Durgama Takeover

Keeping his own squad, rounded out by an Order Sergeant hacker, an engineer, a paramedic, and a Teuton supporting De Ferzen with a tinbot, in the command center itself, two baggage remotes were deployed in the corners of the battlefield. A Fugazi was watching the battlements of the Yu Jing fortress, supported by an Order Sergeant toting a heavy rocket launcher. A Peacemaker watched the approaches on the opposite flank, and a Seraph stood behind, ready to use its machine gun to open up the field to movement.

The Invincibles commander, no less experienced with fighting De Ferzen's force and no less hardened, had brought an effective mix of units. A Guijia deployed directly across from the Seraph, with a Zhanshi squad on the battlements aiming a missile launcher and machine gun at our long range gun as well. A Lu Duan, holoechoes active, sat on one flank. The enemy command console was defended by a Shang Ji toting an armor piercing machine gun, Krit Kokram to repait the Guijia if damaged, and a Hulang carrying electromagnetic grenades. Each force was tailored to fight the other.

Wasting no time, the Seraph engaged the enemy guns aimed at it. Judging the enemy missile launcher to be the greatest threat, the Seraph fired a quick burst of shots at the Guijia to knock it off balance, and fired the remainder at the missile launcher. It was a good plan, and of no use. The Guijia took a hit that its armor easily deflected, but a missile nonetheless impacted the Seraph and damaged it slightly. The Zhanshi's machine gun rounds also hit the Seraph, but did nothing.

Moving forward and trusting in the plan, the Seraph fired a burst of shots with the same targets, this time being rewarded by seeing the Zhanshi's missile launcher fall behind the battlements. One down. This time the enemy Guijia's armor was not so tough, and it was also damaged.

The Curator inside the Military Orders fortress was able to his his gizmokit to repair the minor damage done to our TAG. Moving forward and and laying down machine gun fire, the Seraph moved to its right to break contact with the Guijia. The Zhanshi carrying a machine gun ducked behind cover after taking a TAG shot that his flak jacket barely stopped. The Seraph leapt high on top of the nearby building and traded fire with the Guijia further. More damage was sustained, but not irreperable, and the Guijia remained present to pin down the battlefield.

This meant that the Shang JI's machine gun was also still standing, and so one flank of our army could not move at all. If our rocket launcher broke cover even momentarily, he would be seen and fired upon by the Guijia and Shang JI both. Directing his attentions elsewhere, De Ferzen ordered the Peacemaker to crouch and enter the building under the Seraph's feet to deny that area of the battlefield to the Guijia with its repeater.

Wasting no time, the Shang Ji turned its guns on our rocket launcher. A devastating burst of fire very nearly killed our Order Sergeant outright, but his armor was well maintained and he merely slumped down, unconscious. Krit Kokram, no longer worried about standing up, did just that and used his gizmokit to repair damage done to the Guijia.

The Lu Duan began to advance next. Taking advantage of its echoes, it moved into the middle of the battlefield without concern for retaliation. It settled in behind some boxes and fired a burst from its Mark XII at our Fugazi. The Fugazi attempted to defend itself unsuccessfully, and was knocked badly offline. The Lu Duan, safe in its position, began to scan the battlefield to suppress any movement with bullets.

The Guijia, free to move and undamaged, moved backwards to gain a line of fire on the Seraph. Unconcerned about the heavy machine gun carried by our TAG, it settled in to await a chance to attack. But the Invincible Army was happy with its deployment for now. Dominating the field with a Mark XII and a MULTI machine gun, it would be a fight to dig them out.

Unwilling to spend most of his attention directing the Seraph at the moment, and concerned about the developing Yu Jing position on the approach to the AC/2, De Ferzen took action personally. Maneuvering himself slightly out the doorway, he aimed his spitfire and took down the Shang Ji with one accurate burst. Moving out slightly further, the Lu Duan was disabled with the same amount of effort. A credit to PanOceanian expertise in gunplay, the team moved out.

