Shattergrounds

Dramatis Personae:

Strikeforce Gamma
• 2nd Lt Yousef Gold (Raveneye Officer)
• Major Isaac Bean (Alpha)
• Sgt. Marius Sharpe (Gamma)
• Op. Steven Grange (Lynx KHD)
• Sgt. David Myer (Omega)
• Aveto (Varangian)
• Agt. Marcus Strong (Cyberghost)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Prologue: Reach for the Sky

Lieutenant Slater dashed across the rooftop and took up a position against the parapet as Maj. Bean took up position nearby.

“What are the Morats doing here” Gold called to Bean. The O-12 forces had been sent to secure access to the tracking station, expecting to face Haqqislam forces. They had not expended the Combined Army’s shock troops.

“It doesn’t matter” Bean replied, “We have our mission”.

Lieutenant Slater threw out a mine and hunkered down. He braced as warnings sprung out over comms. The Morats were on the move, and hopefully the O-12 forces could goldA chorus of confirmations replied over the team’s comms. Not long ago these pirates wouldn’t have dared make an assault like this on Concilium, not to mention Edda, but those time had passed. With the current turmoil on the planet the scavengers were circling, and Lt. Slater knew that it would take everything the O-12 security forces could do to see their home through this storm.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Chapter 1.1 – Shock and awww

The alien warbands came screaming forward, throwing down smoke to clear the way for their forces. Explosions from Sgt. Sharpe’s feurbach exploded around them, but their shifting forms made them difficult to hit.

As the O-12 forces focused on the Morat force coming towards them an alien diplomat came screaming in from behind. Just as the alien moved to take out the O-12 hacking net, Op. Grange revealed from his cloaked position, firing on the alien taking the surprise guest by surprise.

As Sgt. Myer moved to respond the alarm sensors in his armour went off. Dodging out of the way as quickly as he could the sergeant barely avoided the rounds flying through the smoke from the alien sniper.

“Watch out” Myer called over comms, “They’ve got a sniper with multispectral”.

“Thanks for the warning” Sgt. Sharp responded back as his feurbach landed home, turning a Morat witch soldier into a cloud of mist. The warning came not a second too soon, as not a moment later rounds from the sniper slammed into the parapet of Sharpe’s perch. Narrowly missing the Gamma as he threw his bulky form to the floor.

Trying to take advantage of the distraction, the enemy diplomat began to move, hoping to get to safety while taking out as many of the O-12 troops as he could. He got not 2 steps before Grange and Aveto’s shots landed home.

Chapter 1.2 – Blow them away!

The counter offensive started with a rain of missiles, flying towards the targets that had been marked thanks to the forward siriusbot’s repeater. As the missiles landed home, eliminating the Morat’s forward troops, Agent Strong put up a white noise zone between the towering Gamma and the enemy sniper. Now safe from the Sniper’s sight Sharpe vaulted off the building, eliminating the remaining daturazi as he went.

Taking cover against some nearby barrels he took aim at the enemy sniper, blowing it away in a short burst from his Feurbach. With the way clear he continued to move left, to eliminate more of the enemy forces. As he rounded the corner his armour was rocked by a direct hit from a panzerfaust shot. With his suit barely holding on, the Gamma once again came around the corner blowing the yaogat hacker away. Not willing to stop and rest he continued on. Quickly scaling a nearby building and putting plunging fire down onto the enemy’s right flank, blowing away a yaogat taking cover.

Across the battlefield, as the Gamma rampaged through the enemy, Sgt. Myer moved up and began to suppress the enemy troops remaining on the enemy’s left flank.

Chapter 2.1 – Desperate push

To their credit the Morats did not give up. Kornak trying to be an example moved out and took shots at the enemy Gamma. Bullets flew back and forth, and as the dust settled the Gamma lay slain on the ground.

Emboldened by their leader the remaining troops on the enemy’s right flank descended from their perch. As they moved forward their paramedic fired back into the downed yaogat with a spitfire, reviving the alien. The enemy paramedic quickly moved to the nearest security console and began to access it to secure access to the tracking station’s data.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Chapter 2.2 – Clear and secure

Operative Grange moved out towards the nearest security console. The regular forces could handle the bulk of the fighting, he was here to secure access to the tracking station. Turning the corner he eliminate the Morat working on the nearest console, before recloaking and moving to the console himself.

In order to help Op. Grange, Agt Strong deployed a repeater and tagged the enemy Suryat providing cover for the console. Before the alien could respond missiles flew from the Strikeforce milicent, vaporizing the enemy heavy.

With this threat down Grange eliminate the remaining enemy on the left flank and began to hack into the nearby console. With a console secure, and the enemy in retreat, Maj. Bean ordered the central Kytta forward to secure the nearby tech coffin. As the bot dashed to the console Kornak fired shots to stop it, but the bot’s armour held strong.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Chapter 3.1 – Last ditch efforts

The tides had turned, but he would not go home empty handed, Kornak thought to himself. The Morat leader ran out with the tech coffin in sight. Shots from the suppressing Omega’s HMG tore into the morat as he ran, but he would not be deterred. As he leveled his gun at the bot on the coffin a shock shot through his body as the Kytta’s flash pulse hit home, stunning the alien.