Shattergrounds

We live in dangerous times.
When I heard that a Triumvirate Agent had slipped through the defenses guarding the Digester, I feared the worst. Unfortunately, the worst was yet to come. Countless lives lost in the resulting explosions. Concilium Prima is in chaos. Once again, PanOceania has called upon me for guidance as we navigate the aftermath of this tragedy. There are civilians and scientists that need saving. Years worth of data and research at risk of being lost to the oceans or, potentially even worse, plundered by Nomads as they use this disaster as a cover for their looting.
When the weak cry out for help, the Hyperpower will answer. As I was preparing to mobilize my forces, I received an encrypted message.

-- INITIATING DECRYPTION SEQUENCE --
>> Source Signal located... Transmission from P̵͇͓̜͙͙̾̀̄̃͐̐̿̏̅R̴̼̃O̸̢͔̦̫̦͙̭̬̍̈́̓̂̕J̴̝̘̝͕̳͎͍̜͙̮͈̘̖̗̎̍͋̀̿̈́̆́̅̍̈́̋̌É̵̡̢̻̱͉̠͙̦̺̼̲͔̱͖̃̈̀̀̈́̈́̂̓̒̚̚͠C̵̡̠̮̪͍̭̬̮̻͔̺̎T̴̛͚̱̳̤̜̦̤͆ ̸̳́̒͋̿̔̍̎͆̓̄̏̌M̶̭̜̥̜̘̱͓̺̈́̇̑͌̓͝͠Ą̵̞̣̪̙̪͚͌̆͊̏̾͊̀͗́̃̈́I̷̢̠̦̬͎̞̘͎̱̟̬̬͖̭̓͑̒̐̔̎̓Ḑ̵̢͓̩̫͇̰͖̥͕̘͎̜̠̈́͑́͆̈̍̃̉̕̚ͅ ̸̢̯̖̻̞́̇̈́̇̿̎͊̐͂̕̚͘͠ͅO̷͖̲̺̞̼̯͕͈̐̈́̅́̿F̵͚͓̳͍̭̝͔͖͆͌̂ ̶̡̛̤̩͈̤̈́̾͗̎̃̈́͆O̷̡̰̤͔̗̠̼̙͙̬͔̹͐R̴͕̐̈͆̆̈L̵̨̜͔̹̬͇͋̐̒̒͗̔̅́̚̚Ĕ̵̯́̑͂̆ͅA̴͖̘̘̾͊̋N̵̜̞̝͈̳͋̄̐͗̑̀̿͘͜S̷̢̡͙̖̰͖͙͇̥̿̒̆̏̄̅̃̊̇͜͝͠...
-- Reconstructing Fragmented Data Packets --
-@%$#>>... Begin transmission ...$%*^-
--*(&%... Interference Detected ...%^$#--
- MESSAGE INTEGRITY: 48% -
DATA FRAGMENT 1: "... esteemed Father-Officer Thanan Rollice, ... righteous and just, I humbly beseech ..."
DATA FRAGMENT 2: "... Montalban, our proud undersea ... I have come to ..."
DATA FRAGMENT 3: "... bounty hunters of this age, ... depths and ensure the safety ..."
DATA FRAGMENT 4: "... my presence on the battlefield ..."
DATA FRAGMENT 5: "... servant of the divine, ... storm Montalban ... ticking clock waits for ..."

-- ATTEMPTING TO RECONSTRUCT FULL MESSAGE –

To the esteemed Father-Officer Thanan Rollice,
In the name of all that is righteous and just, I humbly beseech you. The threads of destiny have woven me once again into the fabric of battle. Montalban, our proud undersea jewel, faces a peril that I cannot ignore.
Over the course of my time fighting for PanOceania, I have come to know several souls, bounty hunters of this age, who have shown unwavering valor and unbreakable spirit. They have pledged their loyalty to me, and I to them. Together, as a united force, we wish to descend into the depths and ensure the safety of our scientists and the invaluable knowledge they harbor.
I understand the weight of my presence on the battlefield, and I assure you that every ounce of this bestowed strength will be used to ensure our triumph. The hands that have felled countless of our enemies now reach out to you, asking for your trust, to let me take the mantle once again to lead, fight, and reclaim what is rightfully ours.
I am but a humble servant of the divine, and of PanOceania. The fire that rages in my eyes is not for personal glory, but for the love of our people and our mission. Grant us your permission, and together, let us storm Montalban and rekindle hope in the hearts of our people.
The ticking clock waits for no one, and I implore you to act swiftly. With every passing moment, the danger grows, but so too does our resolve. With your blessing, we shall prevail.
-- END OF MESSAGE –
My heart pounds with pride. The great Joan of Arc herself is ready to lead the charge. I eagerly accept her proposal, sending her the encrypted coordinates of our Ground Zero entry point.

