(Note this battle report was part of the Global Online Campaign Strikezone Wotan. During the campaign I barely had time reporting the battles on the official tool and didn’t get around to post it here on my Blog, I now finally have time to do so, so I hope those of you who haven’t read them yet will enjoy them! ^^ )

The next few days after the incident with the Ariadna security team were filled with diplomacy, command decisions, and Propaganda. Being a General of Yu Jing in an area that starts to go to shit isn’t exactly a relaxing and easy job, and thus there was little to no time at all for personal matters other than dropping in my bed at night and falling asleep instantly…

Not only did the Nomads in this sector who’s greed has started this whole campaign turned out to be mostly sepsitorized mind slaves of the Combined Army in need of heavy cleansing, but they somehow affected the Tohaa as well, who now where attacking our light frigate the Shanqiang in force. And as if that wasn’t enough, the Combined Army itself has shown it’s ugly head as well, attacking the PanO defense platforms in force.

As is custom in situations like these it was Yu Jing’s duty to offer assistance to PanO in such times of need, and due to bad luck and a lost round of Jan Ken Pon I ended up being the one that had to deliver said offer of support to PanO in a secret diplomatic mission on their Sygtir 2 Platform.

Obviously, just as expected really, PanO declined our offer of sending troops to their precious little weapons platforms, after all who would want heavily armed foreign forces stationed on their space stations in times such as these, especially from your biggest rival.

So I found myself at the edge of a Hangar Zone waiting for my shuttle back to the “Dancing Panda” to arrive, when all of a sudden everything went black as the whole station apparently shut down.

Now even though I’ve heard about PanO technology being not nearly as reliable as PanO merchants would like to make their customers believe, a station wide blackout seemed quite unlike them, and so I wasn’t too surprised when seconds later a giant explosion shook the whole station and gunfire could be heard from several directions.

Apparently we had ended up in the middle of yet another Combined Army attack, and even though I wanted to fight the Combined Army just like any other commander in the Blockade, I knew my duties lied elsewhere for the moment, and thus I was relieved to see that only moments later emergency lighting came back on again.

Sadly it seemed like communication was still offline, and so where all landing lights and landing vector transmitters, so the shuttle pilot wouldn’t know where to find us, unless we helped him out a little…

So instead of waiting for PanO to solve this problem, or a Combined Army squad to stumble over us while we waited for that, I decided to send out my agents to tap into the emergency power supply and connect it to our emergency beacon which we had brought with us for just such a possibility. After all one could never be too careful….or so at least Shen Nung had said as he handed us the beacon before we went on the mission.

“Saberrider”, who’s real body was onboard of the inbound shuttle, strapped into a Su Jian Control capsule, informed me that the device was working now that it had been tapped into the power source, and informed me that it’d take about 15 minutes for the shuttle to arrive, mainly due to a firefight going on outside of the station against some sort of Combined Army Stealth Ships, and the space rubble that’s been flying around everywhere due to that.

I was just about to kick back on a nearby bench and relax until the shuttle would arrive, when a loud “Hey! Who’s there? Shit! It’s them commander! The heretics are aboard our ship!!” disturbed our waiting periode. It seemed like our beacon had attracted someone else instead, and since our mission was done in secret, most PanO forces most likely didn’t even know we where here…

Since my Agents where already near the Power Supply I simply spread out my away team a little, Shen Jing and two Kuang Shi protecting the left flank, myself, Special Celestial Guard Operative “Chuan” and another Kuang Shi in the center, and “Saberrider”, Kuang Fu Bao, another Kuang Shi and the Warcor “Xin Hua” taking care of our right flank.

The PanO troops seemed to just have arrived in the area and thus where in a rather center focused position, but having faced this commander before I wouldn’t have been surprised if he had some tricks up his sleeve still…

No sooner had I thought so than Croc Man already revealed themselves and placed some mines near the Emergency Power Nodes we had tapped, and one of them promptly proceeded towards the Node, most likely in an attempt to disconnect our Emergency Beacon. I had a Ninja prepared just for such a situation, but not only did she fail to hit the Croc Man due to it’s TO Camouflage, but she also got instantly taken out by a Nisse that had taken position on a nearby building, leaving the Croc Man free reign to disconnect our Emergency Beacon from this Power Node. Luckily the device was capable of running with only one of the beacons still in our hands as well, so nothing was lost yet.

On the other Power Node’s location the Croc Man that had revealed itself there apparently had enough of the Warcor that had been filming him until then, and he quickly took out “Xin Hua” with a burst from his combi rifle, the Warcors Flashpulse ,not precise enough to blind the invisible attacker in time.

Knowing well the danger of a well positioned Nisse Sniper, I quickly advanced myself towards a nearby bill board, strangely still active even through this power outage, the company most likely paying extra to have it lit by the emergency power source…what a decadent society PanO was, and took out the Nisse Sniper with a controller burst from my HMG.

I then ordered Celestial Guard Shen Jing to cover my advance on the right flank with a Smoke Screen, but for some reason the blinking emergency lights and overall darkness besides them seemed to have a terrible effect on her, as she repeatedly shot after shot missed with her Smoke Grenade, covering rooftops and the interior of buildings in choking smoke, but failing to secure my prefered advance lane…

Frustrated to no end I instead moved into position to lay some supressive fire, while Shen Jing sent her Kuang Shi to take care of the Croc Man, losing one in the process though.

Sending “Chuan” and another Kuang Shi to protect the center I then braced for the inevitable attack that was about to happen, hoping that our shuttle would arrive quickly, for we didn’t exactly stand a chance should more PanO reinforcements arrive…

At first the only thing that happened was a Palbot sneaking up to the downed Croc Man and healing him back into action with a Nano Injection, but only moments later a HMG salvo which ended the last Kuang Shi on the left flank, and a loud explosion that took down “Chuan” and the Kuang Shi next to him in the center openly announced that we had less time than we had hoped, as a Squalo was approaching along our left flank, his heavy Grenade launcher spewing death.

The Croc Man on our left flank went invisible again, but as the last remaining Kuang Shi stumbled forward in a fit of Propaganda inspired rage, it’s position quickly was discovered again, though at the price of the Kuang Shi’s life, who was ripped apart by a HMG Bot stationed at the flank…

I once again ordered Shen Jing to cover my advance with a smoke screen so I could take care of the right flank and get into better cover from the approaching Squalo, but she still hadn’t gotten used to the environment it seemed, and more smoke grenades crashed into random windows around the location they where supposed to hit originally…

So without the cover I had originally hoped for, but no other choice left, I decided to advance towards the right flank anyways, and promptly paid for it by one of the Croc Man’s bullets piercing through a weaker part of armour on my arm as I dashed for an advantageous position to open fire.

The Croc Man was out of luck after that though, as my HMG quickly reaped my just reward in the form of the downed Croc Man as well as the destroyed HMG Bot behind it, finally clearing our right flank.

Sadly at this point the Squalo was already on the move again, so all we could do was prepare for it’s appearance by supressing the area he’d most likely appear from and hoping for the Mad Traps that “Chuan” had positioned there to do some work.

The enemy commander wasn’t going to have any of that though it seemed, and so instead of the Squalo, a Palbot suddenly came rushing around the corner, triggering both Mad Traps, and getting ripped apart by our supressive fire.

The moment the Palbot had sacrificed itself, the silhouette of the Squalo could already be seen in the distance, just out of range for our supressive fire, and I had just about time to dodge the first salvo of Multi HMG bullets flying towards my position, before I eventually blanked out as yet another salvo of armour piercing bullets pierced my armour, sending me unconcious.

Naturally I only heard about what happened afterwards from Kuang Fu Bao, but it seemed like the Croc Man from the left flank then decided to advance towards our Emergency Beacon, taking out Shen Jing as he advanced, and eventually grabbing the Beacon.

Kuang Fu Bao wasn’t about to have that though, and taking over command after I had fallen, he strolled down from his defensive position and took out the Croc Man with his Combi Rifle, ensuring that the Emergency Beacon was still in our hands.

Knowing that the shuttle was just about to land, “Saberrider” decided to at least take some vengeance to save our honour, and quickly advanced his Su Jian towards the Emergency Beacon, firing at the Squalo all the while to cover his advance.

Just as the Shuttle rushed in above us, it’s heavy guns sending the nearby PanO troops for cover, “Saberrider” stomped down on the Croc man’s neck, howling his defiance into the Hangar’s air over the loudspeaker of the Su Jian, and even though he was eventually blown to bits by the Squalo, the rest of us managed to pull out in the shuttle, where “Saberrider”‘s real body just opened the side of his control capsule, waving us in with a smirking “Time to go I think…it seems we’ve overstayed our welcome…”

With several of our soldiers requiring medical aid, the shuttle pilot quickly turned around and rushed off towards the Dancing Panda, leaving Sygtir 2 and the PanO forces behind us…..

———————————————–

Comment:

That was a tough game! Commander Sorbus definitely knows what he’s doing, and my inexperience with proper Ninja Placements against TAGs has cost me dearly during this game, heck my Kitsune didn’t didn’t even get to show herself due to all the mines around her and her useless positioning…

The fact that not a single Smoke Grenade wanted to land where it should didn’t help either ;-P

Luckily Commander Sorbus is a great guy, so playing against him was a lot of fun even though I received a heavy beating, and due to my reckless Su Jian charge at the end…I even managed to turn this slaughter into a Draw!

