Note: For those of you who speak german or just want to see some nice pictures from the USAriadnan side of things, my opponent also made a lovely battle report of this battle which can be found here:
Payback for the Caledonians would have to wait though, as the very next day one of our Kanren field agents informed us that a USAriadnan Undercover team had infiltrated the high society area known as “The Pearl Turtle”, a small and usually highly guarded area of The Neon Dragon where the right and powerful have created their own little world, far away from the dirt and noise of the commoner’s living and working areas.
The Area was a festering pool of corruption and favouritism, an area where the rich got richer and the poor weren’t even fit to enter, where secrets were as common as dirt in the rest of The Neon Dragon, and anti-state propaganda spread as easily as STDs in the Red Light districts.
It was very high on my list of areas to purge (yes I kept myself busy the last days), but the purging would have to wait for another day as today it seemed like the corruption had finally reached its peak in the form of Minister Pan Choi’s Secretary apparently attempting to flee the country by offering secret and compromising data to USAriadna in return for a save extraction, most likely to an even more corrupted and decadent area on Dawn, although I really don’t understand what a spoiled brat like that would see in a dirtball such as Dawn.
No matter the reasons for her attempted betrayal, it was our duty to prevent it and recapture the Secretary, as well as prevent the stolen data from being sent to USAriadnan spies.
We didn’t have time to scout the area with a Su Jian this time, so I had to enter the area with the most firepower I could muster in the short time, and go right for the offense.
In the middle of the operation area Pheasant Agent Kuang Fu Bao and his Bao Troopers as well as the Sophotect Akaseni were building the solid core of the force, while “Father Anderson” and a Yudbot covered the left flank, and Celestial Guard Shen Jing with one of her Kuang Shi, a Sniper Mercenary named “Bonbori” and I myself were guarding the right flank.
Kanren Agent Umibozu was deployed deep within the area of operation as he did best, and even though the USAriadnan forces clearly where cut from a different cloth than their Caledonian colleagues, we still managed to keep the initiative and surprise them with our attack in the middle of them securing the traitor.
Since the USAriadnan Exfiltration Team had taken control of a building covering most lanes of approach and had hunkered down there with quite a big chunk of their forces, our first step was to clear those lanes of advance, and the first way of doing so was to send the Bao Sniper that was accompanying Pheasant Agent Kuang Fu Bao’s out to take care of the enemy HMG Grunt covering the left flanks approach.
A skilled headshot quickly ended the HMG threat, but to my frustration the Bao wasn’t careful enough and also entered line of fire of another Grunt, who promptly took him out with a wide range rifle salvo.
With the long range firepower of the left flank gone, it fell upon me to clear out a bit more of the enemies sniper nest, and so I took to the corner of the right fire lane and quickly took out the lone Grunt that could see me from that angle with my Spitfire. The last standing Grunt on the roof was quickly taken care of by “Bonbori” who ended him with two quick shots from her Sniper rifle, and thus our ways of advance where opened.
Our little cleaning action had however taken a bit too long and USAriadna was obviously preparing for a counter offensive, so “Father Anderson” dashed forward into a better combat position, and my remaining troops took up suppressive firing positions while Kanren Umibozu secured the first Antenna in the area to prevent the Exfiltration team from sending the stolen Data of the Traitor.
The USAriadnan counter offensive began with a howling Dog Warrior and his Antipod Pet dashing towards the Central Control room, most likely out for Father Anderson’s life. It was a mad suicide rush because it brought the creature right in the firing lane of “Bonbori” and myself, but the creature was very lucky and a smoke grenade protected him from any further harm. This was quickly followed up with them sending one of their covert operators into the central control room to take over one of the antennas there. This resulted in a little firefight between the Operator and Kanren Umibozu, but the Operator managed to hide behind the Antenna before Umibozu could execute justice on him.
On the left flank the enemy team advanced around a building, but their advance was halted as one of their troopers suddenly realized that an independent journalist of the Yu Jing Freedom Press was actually filming his approach, catching him in the middle of his crime. Unclear on what to do about it the enemy trooper quickly averted his head and dashed for cover while most likely contacting his superior for further orders.
The enemy now spent a lot of time advancing his troops into favourable positions for future advances, and an enemy Paratrooper landed in our flanks, only to fail taking down even the lonely Yudbot standing there.
Using this blunder on the enemy side I quickly seized the initiative back and advanced towards the central control room. A quick Spitfire burst from my flanking position against the USAriadnan Operative that had been taking control over the Antenna ended his shady dealings, and with the confidence that only being the Law and the protection of a Heavy Suite of Armour could give, I strode right in front of the enemy Dog Warrior and Antipode that were heading towards the Control room, showering them with Spitfire bullets and eventually ending their mad advance with a burst of my double Nanopulsers.
With the central room now clear Kanren Umibozu advanced to take control of the Antenna there back from the USAriadnan Forces, while the Journalist tried to zoom in on some strange movement on top of the Central Room, but he just couldn’t make out where the movement came from.
Knowing that our momentum was spent my troops once again prepared themselves by going into suppressive firing positions and steeled their hearts for the incoming storm.