To gain access to Montalban, we must secure the docks in order to establish a base of operations and create areas for our rescue vessels to moor. As my troops meet up with Joan at the site, we receive a transmission from Machaon, the mad doctor. He informs us that he is leading an operation in the area and is ordering us to stand down. We have no such luxury of waiting for them to finish when there are people dying at the bottom of the ocean. Time is of the essence. I implore him to evacuate his forces immediately or we will be forced to take the port by force. He shouted expletives over the commlink and ended all communication. With a deep sigh, I passed along the information to Joan to be wary of hostile Aleph forces on the ground.
Thankfully, intel provided by the Hexahedron gave us most of the enemy positions. Once we saw their attack formation, Joan ordered her forces to set up defensively. We would have to weather the first assault. Survive, then fight back!

Two Dakini Tacbot HMGs whirred into action, their speed and their positioning giving them opportune targets. As they were both held in reserve, they were able to counter deploy against some of my more vulnerable units.
The first Dakini HMG takes aim at my Beasthunter. She elects to dodge, fearing the mimetism of the Dakini Tacbot. From Joan’s defensive position, she sees the Beasthunter take a lethal shot to the head, crumpling to the ground in a heap as she is Crit in the first interaction of the battle. As the Dakini shoots, it retreats into a prone position behind some crates.

Next, the second Dakini takes aim, this time targeting the Fugazi on our left flank. The Fugazi manages to dodge most shots, but takes ANOTHER Crit straight to its primary sensor, rendering it unconscious.

One of the Camo markers that our sensors picked up on the right flank begins moving. As it crosses a gap, the Fugazi watching our right flank gets sight of it and successfully discovers it, revealing that it is in fact a Beasthunter. Wasting no time, the Beasthunter charges forward, unleashing a flamethrower onto our Fugazi, which fails its dodge, but tanks the armor save.

The Fugazi may be alive, but it’s effectively pinned down, so Machaon a Posthuman Mk 5 to begin seizing some of the objectives. The Mk 5 successfully presses one button with ease, then a Dakini Tacbot Paramedic does a similar maneuver to press a second button, ending the turn.

We have taken a couple of losses, but we are still absolutely in this fight. Joan coordinates with a Motorized Bounty Hunter that rolled up a Multi Sniper Rifle, my Camouflaged Zulu Cobra, my Karhu Feuerbach, and herself. This allows us to move the Zulu Cobra toward one of the objectives as well as begin the Karhu’s assault. It also moves the Bounty Hunter towards our right flank where the Beasthunter is still lying in wait.
The Bounty Hunter aims her Multi Sniper Rifle at the Beasthunter, offering a silent prayer that the Panzerfaust he’s firing back won’t find its mark. Thankfully, God is on our side and the Multi Sniper CRITs the Beasthunter, rendering him unconscious.

Now that the most immediate threat is dealt with, we unleash the Karhu. His superior movement and training in all forms of terrain gives him a boost of speed as he maneuvers through the water. Once on the docks, he carefully maneuvers to avoid a mine while climbing one of the center buildings. He gets line of sight to one of the Dakini HMGs, blowing it to smithereens with ease as the railgun tears through the metal plates of its body.

The next encounters will be more difficult. The Karhu Feuerbach is much more comfortable shooting at range, but the terrain requires some up close encounters. He takes on an enemy Liberto and the Dakini Paramedic. One shot takes out the Dakini paramedic, but unfortunately, the shots go wide on the Liberto. Thankfully, Mimetism and range is on our side against the enemy Liberto and he misses as well.
Frustratingly, the Karhu fails to take out the Liberto, despite a few attempts.

Without many orders left, the Karhu abandons the Liberto and sets his sights on the second enemy Dakini HMG. This exposes him to a flash bot as well.

The shots against the Dakini connect, rendering it unconscious, but not removed completely. Unfortunately, the Flash Pulse from the Lamedh connects, stunning the Karhu. Very unfortunate.