Can’t wait for my next chance to play against Sorbus! Oh and if you are new to my stories, you can read the story of our first encounter here:

https://thegentlewinter.wordpress.com/2017/05/28/chapter-2-4-battle-report-8-judass-kiss/

Comment:

If you are participating in Strikezone Wotan, please consider also visiting the version of this battle report that I have posted there, and leaving a rating/recommendation, it’d help me out a lot and bring some extra motivation for me 😉

https://wotan.warconsole.com/battles/yasashii-fuyu-vs-lady-wazabi-1496759270

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No sooner had I ensured that Sergeant Onizuka was well taken care of, his heavily wounded body on its way for restoration at Sophotect Akaseni’s station, than I already received another security warning, this time by my Su Jian Pilot “Saberrider”.

As I blinked the holo communication on the main screen of my helmet’s visor, I was greeted by the familiar fat and frankly ugly face of “Saberrider”. Normally a guy like him wouldn’t be fit to serve for the Yu Jing Empire, but the ISS always had a place for talent and his skills as a remote pilot where so extraordinary that his plump and unfitting body had been tolerated. We did however make sure to never include him personally in any sort of official meeting or event with foreign officials……claiming that “the presence of his Su Jian would be more impressive to those “foreign devils”.

Luckily he himself seemed to prefer it that way as well, apparently feeling more at home inside the head of his machine than in his real body anyways.

“General Fuyu! There has been another attempt of security breach near the shuttle bay where the Caledonian Boarding Party has landed. Apparently they are trying to get their shuttle free so they can flee from the “Dancing Panda”.

Letting out a loud but short laugh I contemplated this development for a second, and then replied with determination in my voice. “Understood, follow them and intercept if necessary, I will be there shortly with a strike team.”

So it seems they weren’t in the mood for further plundering anymore…and the rats would prefer to leave the dragon’s nest now…well they would have to fight their way out if they really wanted to leave, that was for sure.

With a good chunk of my troops already busy cleaning up the aftermaths of the previous engagements, or securing key areas, I just took Kanren Umibozu, Shen Nung, “Chuan” and Father Anderson with me, and ordered some reinforcements from the Command Center to meet me and “Saber Rider”at the control access to the Shuttle Bay Area.

As I arrived in the area about a minute later, carried there by one of the stations transport capsules at high speed, I was pleased to see that “Saberrider” had already arrived, and the reinforcements where just arriving as well. I had called for a new contractor that I had hired before we left for the Wotan Gate, but who hadn’t had an opportunity to show her worth yet, a woman called “Nebel”, apparently a half German half Japanese sniper mercenary that had decided to work closely with the ISS from now on. She had arrived alongside Celestial Guard Shen Jing and her group of Zombie like Kuang Shi…and for some reason a reporter from Yu Jing News…what the hell was that?

As I was about to walk over to their group, I received a communication from Shen Jing, her friendly yet somehow creepy face appearing on the corner of my helmet display “Don’t worry General, I made sure to “instruct” the Warcor on what is appropriate footage and what isn’t….and he agreed to our terms, most likely cause he didn’t want to end up in my collection….isn’t that right Buttercup?” at that point she was looking away from the holo recorder, most likely talking to one of her Kuang Shi’s… to be frank, her behavior towards them was the main reason she came across as creepy, but she was the best at coordinating and maintaining those repenting servants of the State, and her combat reports more than made up for her odd nature…and really, who cared about how she treated those things, they deserved nothing better, traitors and enemies of the state the lot of them…at least those under my command, I gave special instructions to ensure that.

Having apparently snapped back to reality Shen Jing then added a snappy “Oh, his name is Xin Hua by the way, just for the record should he fall in battle or betray our trust…”

Nodding once I replied “Thanks for the heads up…I was about to send him on its way, but I guess a little inspirational video for our troops won’t hurt….”. Switching to command communication channel so every one of my subordinates in the area would hear me I continued. “Look good out there today ladies and gentlemen we’ve got news coverage this time…so give them swift justice!”.

Now obviously this didn’t bode well with my original plan of simply having the Caledonians “vanish” from the records….but then again the Caledonians never would have believed us anyways…so with this news report about the “Caledonian Rebel Raiding Party” attacking the “Dancing Panda”, they could at least claim to have no ties to the troops they sent to our ship…keeping face in the process….making diplomatic interactions in the future easier…or whatever..

Anyways, Kanren Umibozu had forward deployed in the area of operation, and reported that the Caledonian forces consisted of a Wulver Team as well as a Highlander Team with a Cameronian on their left flank, a truly brutal assault force for sure, as well as a Volunteer Team accompanied by a hacker and another Cameronian on their left flank, most likely tasked with accessing the Network to free their shuttle from its holding clamps.

I deployed to counter their heavy advance with the Su Jian “Saberrider”, the Kuang Shi Team as well as the Warcor on our right flank of the battlefield, Shen Nung, “Chuan”, Nebel and myself at the center, and Father Anderson at our left flank.

Since we had arrived a bit late to the party, the Caledonians where already on the move, one of their Cameronians dashing forward on the left flank, while the other tried to sneak along on the right flank. Such creatures where obviously not very capable of sneaking though, and the giant furball thus walked right into “Nebel”’s sight. His animal instincts somehow saved him from the first bullet, but as he tried to dodge out of the way, “Nebel”’s second volley hit the creature straight in the head and chest, the viral ammunition quickly disintegrating the creature into a puddle of sludge, almost blocking the area in between the buildings that it had tried to advance in with its biological waste remains.

In the meantime the Wulver Team had advanced on their right flank, coming dangerously close to our own lines, but apparently they realized they had been overstretching a bit, and thus decided to wait for the Highlander Team to advance alongside them.

It seemed however like our Warcor “Xin Hua” had noticed this advance as well, and was trying to grab some footage of it…

---

Recording of Freedom News Channel Reporter Xin Hua:

“This is Xin Hua for Freedom News Channel speaking; I report today right from the frontlines of the recently opened Wotan incident. It appears that a group of Caledonian Plunderers, most likely outcasts from their own clan with no ties to the Ariadnan nation, have infiltrated the “Dancing Panda” that had just arrived in the system, pretending to make a routine security check, but then proceeding to plunder and attack the inhabitants of this fine Space ship.”

“Rest assured though fine citizens of Yu Jing Empire, General Yasashii Fuyu has arrived in the sector on board of the “Dancing Panda” and is engaging the attackers as I am recording this. I have already heard the first shots being fired, and can now see a group of Caledonian Highlanders approaching in my direction…..I shall now zoom in so you can see what I’m talking about.”

*Camera changes view from Xin Hua to barely visible Highlanders advancing in the distance. Instead of zooming in a bright light blinds the screen for a second though*

“Oh…erm…that was the flash pulse for range finding….whoops…I think I blinded one of them there….Ehem, I mean I obviously just tried to heroically support our troops by blinding the leader of their Highlander Team…Glory to Yu Ji..” *BANG ZING*

“What the…damn! Someone is shooting at me!” *BANG ZING*

“There he is! Some sort of sniper….wait, let me zoom in on this..” *another bright light suddenly blinds the screen*

“Wángbādàn! Wrong button again….Erm…I mean…don’t worry fellow viewers, I have successfully blinded this attacker as well! Remember….don’t do this at home, your camera’s range finder can be dangerous if you are not careful…in this case however it was all for the betterment of Yu Ji…..”

ARE YOU SURE YOU WANT TO CANCEL THE RECORDING? [Y]ES / [N]O

---

 Which resulted in the leader of their team as well as a Cateran Sniper that had tried to take out the Warcor being blinded and the rest of the Team dispersing to not get blinded as well.

On the other side of the battlefield the Caledonian Hacker woman tried to access the shuttle’s docking clamp control system, but just as she was plugging her connector port into the antenna, a humming sound grew louder, followed by a sudden electric discharge right into the hackers primitive hacking device and through its keyboard right into her body, roasting the poor soul where she had knelt down to connect. An animated .gif of a Raccoon shaking it’s stretched out index finger with a speech bubble saying “No No No…bad Caledonian! Bad!” could be seen on the slightly smoking Network Antenna Display.

I decided to use this opportunity to send Shen Jing’s Kuang Shi team to flank the distracted enemy, and spouting a number of pro Yu Jing Propaganda, and a couple or more…odd…choices of words, the Kuang Shi stumbled along the left flank alongside Shen Jing, and eventually around the corner to attack the Wulver Link Team.

The first Kuang Shi took out one of the Wulvers and wounded another before he got shot to bits.

The second Kuang Shi finished off the wounded Wulver and wounded another one, both with his Chain rifle and the following explosion of his own body as he got too heavily wounded by the returning fire to continue fighting.

The third Kuang Shi finished off the Wulvers, and even survived doing so.

Satisfied with the results of Shen Jing’s advance, I ordered Su Jian “Saberrider” to now advance on the right flank as well, with the danger of the Wulvers out of the way.