Our Bulleteer advanced to occupy the excellent position no longer held by the Lu Duan and prepared to suppress the battlefield itself. De Ferzen ordered his squad to advance, hoping that the panzerfausts carried by the Teuton would prove more successful this time than last time they were used against a Guijia. But it was to no avail. The Guijia proved just as impervious as the last time, and both panzerfausts failed to inflict any damage at all on the enemy armor. Near misses, defective warheads, or otherwise had rendered these weapons of no use more often than not lately.

Unwilling to let the Guijia disable our TAG with no effort, the Seraph was ordered to descend from the building. No approach to the enemy TAG was possible in its current damaged state, but the attentions of a Curator should make it ready for the last push. Or so it was hoped. In the event, our Curator's gizmokit was completely unable to connect to the Seraph even at the short ranged in which it was used, and the TAG remained heavily damaged and ripe for the Yu Jing counterstroke soon to land.

Feeling confident, but with their last moves countered and the midfield still contested, the enemy Guijia advanced. Firing at our Bulleteer several times without landing a hit, the Guijia took damage from our spitfire return shots. But the Bulleteer was forced to disable its suppressive fire program to respond to the long range shots, leaving it vulnerable. Unconcerned about further return fire of much smaller quantities, the Guijia unleashed its anger on our Peacemaker and knocked it, as well, badly offline. Our REMs would be much the worse for wear after this fight.

Continuing their efforts to clear the way to our AC/2, the Yu Jing Hulang exchanged several volleys of fire with the Bulleteer. Most shots went wide on both sides due to the advanced cloaking devices used by the fighters. But the Hulang was tougher than the Bulleteer. While he was able to take a hit and stay standing, our Bulleteer took a hit and went offline.

To add insult to injury as the Invincible Army paused in its tempo, the Zhanshi carrying machine gun poked his head over the top of the battlements to lay machine gun fire at our Crosier paramedic and the journalist accompanying our forces. While the Crosier was able to avoid the shots, the journalist was laid low.

With no more time remaining to play cat and mouse with the Yu Jing forces, his fast remotes disabled, and a frustratingly undamaged Guijia slowly advancing up the field towards the PanOceanian AC/2, De Ferzen again took matters into his own hands. Crawling below the battlements, De Ferzen poked his spitfire out and downed the Zhanshi's machine gun for good. Continuing to crawl forward, he fired several volleys of spitfire rounds at the Hulang, which dodged ever closer to De Ferzen's squad as it avoided the shots until it at last fell at very close range.

Leaving the Order Sergeant hacker behind to cover the AC/2, and judging that he had enough resources to inflict damage to the enemy control unit without losing the entire attacking force, they broke cover and rushed at it. The Guijia's machine gun shots flew between them, hitting no one. Krit Kokram's aim was better, and he wounded the Teuton. But to no avail. Without time to bring the Curators demolition charges to bear, the Teuton charged forward and hit the enemy AC/2 with his sword, damaging it. While bringing the weapon around for a second hit, some automated defense system disabled the knight. This was as far as we would go. De Ferzen took the opportunity to use command prerogative and upload a map of the enemy's fortifications to command, then reformed his squad.

Equally out of time to delay, Krit Kokram began to sprint towards the PanOceanian AC/2. Moving easily between the troopers on the narrow bridge, who did not respond in time to block his movement, he trusted in his armor and speed and rushed across the bridge. Close to success, he misjudged his range and found himself in the hacking range of our Order Sergeant hacker. To his chagrin. Failing to harden his power armor, he was trapped inside as the servos locked up.

As a last gamble, the Invincible Army sent in its Guijia. Unstoppable in several skirmishes before, and master of this battlefield, it weathered a hail of bullets and jumped on the battlements outside of our base, disabling the Seraph on its way. The AC/2 was in view, and it readied its massive weapon to smash it. But, again, it failed to harden its armor. And, again, our Order Sergeant's hacking training proved its worth, as the mighty machine was also immobilized.

Our forces had traded places. Invincible Army units stood on consecrated battlements, immobilized but present. They had managed to loot some gear from nearby panoplies, but our AC/2 remained untouched. The Yu Jing AC/2 was not untouched, but damaged. And we had a map of their fortifications. Quickly as they had gone up, this had to be a standard pattern. That map would prove valuable as the fight went on. A narrow victory, but a victory all the same for the Hyperpower. One and only.