We have done sizable damage in our first turn, taking out some key threats. We also dominate more zones thanks to the Karhu’s bold maneuver. Joan retreats slightly back to her hiding spot, not willing to give the enemy any chance of engaging on terms other than her own.

The Karhu is out of position, and the Proxy Mk5 is in the perfect position to counterattack. He rounds the corner, looking up at the Karhu’s perch and unleashes full bursts of his SMGs. The Karhu grabs his Pistol to shoot back, but is gunned down by the sheer weight of fire of the superior burst.

The Proxy Mk1 Engineer runs up to the Unconscious Dakini HMG, repairing it back to fighting order. It’s definitely a good thing that Joan retreated at the end of our previous turn. The Dakini declares a discover against our Helot Militiaman, who was patiently lying in wait. Frustratingly, the Dakini succeeds in his discovery, revealing the Helot Shock Marksman.

Knowing he’s out of range, the Helot unleashes his Marksman Rifle, hoping for rate of fire to save his life, but it isn’t enough. The Helot is taken out by the HMG.

Without anyone left to watch, the Liberto maneuvers over to the right flank, taking up a defensive position lying in wait for anyone who passes by.
Machaon moves up slightly, taking a defensive position behind an ad board. The Proxy Mk5 goes into Suppressive fire

Now, it is finally time for action! Now that the Dakini HMG is back up, it’s up to Joan to clear the path. Joan charges forward, unleashing a deadly burst from her Spitfire, peppering the body of the Dakini, sending it unconscious again.

She then coordinates to move the Tech Bee up into position to press an objective next turn as well as moving the Zulu Cobra the last bit up to his position to activate his objective. The final member of the coordinate is the leftmost MBH, who rolled up an EXP CCW.

Joan charges forward, dodging to gain extra movement as she encounters the Liberto. The Liberto lays down templates from his Light Shotgun, which bounce off of Joan’s mobility armor. God is with us. She tanks TWO more hits from the Liberto as she finally takes him out. His Dogged ability kept him up for far longer than she expected.

The Proxy Mk5 may be in Suppressive, but he’s facing the wrong way. Joan sprays him with her Spitfire at a distance from his blind spot, taking him down for good.
Joan then maneuvers to take on the Lamdh flash bot that stunned our Karhu earlier. Frustratingly, the blinding light from the Flash Pulse stuns her as well. Critically, this also means she won’t be able to suppress at the end of this turn, which was the plan originally.

Since Joan’s rampage is halted for now, the Zulu Cobra takes this opportunity to reveal himself and activate one of our consoles, which he succeeds in doing.

Thanks to Joan’s push, we once again hold more zones, scoring points at the end of Round 2.

With most of his forces down, Machaon leaps into action. Since Joan is not in suppressive and she’s right on his doorstep, this is his opportunity to take her out, crippling the PanOceanian forces. He charges forward, tossing Eclipse Smoke at Joan’s feet as her shot against him goes wide thanks to his Mimetism.

As the smoke spreads around Joan, she lies in wait. Her trained ears strain, waiting for any sound giving her a clue to the Myrmidon’s whereabouts, but his Stealth allows him to approach without a sound.

Joan unequips her Spitfire and draws her sword. The word BENEDICTA on the blade humming with energy. Through the haze, she spots the faint glow of his Lhost’s eyes. In a flash, his sword arcs through the crackling smoke. But Joan’s senses are razor-sharp. She parries his strike, leaving a gash on his arm. The ferocity of their duel intensifies. The surviving members of both forces watch the cloud of smoke in nervous anticipation. Intermittent flashes of brilliant light pierce through, giving away the positions of the duelists. Each gleam provides a fleeting glimpse of their movements. In a momentary lapse, Joan feels the sting of his blade on her side. But she does not falter.
Harnessing the explosive power of her blade, she finally thrusts with precision, landing a fatal blow. Machaon falls, and the smoke dissipates. Joan stands wounded but victorious, a symbol of the resilience and strength of PanOceania.

Joan raises her sword and shouts triumphantly, "Soldiers of PanOceania, let the heavens bear witness to this moment as Aleph recoils before our might. The ground we stand upon is now under our dominion. But let not triumph blind us to the reality of the campaign ahead. This is but the inaugural clash in a series of engagements, with the lives of our brethren hanging in the balance. Yet, as always, PanOceania stands unyielding, ever prepared to confront and conquer!”

With the enemy running away, we were able to capture 2 more consoles, cementing our win completely.