With Xin Hua’s camera filming every second of it, what happened next would eventually become the start of a new animated Movie Series, known as “Saberriders X Mega Justice Warriors”…

In its animal form “Saberrider” advanced alongside the right flank until it had some of the spread out Highlanders in its view. Without changing pace, he opened fire on the two Caledonians who could do nothing but trying to dodge the hail of bullets. They weren’t fast enough though and where ripped apart by the Spitfire.

Leaping for a buildings corner, transforming in mid jump, Saberrider, now in his humanoid form, opened fire on the blinded Cateran, as well as a Volunteer that had been taking cover on a nearby corner, and the surprised Caledonian followed their Highlander brethren’s examples and died on the spot.

Not satisfied with his advance, Saberrider then pushed himself away from the Buildings corner and dashed for the Antenna in the middle of the Battlefield, pummeling the blinded Highlander and the giant Cameronian with yet another salvo from his spitfire as he did so.

No match for the targeting sensors of the highly advanced Su Jian and the incredible talent of its pilot both the Cameronian and the blinded Highlander hit the ground dead as well, countless bullet holes all over their body.

On our left flank, just as “Kabuki Queen” vanished back into the shadows, Father Anderson advanced towards a container box on the roof he had been lying in ambush on until now, and opened fire on the 112 Emergency Unit that had apparently been on its way to help the roasted Caledonian Hacker woman. Sadly he would never make it in time as he himself got reduced to a puddle of sludge as Father Anderson viral rifle’s ammunition ended his attempt preemptively.

---

Intercepted communication between Caledonian Infiltrators, recorded by “凸(￣ヘ￣)”

“Erm…Mac Dunkan….what are our orders? Isabelle just got roasted, and our 112 is dead as well!”

“……”

“Mac Dunkan? Orders please, we’re dying out here….”

“……”

“Seriously man, this isn’t funny! Give us an order or we’re done for!”

“…..”

“Mac Pea, don’t bother, Mac Dunkan got killed by some crazy Mecha cat thing along with everyone else on the left flank, I’m on my way to your position! The Mecha cat thing as well I think by the way…”

“Holy goat balls….they are all dead?”

*suppressed laughter could be heard on the other side before the Volunteer manages to calm himself again* “Yes Mac Pea, they are all dead….didn ‘t stand any chance at all…”

“But….then…what….damn it, who is our commander now? Seamus?”

*another voice enters the communication*

“Don’t look at me lad, I’m not even in the command structure of this little disaster..”

“But then…”

“Calm down Mac Pea, wasn’t your grand grand father Earl of whatever and so? I guess that makes you the commander now…”

“What? But I didn’t even know him..oh screw this! Screw this to hell and back! RETREAT! We’re leaving!”

*A female voice chimes in* “But…erm…Sir? We’re suppressed from all sides….”

“Then shoot us a way out damn it, I’m leaving! Gogogo!”

*Sound of Heavy Machine Gun firing ends the recording*

---

Stunned by the extremely fast demise of his troops the enemy commander called for an all-out retreat of his forces, realizing that they’d have to find a different way off this ship. One of the Caledonians, a Highlander Grey, managed to take out Father Anderson with her Teseum bullets spewing Heavy Machine Gun, as she tried to free an escape route for her comrades, and the three remaining Caledonian troopers escaped off the battlefield together, a fourth one not so lucky and getting shot by “Nebel” on his attempt to reach the rest of the group.

Not having fired a single shot myself this time, I sat down on the stairs I had been guarding until now I sent Su Jian “Saberrider” in pursuit of the Caledonians and accessed the station’s security grid so search for any other potential escape routes the Caledonians could take.

Just as I was about to contact Madame Captain for advice, a name on the ships map came into my field of view….”Escape Pods”…..

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Comments:

Aiaiai, that definitely wasn’t my wives best day….my Warcor blinding her advance on her left flank and even blinding her Cateran took away all the orders she would have needed to murder me with her Wulvers….but her long going grudge against the Warcor (he had done similar things before…) kept her from realizing that before it was already too late…and then Su Jian happened….

Comment:

If you are participating in Strikezone Wotan, please consider also visiting the version of this battle report that I have posted there, and leaving a rating/recommendation, it’d help me out a lot and bring some extra motivation for me 😉

https://wotan.warconsole.com/battles/yasashii-fuyu-vs-lady-wazabi-1496160944

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With the first team of Caledonian „Security Personal“ taken care of, but with one of them apparently having escaped the cleansing of their remains, there was no time to idle around, so instead I left behind those tasked with cleanup and just took a few of the Celestial Guards with me.

Apparently another one of the Caledonian Teams had caused a huge commotion at the Quarters Area of the station where one of the JSA Regiments had been stationed for transport to the Wotan Gate, claiming that they were an illegal invasion force illegally transported to the Wotan Gate to attack…whatever…I didn’t really care about what silly excuse they had come up with for their accusations, now that we had cleaned up one of their teams, the other ones had to go as well, and quickly at that.

By the time I reached the described area of the incident, I could already hear chatter on the encrypted Yu Jing military frequencies as a Sergeant “Onizuka” asked for backup because he and a few of his comrades apparently got into a fire fight with the Caledonians.

Joining the frequency I quickly interrupted the plea for help with a direct “Don’t worry soldier, “Dancing Panda” Security is on its way, we’ll be there in 15 seconds. General Fuyu out.”

As I rushed down the streets a patch of silence remained the only answer to my com message, and just as I was about to repeat myself, wanting to make sure that the Seargent was still alive, a surprised sounding voice answered me “Did you say Fuyu Sir? As in Yasashii Fuyu?”.

With a smile on my face as I began to recognize the voice and finally connected the name to a face in my memory I joyfully answered “Indeed Onizuka, it’s me! Haven’t heard from you in a while, still riding that sweet machine of yours I hope?”

A spurt of laughter answered my question, followed by a slightly more controlled “Hell yeah, it’s the Taichou guys! Them Dogfaces are gonna shit their skirts once he’s here! Oh ehm…sorry Taichou, eh I mean General, I’m just glad to have you with us here in Wotan again….anyways, yeah I’m still riding my sweet little lady, wouldn’t trade her for the world, I even added new slicks to her feet and enhanced that rear end if you know what I mean!”

Restraining myself from laughing out loud because of the old memories flashing back from hearing Onizuka’s voice, I replied in as composed a manner as I could “Let’s keep the dirty talk for later alright? I’m in position now and can see you are already prepared to roll out, station security scans show that the enemy unit is amassing on the left flank of yours, why don’t you go for a little ride, greet them the old fashioned way, you know, like back in the day, I’ll be covering your flank and make sure no nasty surprises come around alright?”

“Wuhuuu just like the old times then, I’m on my way Taichou!!” and with that his voice was suddenly canceled out by loud blaring music from his speakers, which I could now hear even without the com, shouting “ADORENARIN zutto nagashite ….boku no hou ga O-BA- HI-TO shisou …..bakuhatsu shite hai ni natte mo….kono mama da to waratte’ru ne kitto…” as the Aragatou roared past below me on his bike, straight for the enemy lines, no sign of fear or hesitation in his movements at all.

The enemy had heavily deployed on the left flank, with their Commander and his Wulver Bodyguard, a Cameronian, a 112, and another one of those tin cans all cowered up there behind some form of cover. Apparently this team composition was their standard lineup for their “security inspections”, because on the right flank the security cam footage sent to my helmet display revealed another Volunteer Link with another Hacker, as well as a second Cameronian. One of the Volunteers seemed familiar, an old guy with blood smears all over his body and clear signs of a too close encounter with a chainrifle on his outfit.

Well at least that would save us the trouble of searching for the guy, as the survivor from last battle had apparently made it to his comrades position here, and was as it seemed just warning his colleagues that we weren’t going to play nice with them anymore….

My own team consisted of a 2 Celestial Guards, one of which was the old guy with the Mad Traps…definitely needed to remember talking to him later, the guy really seemed interesting, and the Spec Ops from before. Sadly I still hadn’t managed to see his face properly as he’d instantly assumed a new Holo Camouflage, this time looking like a Domaru, most likely to scare away too cuddly Wulvers or Cameronians…

Kanren Umibozu had advanced ahead on the right flank, securing a big storage room with his Mad Traps, and I myself had taken position on top of a roof in the center, with a Spit fire wielding Domaru on my left flank.

The two Aragatou, one of them Sergeant Onizuka with his Spitfire, where riding the streets below me ready to dash straight for the enemy lines.

Before Sergeant Onizuka made it to the enemy lines, I decided to clear a path for him. At first I tried to cover my position with a Smoke Grenade from the Celestial Guard next to me, but once again she failed to hit anything, the smoke grenade plopping through a nearby building’s window, most likely choking out anyone inside.

So instead of wasting more precious time, I simply advanced towards the edge of the building, activating the hilariously over the top “Mon Display” system of my custom made Hsien Armour, which promptly proceeded to project a giant holo image of my family crest above my back, mount Fuyi with snow falling from clouds above on it….basically proclaiming my position to anyone within 500 meters at least and painting a giant “Commander here, please kill him” on me….

