Shattergrounds

Personal Log: Caporal-chef Marcel Gauthier, Loup-Garous
Outskirts of the Fishing Village of Hammerfest, Olkonir, Concilium Prima
8 October, 80 NC

It was just before dawn, at the darkest point of the night. The air was still and stifling now that we were in the jungle. The sweat beaded down my face as we moved into position. We were here to ambush an O-12 unit that was setting up what we suspect is a relay station of some kind. We don’t know what it is, but with their collusion with the Combined Army, despite the CA’s violation of the armistice, we could not allow it to survive.

I took up position at the edge of a derelict building, slime dripping down the sides, while the jungle slowly reclaimed it. My squad leader, Tristan Lemaire, freshly recovered from his wounds thanks to the medical tech our new Haqqislam allies shared with us, took position behind some decaying sandbags at the top of the same building. The rest of the team spread out along the building and in the jungle. Even the thrice-damned Jacques made it into position, covering our comms relay. It helped that we checked him for wine 24 hours before the mission and then confined him to barracks. He was none to pleased with that, but it did focus him. The rest of the patrol spread out through the jungle and the other derelict buildings. The dawn came quickly, the bright rays of daylight cutting through the jungle mist, revealing our presence to O-12, who reacted with alarming speed.

Hippolyta charged down our right flank, bypassing our infiltrators, revealing Metro Lamar, while making a beeline towards our comms relay. She crashed through the jungle, snapping branches in her wake, all while shrugging off mines and all but one of our incoming shots. She reached the console, nearly rending it in half, before the suppressive fire from Moblot Sergent Chevalier finally brought her down. On the right, the O-12 commander sent up a motorized bounty hunter, covered by Team Sirius. The bounty hunter failed to reveal Caporel Benoit, while the Team Sirius did reveal Caporel LeBeau, one of our replacements for our heavy casualties from our last patrol. LeBeau was considerably more fortunate as she managed to dodge into cover. Somehow, we made it through the initial charge unscathed.

Once we spotted a gap in the enemy’s momentum, we took brutal advantage of it. Lemaire crept along the edge of the degraded sandbags, trying to bet a bead on Team Sirius without drawing the fire of the Epsilon sniper. With a sharp crack, the Team Sirius lead went down, freeing up LeBeau. Lemaire then moved to engage both the sniper and the bounty hunter, which went about as well for him as it did against the Nomads damned TR bot. There was a solid “thunk” as the round from the Epsion impacted his chest plate, sending him sprawling along the rooftop. Fortunately alive, but seriously injured again. That poor man needs to start praying to Lady Luck. At the same time, there was a much wetter “thwack” as Lemaire’s round exploded the bounty hunter’s head.

We reorganized our team by bringing Jacques into it and then attempted to spec fire the Epsilon and Gamma that were blocking our path. The agile SOBs dodged the incoming explosive. We moved up to take positions in the jungle and cover our console. Caporel Paquet then began his advance to clear out the enemy around their console. He eliminated the enemy doctor/engineer spec ops, continued his advance, engaging both the Raptor and the Gamma. His shots hit home but the enemy just shrugged them off. Sergent Sylvain Foucault, another one of Bruant’s disciples, poked his head around the corner and promptly engaged the Raptor, easily dispatching him in a hail of lead. He then advanced on the Gamma, spitfire pulsing as he charged. The Gamma initially withstood the fire but ultimately could not match the ferocity, armor spalling off and being steadily forced back. We were now in a good position to see how the O-12 commander would react.

We did not have to wait long. Cuervo Goldstein dropped in behind Sergent Chevalier, forcing her to address the unexpected threat, while shrugging off the incoming fire from Jacques. Goldstein charged heedlessly towards our console, a dash of desperation to break our comms network. He was met with a hail of fire from our Apaches and flechettes from Chevalier’s shotgun. In a final irony, he was stunned by the console. The combined weight of fire was enough to eliminate this new threat. O-12 was now in very poor position.

They coordinate an advance by a Blue Coat to the panoply, whom Caporel DeVries engaged but was glued to the spot. The Epsilon and the Gamma the coordinated to attempt to eliminate Sergent Foucault. That man was blessed with the Devil’s own luck as everything sent his way missed while the Gamma was glued down by LeBeau. Paquet, too, survived this torrent and dodged out of sight. The Blue Coat, seeing the situation, moved into to cover to engage Paquet. Paquet, knowing he was in range of a mine, dodged, the shrapnel from the mine missing him be mere inches, shredding the air behind him and pinging off the decaying building. Unluckily for him, he was not fast enough to avoid the glue, and was stuck to the ground mid-role.

By now, O-12 was all but spent. They were all but ready to collapse and we knew we had little time to eliminate the suspected relay system. The Epsilon was still a threat that had to be dealt with before we advanced as it had coverage over too much of the field. I pushed my way through the jungle overgrowth, boots squelching through the muck beneath them. I took a knee and rested my rifle on a branch to steady it for the long shot. The Epsilon saw me and fired, the shot whistling past my head as I returned fire. My shots were true, three landing center mass, eliminating the threat. We now had free rein over the battlefield.

Foucault advanced to engage the Blue Coat, eliminating him with another hail of fire but allowing the Gamma to break free of its glue unmolested. I advance again to take on the Gamma, the jungle clawing at me as a line up my sights to remove the final thread. I fire a quick burst, again on target, and the Gamma finally drops. Foucault and Metro Lamar both moved towards the comms relay while our 112, Rogier, charged forward, engine revving loudly, clods of earth being thrown up behind him, to secure the O-12 spy. Our Apaches also advanced on the panoply to liberate some O-12 supplies. Foucault was the first to reach the relay, planting his D-Charges, but being stunned as he retreated, only partially damaging it. Lamar pulled him away before placing his own D-Charges before he too, was stunned. Fortunately, his charges did the trick a destroyed the relay. The enemy was spent and we were able to capture both a spy and Ensign Cho, who now had no way to escape. Hopefully, when we hand them over to our interrogators, they can get something useful out of them.

Lady Luck smiled upon us today. Suffering only one casualty, while overwhelmingly succeeding in our mission against one of the most advanced forces in the Sphere is a feat to be celebrated. If every battle were to go like this, Merovingia and Ariadna would be unstoppable. Sadly, I know that is not to be, as we were incredibly lucky today. The future will surely hold many more struggles. We will always rise to meet them, but it will not be without blood.

Vive la Merovingia!