At first everything seemed to work out alright, the remaining enemy Grunts on the back building tried to advance and one of them was hosed down by my Spitfire while the other one was forced back into cover, but then the hidden Hardcase that the Journalist was about to discover revealed himself and took out “Father Anderson” with a cowardly arrow to the back. Obviously this was instantly followed up by a Headshot from “Bonbori”, but the shoot was a split second too late for “Father Anderson”.
The Journalist had managed to make some good footage of this brutal USAriadnan attack on Imperial Service Personal though, and it seemed like USAriadna had now decided that they needed to act before this information leaked.
The trooper that had before reeled back from the camera now blatantly dashed forward and killed the defenseless Journalist in a hail of bullets, and with “Father Anderson” out of the picture; he advanced right into firing arc of the Control Room and opened fire into my back.
The Teseum infused bullets of the Trooper proofed to be too much even for my Crane Armours formidable protection, and with a sharp pain in my back I fell down as my suites Servos where destroyed by the hailstorm of bullets released from the sneaky Minuteman.
With this the tide of battle had turned, not only did our enemy get the advantage in position and firepower with me and Father Anderson out of the picture, and his troops advancing even further while taking control of the first antenna on their side, it also seemed like the corruption and anti-state propaganda in the area was even worse than I had feared as countless “Pro Freedom” activists (at least that’s what their shields and banners claimed) suddenly appeared on nearby rooftops and windows, and started throwing all sorts of debris and stones on my remaining troopers while shouting “Freedom from Oppression” “All Baos are Bastards” and other profanities like that.
Unable to deliver justice to those traitors against the Jade Emperor with the threat of USAriadna in front of them Pheasant Agent Kuang Fu Bao dashed forward to stop the enemies advance with his Red Fury rifle, but the hailstorm of debris from the protestors as well as the hailstorm of bullets from the USAriadnan Troopers proofed too much for even such a formidable Agent as Fu Bao, and he was downed by the enemies bullets before he could even take out a single enemy.
Sophotect Akaseni dashed over to Fu Bao and with a burst of Nano Regenerators she managed to bring him back to his feet, but he was instantly greeted by yet another shower of bullets and stones and was taken down again instantly.
The remaining Bao Trooper tried to cover Fu Bao by advancing as well, but he meet the same fate as his superior, and thus all that was left on this flank was Akaseni trying to stabilize the two with her Motherforge, while resisting the urge to fire her Combi Rifle at the surrounding traitors on the roofs and windows.
With command structure now broken and little remaining forces all remaining troops except Sniper Bonbori and Sophotect Akaseni advanced towards the Central Room to protect the antennas. One of my secret agents that had been lying in ambush the whole time also advanced, and while winking at me with a digital-smirk on her facemask she quickly dashed out of the Control room and quickly returned back into it, the traitorous Secretary suddenly in her hands and her Blade at the Secretary’s throat.
Still unable to move and in quite a bit of pain, I took a little solace in the fact that at least this part of the mission would be fulfilled no matter what.
With Celstial Guard Shen Jing and one of her Kuang Shi’s as well as Kanren Umibozu covering the Control Room’s Antenna and Reinforcements on their way I actually was quite confident that we might keep the enemy from sending his Data, but just as I thought so I was instantly punished by the sound of smoke grenades exploding and a motorbike driving by the Control Room.
Realizing our mistake I wheezed an angry “To the second antenna! Now!” through my bloody teeth, and as the meaning of my words dawned on Umibozu and Shen Jing they both nodded towards me and each other and dashed towards the first Antenna that Umibozu had taken control off.
Hearing dashing footsteps in front of them, followed by frantic curses and “Access Denied! Access Denied” command prompts from the Antenna in front of them Shen Jing and Umibozu ran through the enemy smoke screen, while deflecting random debris that was still being thrown all over the place by the protestors.
Seeing the shimmering light of the Antenna’s console right in front of them they almost flew the last few meters, but just as Kanren Umibozu took the last step and slashed at the Antenna and the area in front of it with his Monofilament sword, the words “Transmission Successful, have a nice day Jenny!” could be seen on the split screen before it slid to the side, it’s entire frame cut cleanly into two pieces by the Monofilament Blades cut.
Jenny was nowhere to be seen, most likely whisked away in the Smokescreen’s cover, or worse by the support of the traitorous Protestants on the floor above the Antenna Control Room.
With the voices of protest slowly dying down as the Sirens and loudspeaker noises of the approaching Imperial Service Reinforcement Transporters grew louder, I knew that this battle was lost. We had secured the traitor, but the most important part of the mission was failed, and I was quite sure that the resulting consequences of this wouldn’t be pretty.
At least the Journalist had been killed, so there wouldn’t be a need for too much cover up of this story, at least not for now, but as I was carried into a flying Transport for immediate evacuation to our medical facilities, Akaseni right at my side, I swore that “The Pearl Turtle” would become a more prominent place on my “Areas to be purged” list, and that I would personally attend the adoption of our newest Kuang Shi….it was about time that I’d learn more about that process anyways.
Comment:
What an awesome battle this was! My opponent was a great guy and we had lots of fun all throughout the game. Luck turned back and forth and turned this match into a desperate fight until the very last order, and that’s what every good battle should be like! It was my first time playing against USAriadna and I wasn’t prepared for all their nasty tricks….I think I really need my Hsien next time to deal with all those smoke screens and heavy firepower comming my way. Reveeeenge! ;-P
the gentle winter 
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