I still wasn’t too sure why they had even added this idiotic system to my armour, maybe they thought that’s how Japanese liked to walk around in private, but for now, it actually served it’s purpose, as a Caledonian Cateran that had been hiding on a nearby roof instantly took the bait and opened fire on me.

Expecting just such an occurrence, I quickly sweeped my HMG over to his now revealed position, riddling the cocky Highlander with a shower of bullets before he could get a clear shot on me.

Apparently noticing my fire fight Sergeant Onizuka honked the horn on his ride twice In sympathy, openly proclaiming his arrival to the enemy just as he did with his loud music blaring through the speakers on his bike.

The Caledonians didn’t seem ready for the madness that was driving straight for them on the open road ahead of them, the first of the Commanders Wulver Bodyguard instantly getting taken out by Sergeant Onizuka as he cruised towards them, his Spitfire spewing death and destruction just as his loudspeakers spewed forth JPop Lyrics like there’s no tomorrow.

The Wulver behind the first victim instantly positioned himself before his commander, protecting him with his bulk and aimed at the Aragatou, but his swift movements where too quick for the Wulver, and in another hail of Spitfire rage the second Wulver hit the dust, revealing the shocked enemy commander right behind him.

Screaming his defiance into the Aragatou’s face the Commander opened fire on Sergeant Onizuka, but his bullets where wasted just like his defiant scream, drowned out by the roar of the bikes heavily tuned engine, the Spitfire and the music as Onizuka leaned out of the bullets path and sent the enemy Commander to a humiliating early grave with another burst from his Spitfire.

Not content with his work so far Sergeant Onizuka then slightly slowed down his bike so he could wedge in between the building and the heavy sake distillery at the back of it, the security feed from the station’s camera displayed on the inside of his helmet revealing to him that there was another Caledonian hiding behind there.

Apparently completely overwhelmed by the massacre that had just happened before his eyes, the 112 Emergency Unit Member couldn’t even muster a proper defense as Onizuka suddenly appeared in between the Building and the Distiller, instead trying to jump behind the construct for protection, but Onizuka was on a roll and he wasn’t about to let it end right there by a coward, and thus proceeded to riddle the cowardly 112 with another shower of his Spitfire.

Since Onizuka’s Aragatou Units motto always was “If you’re on a roll, you need to keep on rolling”, he instantly speed up again, driving around the Distillery and flanking into the Caledonian Mormaer which had until now been hiding behind a Wazabi Creations Freight Container.

But there was no hiding from Sergeant Onizuka while he was on a roll, and as he rode over the corpse of one of the Wulvers, he opened up with his Spitfire, taking care not to hit the Noodle Hut as well, and even though the Mormaer was more metal than woman, one of his rounds actually found it’s mark, wounding the Caledonian Nobility. Now most people would have been taken out by a shot like that, but the Highlander Nobility was made from sterner stuff and just gritted her teeth through the pain, readying herself for the end.

At this point however a roar could be heard that even managed to overpower the Aragatous bikes tuned engines and the music, as a Cameronian that too had been hiding behind the freight container suddenly jumped over the building, opening up on the Aragatou with his duo Chainrifles. Sergeant Onizuka tried to dodge the shower of shrapnel, but his new slicks weren’t made for gripping power on a carpet of blood and he thus slided slightly to the side, unable to avoid the full brunt of the attack.

With his bike ruined and his body bloodied all over, the darkness welcomed Sergeant Onizuka, but not before he could utter a satisfied “What a riiiide…”

The Mormaer could hardly believe her luck, but decided to make the best of it, leaning against freight container and taking aim at my position with her X Visor. As countless T2 slugs began riddling the wall in front of me I decided that caution was the better option right now and ducked for cover.

With the threat of my HMG out of the picture, the Caledonian Volunteer Team advanced along their left flank, set on revenging their fallen commander. A Smoke screen for security later, it was time for the team to deal with Kanren Umibozu and his Mad Traps….

---

Logged Communication near Security Antenna H-34N:

“Wait! Wait! Don’t move any further! Did you hear that? What the hell was that noise?”

“Sounded like a goat to me…”

“Yeah right Mac Pea, everything sounds like a bloody Goat to you, stupid goat fu..”

“Shut the fuck up everyone, I’ve had that exact same conversation before, and everyone I’ve had it with is dead now! Yes Angus here is right, those things are called Mad Traps, yes they sound like goats, yes they even look like goats, we need someone skilled at dodging goats to take care of them or we’re done for!”

“……..”

“……..”

“How about the goat fu…”

“Die you scumbag! Fine fine, I’ll go!…but wait…did you just say they’re all dead? That was my brother you know? My brother is dead? What the fuck!?”

Conversation interrupted by the sound of triggered Mad Traps jumping into action, followed by the characteristic Baaaaaalaaargh sound of them detonating in a blob of instant hardening sludge

---

Apparently the Caledonian Army was full of goat dodgers, as this one too managed to easily dodge both Mad Traps, allowing the Volunteer Team to advance into the room, taking out Kanren Umibozu with their Chainrifle, the old man unable to dodge through the sheet amount of shrapnel flying everywhere.

The moment the Mormaer had to reload her primitive rifle, I instantly poked my head up, took aim, and finished off the already heavily wounded Noble woman with a salvo from my HMG. With the Cameronian having advanced to the middle of the battlefield the left flank was cleared now and I focused my attention on the right flank where the Volunteers had been advancing.

The moment I took my gaze away, a silhouette of a giant warrior suddenly slid away from a nearby building, dashing across the street towards the Cameronian at the center. The Aragatou next to it later swore that he saw the thing moving, and claimed it was one of them Hac Tao soldiers, but to be fair he had never seen one for real before, and neither had I, so it could have been anything really….maybe it was “Kabuki Queen” in a funny disguise…

Anyways, the silhouette seemed to scan the Cameronian from behind a wall with his hacking device, and once satisfied with his scan results, dashed around the corner, opening fire on the giant creature.

The Cameronian however had apparently already smelled the threat around the corner, and opened up it with its twin chain rifles, both of them taking each other out, the supposed Hac Tao instantly vanishing into thin air the moment his body would have hit the ground.

On the right flank in the meantime the Spec Ops revealed his true identity as he moved closer to the entrance of the storage room, and shot a dart from his Medkit at Kanren Umibozu in attempt to bring the old man back to his feet.

He even managed to hit Umibozu, but to his distress the Spec Ops had apparently picked the wrong vial, shooting a sleeping dart instead of an adrenalin dose, and Kanren Umibozu dozed off, the battle over for him.

I coordinated the Celestial Guard, Domaru and the Spec Ops to take a better firing position on the right flank, but even while the Spec Ops was still moving, the Cameronian on the right flank advanced towards him, ignoring the bullet I placed into his chest, and opened fire on the Spec Ops with both his Chainrifles.

I managed to make him pay with his life for this rash aggression, but the half human still managed to take out the Spec Ops in a hail of hot metal before he fell.

The Volunteers inside of the Storage room decided to make their last offensive, everyone else of their team already dead or bleeding out, but since the Celestial Guard had brought along his Mad Traps, a breakout wasn’t that easy….

————————————————————————-

Logged Communication near Security Antenna H-33N:

*Sound of a Mad Trap scanning the area can be heard*

“Aaaaangus…..do you hear that? Your lovers are calling for you!”

*Sound of a heavy object hitting flesh*

“Next time you say something like that it won’t be the stock of my Shotgun hitting you!”

“Oh come on Mac Seamus, where’s your humor eh?”

“My humor died out there next to your bloody commander! Don’t you get how serious this is? We’re all about to die here!”

“Yeah, but might as well do it with a smile on our face right?…and we all know nothing puts a smile on Mac Pea’s face like a goat’s Pe..”

“Fuck you guys! I’m out there dodging them Mad Traps once you’re finished ‘aving a giggle mates…”

*Sound of triggered Mad Traps jumping into action, followed by the characteristic Baaaaaalaaargh sound of them detonating in a blob of instant hardening sludge*

“Oi Mac Pea, dodging, not dogg….”

—————————————————————————

But once again their Goat hopping expert seemed more than capable for the job, dodging both the Mad Traps as well as the Celestial Guards bullet, allowing for the Volunteer team to advance outside of the room.

One of the Volunteers was within rifle range and opened up on me, but my heavy armour was more than a match for his primitive bullets. The goat hopper from before wasn’t as lucky though, the Domaru ripping him apart with her Spitfire while he covered for the rifleman’s attack.

Maybe I had gotten a bit too cocky a bit too soon though, as my armour didn’t prove that impervious to the armour piercing Teseum HMG round that suddenly hit me from the other door frame, shot by the Highlander Grey of the Team, wounding me and forcing me into cover. The old Celestial Guard used the Highlander’s focus on me to plant a bullet in her shoulder though, wounding the woman but not taking her our completely. A few more rounds of shooting at each other later however, the Celestial Guard had actually won, and the Highlander Grey lay bleeding on the ground. I seriously needed to have a talk with the guy…

Angry at their Team leader’s death the rifle man that had been running for cover before, now inched forward again, and opened fire on the Celestial Guard as well, but he too was no match for the seasoned veteran, who promptly took him out as well!

