data tracker and could extract the contents of the Coffin. Mendoza secure the tech coffin and Wanton secured the right hand side Console. All the O-12 team needed to do now was hold off the remnants of the Enemy Recon Unit.

The Tartary unit made one final attempt to win the day. The units attached Irmadhino recklessly launched himself at Sirius trooper Wanton, and let loose with a deadly chain rifle. Epsilon Sgt Carner in overwatch fired and put the Irmadhino down however the deadly illegal chain weapon bit into Wanton’s flesh and mortally wounded her. In a final attempt at victory the remaining Frontoviks charged Cpl Mendoza’s position firing recklessly, The Gamma in a good firing position, fired his Fuerbach with bloody results.

The Tartary Recon unit was in tatters and Harkon’s O-12 Strike team was holding their primary objective and a shipping console. The surviving Kazak’s slipped out of the AO and the Strike team called in their victory and a casevac for their dead and wounded. A hard fought victory for Harkon and his team against a tough and determined enemy.