With the remainder of the Volunteers unwilling to run towards their dead like their comrades, I was just about to order the Domaru to clear the room, but the Celestial Guard below raised his hand and shouted in a slightly exhausted matter “Don’t worry….old Chuan here will handle it..” and with that he walked over to the entrance of the room, sticking his rifle around the corner, and pressed the trigger of his underslung light flamethrower, a loud female scream the acknowledgement that he had cleared the room as it slowly died down.

As we entered the room to dispose of the Caledonians and to recover our wounded, I once again had to notice that the bearded guy they had called Mac Seamus was missing! How the hell had he gotten away this time? As I was about to access the security camera footage of the area, the guy suddenly appeared right in front of me, waving at me with a smirk on his face.

I instantly punched the guy with my armoured fist, but all that did was distorting the Holo projection that had come from Kanren Umibozu’s Holo Projector, who was still lying unconsciously on the floor next to me……bloody Scotsman! He’d pay for that one!

Comment:

If you are participating in Strikezone Wotan, please consider also visiting the version of this battle report that I have posted there, and leaving a rating/recommendation, it’d help me out a lot and bring some extra motivation for me 😉

https://wotan.warconsole.com/battles/yasashii-fuyu-vs-lady-wazabi-1496078112

 

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The rest of the Circulator Trip to the Wotan Gate went by surprisingly fast, especially considering that I had to spend a good chunk of it at the ship’s med bay getting threated by Sophotect Akaseni alongside some of the other Agents that where with me on R&R. Due to that circumstance I had to get most of my information about the ongoing preparations for system arrival via my holo wristband and the daily meetings with Pheasant Agent Kuang Fu Bao where he tried to summarize what occurred throughout the day and how my subordinates where doing.

Luckily despite all the potential conflict ahead, there was actually very little that could be done for now, everyone knew the ship good enough by now to fight in it without meeting too many nasty surprises, and we even made sure to save some time for Zero G Training just in case some saboteurs managed to mess with the ships internal systems…though I really didn’t want to think about the damage that prolonged Zero G environment would wreak among the civilian population of the “Dancing Panda”, floating into the sky of what is basically a town within a space ship wouldn’t be very pleasant once the gravitation was restored after all….but Madame Zeniba assured me that her crew was well trained for situations like that, and after the Zero G trainings sessions, so was my crew.

As the ship decoupled itself from the Circulator and eventually arrived at the Wotan Gate blockade, the first thing that astounded me as I viewed it through one of the holo screens was the sheer size of the operation. This was indeed a full on military blockade, including several small space stations, a few battleships and countless little support ships, as well as a full on Pan Oceanian Defense Platform System. I did however also instantly see signs of the building up tension everywhere, the amount of ships undocking from the Circulator alongside the “Dancing Panda” and moving towards the Blockade was unnaturally high, and some of them where clearly military in nature, some even obviously transports for Spec Ops Crack teams or their likings in disguise. This area was getting ready for struggle, and it wasn’t fully clear against who because there wasn’t any sign of Alien Presence to be seen yet, except maybe the odd little Tohaa Ship thrown in between, most likely claiming to be on some sort of diplomatic mission or whatnot.

The moment we came into encrypted communication range with the Yu Jing Elements of the Blockade I received a message which had also been sent to the Captain, commanding us to set course and dock with the Yu Jing Light Frigate “Shanqiang” to receive further instructions.

As expected, the “games” where about to begin.

Before we could make it to the “Shanqiang” however we were hailed by the nearby Security Orbital and informed that a boarding party was on its way to proceed with the regular security inspection.

Knowing full well that such a security inspection was far from the norm at the current times as several of the factions now refused to allow boarding parties on their vessels, the Nomads being the most prominent of those ever since the Shasvastii where discovered on their vessel, I quickly sent a message to Madame Zeniba with a request to not acknowledge the message sent by the Ariadnan Orbital, and went to the shuttle bay alongside a security detachment of my best agents.

The moment the crude looking Ariadnan Shuttle landed on board I knew that something was fishy, not only did the inspection detail consist entirely of Caledonians, which while capable of sniffing out some Shasvastii with their Cameronians and Wulvers, sure weren’t the best choice for doing so, but they also brought an unusual amount of heavy weapons and specialized personal with them.

Now of course all of that could have easily been argued for as special security measures in face of the recent discoveries, but it was the behavior of their commanders that made me especially unease, they didn’t seem to come for a routine mission, but rather where on edge as if in the middle of a combat zone, constantly checking us and their surroundings out for signs of weaknesses or aggression, making sure to mask most of their conversations.

Since they didn’t outright attack us though, and had apparently brought all the right digital paperwork with them to warrant a security inspection, I choose to let them proceed for now, sending a special operative with each of their teams while the rest of the forces proceeded with their duty as usual, after all we had nothing to hide right?

Wrong.

The first signs of trouble arose when one of the special operatives reported that amongst the Caledonians there where some sort of low tech Hackers present. Knowing full well that hacking capabilities where extremely rare among the Atek Ariadnans this instantly seemed suspicious, and when I then got a report no 10 minutes later that one of them had apparently tried to hack into our information grid but failed to do so due to our tightened security measures I decided to ready my strike force.

Another 10 minutes later I received a message claiming that one of the Caledonian Teams had apparently confiscated a bunch of crates filled with high tech Zero G Equipment, claiming it to be “infected by Shasvastii” and where now on their way to “inspect” an Antenna grid with direct access to our security system. The agent even sent a recording of a conversation between one of the Caledonian Volunteers and someone who apparently went by the name of “Mac Seamus” stating that “This is great, it’s going to be a great haul, them Chingchongs don’t suspect a thing!” followed by the Mac Seamus guy replying “Don’t be too sure of that, have you seen their commander? He seemed quite nervous about our arrival…”

Having had enough of this charade I decided it was about time we showed them Ariadnans that a Yu Jing vessel was indeed a dangerous place full of potential accidents if you weren’t proceeding with caution or where just an Atek fool not knowing what to do…and which button not to press..

So as they proceeded towards the Antenna grid, I quickly deployed alongside my Strike Team, ready to teach them a lesson.

Father Anderson and a Crane and Celestial Guard Team alongside some Kuang Shi built the left flank, with myself and “Lotus Justice” as well as “Bonbori” building the center, another Kuang Shi and a Lu Duan Drone covering the right flank. Kanren Umibozu who had been monitoring the group had advanced ahead of them, and now lay in ambush at the center of the battlefield.

The enemy team consisted of one of their commanders flanked by two Wulver Bodyguards, 2 Cameronians, a walking tin can of sorts, a team of Volunteers including the ominous hacker, led by a more fancily dressed woman, and some support riff raff, all spread out on both the left and right flank, apparently intending to directly head for the Antenna network.

As expected not long afterwards a security warning appeared on my armours internal systems, warning me that someone has tried to access the security network through one of the Antennas, and as the alarm sirens began to sound the Caledonians instantly let go of their peaceful pretense, and suddenly opened fire on one of the Celestial Guards on the left flank, wounding him.

Apparently they thought that this show of aggression would be enough to intimidate us into submission, but they apparently didn’t have to deal with Imperial Service Agents like us before, for such aggression only leads to an even more brutal counter reaction from us.

I instantly ordered the troops to advance, the Kuang Shi stumbling forward to trigger any potential enemy ambushes, and indeed, a hidden Cateran Sniper instantly took the bait and shoot at them, taking one of them instantly out, but revealing his position on a nearby rooftop while doing so.

Intent on teaching them a lesson in humility I quickly shifted into position to aim at the Cateran, and took him out with one swift burst of HMG Fire, his primitive camouflage no match for my Multi Spectral Visor.

On the left flank the Spec Ops that had recently joined my command in The Neon Dragon revealed himself from his disguise as just a normal Celestial Guard, proclaiming in a soft and relaxing, yet somewhat eerie voice to the wounded Celestial Guard “Daijoubu Buddy, I’ve got you covered” as he administered some sort of regenerative drug to him, which lead to the Celestial Guard instantly rising in a gasp of adrenalin infused energy, back in action at least for now. I could have sworn I remembered the voice from the Spec Ops somehow, but I just couldn’t remember from where, and his face hadn’t ringed a bell the view times I had seen him in The Neon Dragon.

In the meantime Kanren Umibozu advanced to the central antenna and tried to take some pot shots at the Cameronian advancing on the right flank, but the creature was too fast and avoided the shots with ease.

The Mercenary Sniper “Bonbori” tried to take care of the Cameronian sneaking up on the central Antenna next to Kanren Umibozu, but this one too seemed unnaturally swift and managed to avoid the bullets.

The Lu Duan Drone hat sent a warning signal about some sort of high threat target advancing on the left flank, and since a double check revealed that it wasn’t talking about the Cameronian, I decided to leave my high vantage position and check it out myself.

The target turned out to be the heavily armoured tin can of the Caledonians, some sort of nobility supposedly, with enough prestige and money to clad itself in whole armour of Teseum, the only way those backward hillbillies could ever hope to achieve any sort of meaningful protection I reckoned.

With a bit of pity on my mind for the poor woman inside thinking herself save behind those slaps of metal, I took aim with my HMG, targeting the joints of her armour with my advanced targeting display, and pressed the trigger. The master crafted weapon guided by the high tech targeting array hit the weak joints of her armour with ease, sending the woman to an early grave in an instant of ripping metal plates and meat. She didn’t even have time to gasp in surprise before her heavy body hit the floor with a metallic CLANK.

With the main threat on this side taken care off I proceeded to take a defensive position near the antenna on the right flank of our half of the battlefield, ready to suppress the area should any enemy show itself.

The moment I left my position on the right flank, the Cameronian that had been hiding behind the building to my right sprang into action, leaping on top of the building to advance towards my position, it had however apparently forgotten about “Bonbori” who instantly fired at him with her Sniper Rifle, missing him, but forcing him to take cover on the building’s roof instead of proceeding.

The Cameronian in the middle couldn’t resist the urge to attack any longer, the scent of Kanren Umibozu who was standing right around the corner too thick in its nostrils, and bellowing a challenge it dashed around the corner, opening fire on Umibozu with both of its chain rifle, ignoring the fact that it opened itself up to fire from several of my troopers.

Kanren Umibozu dashed for cover as the creature was riddled with countless bullets from all sides, but the hailstorm of shrapnel from the duo Chainrifles was too much and he got knocked out as one of them grazed his head as he dived out of the way.

The Cameronian wasn’t as lucky though, and his body slowly turned to sludge as it was eaten away by one of Father Anderson’s Viral bullets, it’s hulking body slowly disintegrating upon itself.

With the Cameronian’s advance halted the Caledonian Commander decided to join the action himself as he sneakily advanced along the right flank, thinking himself outside of any serious threat range. But with his primitive knowledge of the technology available to the proud Imperial Service and it’s contractors, he hadn’t expected Father Anderson’s X Visor, which allowed the grizzly old veteran to easily pick his target, and take out the enemy commander with a precise bodyshot with his viral rifle, even while he was being guarded by his two Wulvers next to him.

In the meantime the Caledonian Team on the left flank tried to secure the Antenna from a potential counter attack, there was a little problem waiting for them however which they needed to deal with first……

 

---

 

Logged Communication near Security Antenna G-21H:

“Wait! Wait! Don’t move any further! Did you hear that? What the hell was that noise?”

“Sounded like a goat to me…”

“Yeah right Mac Pea, everything sounds like a bloody Goat to you, stupid goat fu..”

“Oi! Don’t go there buddy..”

“But it’s true isn’t it? Them Mac Pea’s are all goat herders right? And you know how lonely them guys get when alone on the field aaaaall day right?”

“Oh shut up morron, I’m sure he was just joking anyways, right Mac Pea? You tell him!”

“But…eh…no, I was being serious, it actually sounded like a goat to me…”

“Bwahahahahaha”

“Muahahahar”

“Tzch….come on guys, listen to the lad, I’ve heard them Yu Jing guys have recently started using some sort of automated attack robots, they supposedly look like cute animals too, coalas, pandas, who knows….maybe they’ve got goats now?”

“Yeah right, as if a Goat would be a cute animal…only a Mac Pea would eve..”

“Enough! I’ve had it! You know what? I’ll just go take a look a’right? But if I’m right and it’s a goddamn goat you’ll never badmouth my family again….”

“Fiiiine, but Feargus….if it is a goat….and you start shagging it, I’m out!”…

“Bwaaaahaahahahaha”

“Muahahahar”

“Yeah right…very funny you…”

Conversation interrupted by the sound of triggered Mad Traps jumping into action, followed by the characteristic Baaaaaalaaargh sound of them detonating in a blob of instant hardening sludge

 

---

 

Apparently the guy they sent out to trigger the Mad Traps was a natural talent in dodging their lightning fast attack pattern, nimbly avoiding both of them by hoping over them as they approached.

With this threat to their movement taken care of the team fell back a little into a saver position, their hacker starting another attempt at logging into the security grid.

In the meantime on the right flank of the battlefield “Bonbori” tried to take out the Cameronian still hiding on the rooftop, but even with her years of experience she just couldn’t land a hit on the nimble creature, muttering an annoyed “That’s not right…those things shouldn’t be that fast…couldn’t be….” under her breath

Back on the left flank, unflinching and uncaring for the shots ricocheting off the asphalt next to them, the Kuang Shi continued their zombie like walk towards the Caledonian battle line, homing in on the Volunteer Team that had just dispatched the Mad Traps. Uncaring for its own security one of the Kuang Shi stumbled around the corner, opening up with its chain rifle on the unsuspecting Caledonian Hacker sitting next to the Antenna with her primitive computer in front of her. Too surprised to effectively defend herself she was instantly taken out by the storm of shrapnel, her hardware shredded alongside herself as the emotionless Kuang Shi continued on towards her colleagues, repeating a monotone “Death is the currency in which we pay for our crimes…” over and over again…

Unable to shift to a better position the remaining members of the Volunteer Team tried to shoot the Kuang Shi the moment he stumbled around the corner, but no matter how many shots they poured into the brainwashed human creature, it just kept pressing the trigger of his chainrifle, the unending rain of Shrapnel reaping one life after the other.

By the time the Kuang Shi finally fell to the ground, uttering a last “Death…the currency..pay our crime….” The only ones left standing where the heavily wounded Highlander Grey, as well as the man that the others had refered to as Mac Seamus before, wielding his shotgun with surgeon like precision, somehow still unharmed among all the dead.

He was just leaning against the nearby wall, a sigh of relieve rasping through his lungs as his body fought with the after effects of the adrenalin rush, when he suddenly heard another voice coming from the other side of the building he was leaning against…. “There is no innocence, only degrees of guilt…”..and then the world was darkness and pain for Mac Seamus.

Not too far behind the Kuang Shi the Crane Agent leading the Celestial Guard Team managed to aquire a better firing position on the Wulvers that had tried to cross the street with their commander before, and thanks to his X Visor he too managed to easily make out the Wulver standing in the middle of the road, ripping him apart with a long burst from his Spitfire.

In a last desperate attempt for vengeance the remaining Cameronian threw a smoke Grenade and advanced towards the Lu Duan Remote that had just skimmed closer to his position, but the Remote was ready for him, and a blazing hot stream of Fire from the Remotes Heavy Flamethrower ended the creatures existence just as his Chainrifles ripped the remote apart.

Suddenly there was only a single Wulver and a 112 that had been hiding behind a nearby building left for the Caledonians, and with their commander gone they decided that retreat towards their shuttle was a better option than trying to prevail here….naturally they didn’t make it far, a closed airlock ending their attempt, quickly followed by a burst of destructive Nano particles from my inbuilt Nano Pulsar, removing all evidence that they had ever been present on this ship.

The same procedure awaited all other members of the Caledonian team, though by the time the cleanup crew made it to the Volunteer Team’s remains, the Caledonian known as Mac Seamus was no longer there…..

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Comment: Holy cow…..I wished I could have created the battle report on the Strikezone Wotan Campaign Website as easily as on this Blog…there it took me over two hours, here only like 10 minutes (of course I did a lot of preparations there, but still..)

Gotta say, this battle was a lot of fun, my wife is getting motivated for the Campaign as well, and I’m sure we’ll be having a lot of fun battle reports in the next few weeks.

I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed playing it!

The next 48 hours on board of the “Dancing Panda” became way more stressfull than I had originally hoped for.

The day after I realized what our true purpose at the Wotan Gate most likely would be, I had to break the news to my subordinates, who obviously weren’t pleased about this “change of plans” either.

Shifts that shold have been easy going “Getting to know the area”, instantly turned into precise battle preparation work, checking every area of the “Dancing Panda” Spaceship for potential areas of infiltration, defensive positions, ambush points, targets of interest for possible attackers, and other things like it. Obviously we couldn’t go as far as to barricade ourselves in and openly prepare our defenses, the mission of the “Dancing Panda” was after all still presenting Yu Jing Culture to the other nations at the Wotan Gate, and hostile activities, even if they should take place, would most likely be under cover, forcing us to keep the image of the friendly tourist attraction, no matter what might occure.

By the time the “Dancing Panda” reached the Circulator Ship and linked itself into the train like structure like it was designed to, most of the basic preparations to counter enemy infiltrators was done for, and since my crew had done plenty of overtime to do so, I decided it was time for a bit of relaxation, after all that was what everyone had originally hoped for, and one had to enjoy the little things when the opportunity presented itself….or so my father used to say when he had one too many sake and mother wasn’t around to scold him.

So it was when my shift ended on the third day that I left the “Dancing Panda” and entered the Circulator’s amusement area, a clean white painted part of the ship that resembled a small town full of high class bars and other establishments designed to keep the weary traveler happy during his stay.

I went there because Father Anderson swore that it contained the best bar on the whole Circulator, and they sold one of the meanest whiskeys in the whole galaxy….not that I knew much about whiskey, but one could always learn right?

The promise of high quality alcohol lead to our little party growing in size, now containing a few Celestial Guards as well as 2 of the Crane Agents, and of course Kanren Umibozu, who always seemed to magically appear next to whomever mentioned good liquer. Obviously a large group of military looking Yu Jing would raise some suspision, so we decided to leave the armour at the base, but kee the guns with us, hidden under our Japanese styled traveling cloaks…or old trenchcoat in case of Father Anderson, who’s coat even had a special connector point on the inside for just such situations.

The bar itself looked like most other bars from the outside, but the blasphemous nature of the bar’s name “Judas’s Kiss” was quickly enchanced the moment you stepped into the joint, as it was hung with upside down crosses and anti PanO Propaganda at almost every free space of wall or furniture. There was even a messageboard which stated “PanO guests, please take a seat here, your god shall be with you soon!” with an arrow pointing towards a waste disposal chute that probably lead to a waste burning facility in the lower areas of the Circulator.

Now I wasn’t too keen on religion myself, always considered it “opium for the foolish masses” of other less educated nations than Yu Jing, but I reckoned this joint wouldn’t get many PanO customers, and a fair bit of trouble should one show up after all.

The barman seemed more than capable to handle any such situation however, his arms thick as tree trunks and scarred like a grizzly bear wrestler, and a boarding shotgun laying on top of his counter…not below it like most other establishments would most likely prefer.

I wasn’t the only one giving Father Anderson a confused look after this sight, but Father Anderson just turned towards us and said “Everything’s alright lads, trust me, I know the guy, hard shell but the inside’s as fluffy as cotton candy…..what do you call them types in Yu Jing? Tsun…Tsun…Tsuntsun…” which was harshly interrupted by an empty bottle crashlanding next to Father Anderson’s feet, followed by a shouted “Next one will Tsuntsun your bloody head you old fool! Now come over here, I haven’t seen you in ages, and you still haven’t cleared your tab from last time!”. Father Anderson seemed embarassed by the both friendly and demanding tone of the barkeepers request, and just tilted his head to the side in excuse and then turned around and wandered towards the barkeep, scratching the back of his head as if trying to rub a good excuse out of it. “Well you see…”

The next few hours went by in a blur of “alternative” christian music, an odd experience I can assure you, choking cigar smoke, and the best non Yu Jing Liquor I’ve ever had in my life, which made the whole ordeal actually enjoyable despite everything.

The Barkeep turned out to be just as Father Anderson had described him, rough shell, but once he got to know you, he opened up a bit, and we had quite an enjoyable talk about the merits of close combat weapons in modern military engagements at one point, the Barkeep turning out to be one of Father Anderson’s old Mercenary colleagues who had quit because of some sort of knee injury which he didn’t want to talk about….most likely because it happened during an encounter with some Yu Jing “Ninjas”…

The mood broke when a few PanO Soldiers on R&R suddenly entered the bar, reeling back in shock at the sight and instantly starting to curse the Barkeep, claiming that a heretic like him deserved to be nailed to the cross. One of them even tried to pull a gun, but Father Anderson was quicker and at the sight of his nasty Viral Rifle, the PanO soldier decided that today maybe wasn’t his lucky day after all, and he’d rather not die in such an unholy place. One of the other soldiers whispered something into the ear of the groups would be commander, and afterwards the group quickly left the establishment, the soldier that wanted to pull his gun swearing his vengeance as he left.

After this little encounter, one of the Celestial Guards checked his watch, and a row of “Tzzzzzzk ooooooh” followed as we realized that we only had 5 more hours until our next shift, and thus better got going before it was too late for detox pills.

Promising the Barkeep to return should we get the chance we said our goodbyes and went “homewards” towards the “Dancing Panda”‘s link on the Circulator.

We didn’t get far however, before the terribly drunk Umibozu suddenly stopped us with a hand sign and stared into the streets before us. At first I couldn’t make out why he stopped us, but a faster growing ringing sound, followed by a quick burst of bullets from a Sierra Dronbot on a nearby balcony instantly cleared up the confusion. Shouting a slightly drunk “Aaaaambuuuush!” we quickly spread apart into the best battle formation we could muster, Father Anderson dashing to the right flank, myself crawling up to a nearby roof, while the Crane Agents and Celestial Guard went into formation in the middle of what would become our battlefield.

Thanks to Kanren Umibozu we managed to avoid the ambush and I instantly ordered one of the Celestial Guards to cover my position with a Smoke screen. The Celestial Guard apparently had a bit too much whiskey at the “Judas’s Kiss” though, and several of his smoke grenades went completely wild, covering some of the nearby neighbourhood instead.

Cursing my bad luck I ordered the Crane and Celestial Guard team to advance instead, taking out the Sierra Dronbot through the building in the middle of the battlefield. However with the team’s coordination ruined as it was by the heavy liquer consumption all they managed to do was getting one of the Crane Agents wounded by the Dronebot in the fire exchange instead.

At this point an enemy Nisse Sniper popped up on a nearby rooftop, trying to take out Father Anderson, however the seasoned Veteran of many battles and expert drinker seemed to be in way better shape than most of my other subordinates and instead disposed of the Nisse with his Viral Rifle! I reminded myself to give Father Anderson a little bonus payment the next time his hire was due…the guy truly was worth every penny every single time!

A Crock Man tried to make up for the Nisse Snipers failute in the center of the battlefield, but one of the new Celestial Guards had apparently brought his Mad Traps along…must have been some sort of special operative at some point I reckoned, and the surprised Crock Man was glued to the ground before he could do any serious damage.

At this point the bit of luck we still had left began running out though as my wrist holo suddenly warned me of a big target appearing on our left flank and rapidly moving towards us.

The target revealed itself to be a bloody Cutter TAG…and instantly proceeded to take out the already wounded Spitfire Crane Agent. One of the Celestial Guards guarding it’s flank actually managed to wound the giant invisible TAG in return, but that only seemed to make the pilot more angry, who instantly proceeded to take out the Celestial Guard.

As the Cutter continued to take out Kanren Umibozu the remaining Crane Agent managed to damage the giant death machine once more, but now she had pulled the things attention to herself and was wounded herself before she managed to hide behind a corner, the giant now heavily damaged death machine doing the same on it’s side.

With the adrenaline clearing some of the alcohol from their body one of the Celestial Guards finally managed to throw a Smoke Grenade in front of me,which I instantly used to take out the heavily damaged Cutter TAG, finally ridding our flank from the PanO Abomination.

I also managed to take out the Sierra Dronbot, but took a wound in return myself.

In the meantime Father Anderson reactivated his Holo Echoes and proceeded to cover my position at ground level.

We quickly found out how much those damn PanO’s wanted to take revenge when one of them, an Akal Commando if my knowledge of PanO troopers was anything to go by, suddenly dropped from the ceiling with his Drop Harness and started opening at the Crane and Celestial Guard team with his Boarding Shotgun!

Taken completely by surprise the initial salvo instantly took our the Celestial Guard Specialist from before, as well as the remaining Crane Agent, leaving only the last Celestial Guard to dash for cover and return fire. Luckily for him the enemy Akal was still a bit unbalanced by his drop, and thus the Celestial Guard managed to take him out even in his drunk state.

In the distance I could hear an agonized scream by one of the PanO soldiers, followed by a sudden explosion from the room in the center of the battle field. Having no clue what was going on I ordered Father Anderson to take look and the remaining Celestial Guard to cover his flank.

All that Father Anderson managed to see where the signs of an Explosion inside of the room, but we didn’t have time to investigate further as the PanO troopers suddenly did a coordinated push on all fronts, taking me and Father Anderson out in the process….

The next thing I remembered was one of the Circulator’s Security Guards slapping me in the face shouting “ARE YOU AWAKE NOW!?” followed by accusations of weapon usage inside of the Circulator which took another 2 hours to clear once the Security Guards finally understood that it wasn’t us starting this fight, but rather the PanO Soldiers that we had met in the Bar before, but by that time there was already no trace of them left in the area, and we where sent back to our ship and put under “house arrest” for the remainder of the flight….for our own security as they proclaimed.

When I meet Father Anderson on the way back he told me that someone had apparently carved the word “TRAITOR” on his back, most likely wanting to finish the job afterwards, but getting interrupted by the Security Guards arrival….for most people such a branding would have been a horrible thing, forcing them to search for skin recovery threatment or other ways of getting rid of the mark, Father Anderson however just shrugged with a smirk and pulled down his shirt a bit further, revealing a series of “HERETIC!” “SCUMBAG!” “CHEATER” and other nasty scar “messages”  on his back, while adding “Just another one for the collection…”

---

Comments:

Boy oh boy did I get a beating in this battle report. It was my first battle report against PanO after a loooong time, and I wasn’t very familiar with what PanO can bring to the table, a fact that I paid for heavily throughout the game as I hadn’t taken proper care of my lines of sight, allowing my opponents drop trooper and Cutter to run rampage in my flank and back…

It didn’t help that I couldn’t make a single armor role throughout the whole game, so all I could really do was trying to scratch some points during the mission, and maaaybe grab a draw in the end, but the Coordinated Auxilia Offensive and the Mine in the Control room (I assumed it was a Camo Trooper cause I didn’t know it was possible to lay a mine with minelayer if you are in hidden deployment state) brought an end to that hope quickly…

It was still a very fun battle though and my opponent was a good sports all throughout the game, which made the streak of bad luck only half as bad as it’d normally be. I hope he can forgive me the “my troops where drunk” narrative, but when we talked about his troops finding Father Anderson in a Bar and him hunting him down as a Traitor to PanO, the story just began writing itself, and it fit my terrible rolls so well ;-P

Anyways, this was the last battle Report before Strikezone Wotan starts! Look forward to my next Reports in the Campaign!!

The next day I was on my way to The Pearl Turtle to meet up with “Madame Zeniba”, the Captain of the “Dancing Panda”.

As is custom for formal first meetings like that, I was accompanied by a small entourage of “guards”, in this case 3 Celestial Guards and Kanren Umibozu. When Father Anderson got wind of me visiting The Pearl Turtle before our departure he asked if he could tag along, apparently wanting to restock on some rarer liquors before being off in Space for a longer period of time. Impressed by his foresight I asked him to bring some Sake for me as well, and thus allowed him to accompany us to the Pearl Turtle in our Azure Dragon.

As the Azure Dragon rose over The Neon Dragon I took a look out of the small armoured window at the city steeped in morning light, reminiscing about my time here, and thinking about what new events might occur during our time on the Dancing Panda. I could only hope that our temporary replacement crew in The Neon-jo was up for the task, The Neon Dragon sure hadn’t been an easy assignment.

The moment I convinced myself that things would end up alright as all ISS Members where more than fit for their duty, and the Dancing Panda wasn’t exactly a battle cruiser, so fighting would be at a minimum, my view was obstructed by one of the shining white building walls that most of The Pearl Turtle area seemed to be made off, and as soon as the doors of the Azure Dragon folded upwards, I was greeted by a loud voice shouting “Help us! These Guys have stolen our luggage!!”.

Naturally as I stepped out of the Azure Dragon Landing Craft, flanked by Celestial Guards, all eyes of the citizens walking along the street that heard the man scream where suddenly staring at us with surprise and expectation. Obviously no one expected a ISS Landing Craft to promptly appear in responce of a mere theft, but now that we where here, everybody expected swift and violent justice…leaving me little choice but to deliver just that.

The man that had been shouting was standing in front of a small entourage himself, consisting of two hired muscle looking men lying on the floor bleeding, a woman sitting elegantly yet annoyed on a nearby cargo crate, shades covering most of her face, and the man himself, a Secretary looking guy in his prime, obviously no fighter, who now was waving at us and pointing in the direction that his attackers had apparently run. “Wow! That was quick! They ran in this direction! A bunch of Nomad Scumbags I reckon, wearing all red!”

Wanting to get this distraction over with as quickly as possible me and my little crew dashed in the described direction Kanren Umibozu leading the way as he was not only more used to this type of chases than most of us, but also knew The Pearl Turtle like no one else in The Neon Dragon, having been undercover in it for quite a good part of his life in one way or the other.

After about a minute of chasing, lead by Umibozu who seemed to have no problem whatsoever following their trail through the high society area we where stopped by Umibozu, leaning against a building a few meter in front of us, signing us to stop, pointing out a few targets in the distance and giving us the “Silence” sign along with it.

Quickly zooming in on the figures I noticed one of them, who apparently hadn’t considered “being sober” as a requirement for their little plunderparty, vomting his innermost onto the shining white streets, surrounded by what looked like a Reverend Healer and another Alguacil. Apparently they thought they had avoided all who could possible follow them, and felt compfortable with waiting for their comrad to get better.

Dividing my squad up with short handsign commands, as those Nomad fuckers where known to be sneaky hackers, so one could never be too cautious with com channels around them, I then quickly ascended through the stairway system of a nearby building to its roof, where I had clear sight on the thieves.

Not wanting to shy them away at the sight of a Hsien Warrior in an advantageous position right from the get go, I and the Celestial Guard next to me crouched down to avoid detection as the others slowly advanced.

---

“Oh come on Chesus! Get a grip! We are on the run you know…”

“Shut up *Bluuuuuurgh* you know how it is with me, I’m a Spacer born and raised, standing on actual land is hard enough for me, all this running and jumping just now,, my body is just not made for thi…*Bluaaargh*”

“Yeah yeah, that’s what you get for skipping ground combat training all the time…come over here, I’ve got something for ya..”

“Guys! Seriously, this is not the time! I think that was an Azure Dragon Landing Craft there just now….if it was we are in deep shit you know!”

“Deep shit my a*Bluaaargh*”

“Oh come on Rodriguez, you know how the Police in these Yu Jing Dumpster Towns is, they probably tripped over their own shoelaces trying to follow us…if they even showed up at all!”

*another female voice chimes in by vox*

“Yeah Rodriquez, don’t you remember last time in Shen Tang? I heard one of them even got a heart attack while chasing us after this little liquor raid stunt we did……damn come to think about it, any of that stuff left on board, or do we need to make a quick detour on our way?”

“Nope we finished that one off a long ti”

*Rodriquez chimes in, cutting everyone off*

“No guys, I’m serious! If this was an Azure Dragon we’re not talking fat coppa here, we’re talking ISS! They don’t fuck ar”

*A loud bang interrupts the talk, followed by the female voice screaming over the vox in agony*

“Shit!!”

“Shit!!”

“Shit!!”

---

 

The battle started as Father Anderson saw an enemy Alguacil standing among some crates, apparently busy chatting with her comrades over vox channel.

 

With an ease that only a seasoned veteran (with the help of an X Visor) could emit, Father Anderson put a burst of Viral rounds into the Alguacil, her screams as the terrible toxin ate away at her body waking her comrades out of their casual stupor.

Instantly a Grenzer Sniper that been hiding in a nearby building tried to take aim at Father Anderson, but at the same time the Celestial Guard that was on the rooftop with me shot a smoke grenade at my feet, allowing me to savely proceed to the corner of the building, shredding the clueless Grenzer with a salvo of my HMG.

Stunned as most of the normal Nomad Soldiers where by the ambush, the combat experience of their Mercenary where razor sharp, and she instantly tried to take out the biggest threat to their flank, Father Anderson.

The grizzled Veteran wasn’t having any of it though, and the Mercenary quickly followed the Alguacil to a screaming painful death of viral ammunition to the face.

The groups Reverend Healer, enraged by the horrible deaths of her comrades tried to be clever, circumventing the building in front of her, trying to get within optimal range of myself, who now that the smoke grenade was gone, made for a sweet target on that rooftop.

Apparently she hadn’t considered the height difference though, and her aim was thus a bit off as she opened fire at me, paying for her mistake by getting riddles with countless slugs from my HMG. Apparently Mother Mary of the Knife…or whoever those fools prayed too, wasn’t too fond of firefights as she hadn’t blessed this one for sure.

As I zoomed in on the building, searching for remaining troopers of the enemy squad, I could barely make out the shape of yet another Alguacil, who had apparently dared to advance, trusting in the Revenant Healers ability to take care of me.

A few short bursts from my HMG tought the fool never to underestimate the ISS again, ripping through 2 windows right into his chest.

Since nothing dared to move on the other side of the battlefield anymore, and I couldn’t get anything in sight either, both Kanren Umibozu and Father Anderson advanced along the left flank, and after a few steps Kanren Umibozu noticed the sound of Servo Motors comming from the corner in front of him. Stealthy as a ghost the undercover specialist and Martial Arts practitioner sneaked up on the corner of the building, and then sweept around it, striking downwards at the Mobile Brigada that had been hiding behind it with his Monofilament sword in one swift motion, cutting the cowardly fool in half with ease.

Apparently the guy had been the thieves commander, as his death suddenly sent the last remaining Alguacil into a sprint to get off the battlefield. To his own demise though the guy slipped on some sort of liquid spread on the floor next to him, which we later found out was vomit, and as he slowed down to avoid falling, Father Anderson took him out through the window behind him, his X Visor once again giving him an easy shot.

With no more movement I waited for Kanren Umibozu to give the all clear sign, and then gave the order to secure the area and collect the stolen goods.

Leaving Kanren Umibozu behind with Father Anderson to wait for the cleanup crew, I returned to the Azure Dragon’s Landing position to return the goods to the man.

As I stretched my hand out to hand over the bag to the man, he simply stepped back behind the woman now standing, an apologetic expression on his face, and the woman snikkered to herself, slightly flicking her sunglasses lower to allow eyecontact between us

“Keep it General Fuyu,it’s not important to me anymore now. I see they’ve sent me a halfway decent replacement for that incompetent fool that used to be in charge of security on my ship. I guess spreading the news that I’d be carrying some precious cargo to a dealer in The Pearl Turtle at the local Bars wasn’t a waste afterall. A Pleasant surprise, I expect you and your crew onboard tomorrow at 1030, whoever is late will be left behind, I’m not joking.”

And with that, the woman, who now that I managed to see her eyes and took a closer look appeared to be in her very well preserved fifties, turned around together with her entourage, and quickly left the scene. In the meantime the quick databank scan my suit of armour had made blinked it’s result on my field of view, and just as I opened the bag, revealing a bunch of Dancing Panda Plushies inside, it identified the woman as “Madame Zeniba” Captain of the Dancing Panda.