Durgama Takeover

7.11.22
Special Situations Section
Commander Callsign: “DPA”
Lieutenant Callsign: “Shakti”
Engagement: A Bureau-Approved test of static PanOceanian defenses using less lethal live rounds and chemicals. I recommended a scrimmage with the future High Commander, who I have had the honor of working for as consultant for his tactics network. He accepted.

Summary: Offensive repelled. Good data obtained. One critical casualty, multiple minor casualties. Negligible expenditure of materiel due to inordinate stockpiles of ammunition on site.

Deployment
Naturally, the defending PanOceanians took up the best defensible position, and long range sweepers prevented close infiltration without some risky stealth work. I opted to reveal my presence early and hold while the opponent closed the distance. Upon first movements, it became clear that there were almost no safe places to hunker down close to the objective room. Thus, I kept my two small fireteams spread far and screened them with mercenary scouts. My opponent revealed a fully-powered collection of NeoTerran veterans alongside a representative of the Church Militant leading corporate guns and multiple skirmishers.

Initial Engagement
My opponent coordinated his skirmishers extensively to push forward, access the objective room, and deploy traps. The Locust operative found a line to assault my Aoidos through the treeline. (NOTE: THE EARLY LOSS OF MY JOURNALIST NECESSITATED OBTAINING UNPUBLISHED IMAGES FROM THE PANOCEANIAN WARCOR TO SUPPLEMENT THIS REPORT) The Church-corporate fireteam advanced up the left flank to support. The skirmishers hunkered down in and just outside the objective room.

I counterattacked with my mercenary. Her anaesthetic projector accurately modeled the effect of the type of incendiary weapon used to hunt Megabeasts. The fireteam and Locust learned that overextending in a large clump is not to be advised. Sergeant Acmon of the Dactyls advanced with an Authorized Bounty Hunter to clear the traps and seize the room. Unfortunately, the ABH’s chemical launcher had no effect on the enemy mercenary skirmisher, but the return fire left her in no shape to continue. (Odd, that stuff is formulated to work on 85% of humans) After a quick pick-up to get her to the off-battlefield Sophotect corps, the Danava and Sgt Acmon attempted to spotlight and kill the skirmisher with pitcher and combi fire. Her cover saved her from the light rounds, and the Sgt had no choice but to enter and forcibly override the interior FoF controls.

Developing Engagement
My opponent’s response was predictable. The mercenary skirmisher was freshly reloaded and Sgt Acmon was on the backfoot, so her superior burst managed to take him out. There was a moment where a lucky shot might have downed her, but it didn’t seem to hit anything vital. (Very strange). Fortunately, the next generation Dactyl L-host can take an insane amount of light arms fight, so Sgt was left to pass out in the building without incident. The last member of the small fireteam, a paramedic, decided to hunt the hunter. This resulted in a blast of chemical that took the Fusilier out of commission and a volley of fire that had the hunter retreating hastily. The third skirmisher prepared more traps and entered the room.

My Posthuman used a heavy proxy to try to flame out the pests, but a combination of suppressive fire and fortitude meant only a deployable saw any damage. At the very least, the suppressive shots were harmless against his reinforced plating. My Danava and a Myrmidon performed a complicated hacking and smoke maneuver to obstruct the sight of a visored sniper and the skirmishers at just the right points for the Homerid to advance untouched. Sadly data recovered from his Cube shows that his sword thrust in the swirling smoke was parried by a boot knife, and he ate a viral round to the chest in riposte. Who exactly is teaching all of these mercenaries gun kata? I made one last effort to confront the sniper directly, an action I had been loathe to take due to the reputation of NCA veterans. It turns out any jackass could’ve beaten the Posthuman, as he shot two wide and she bit him twice viciously on the gorget. Disgraceful. The opponent switched the FoF systems back to their codes automatically.

Engagement’s End
With my forces on the back door, the opponent engages his large fireteam to attempt a rout. The Bolts utilized all many of bear-shaped claymores and struck at the heart of my forces. While I somehow was able to temporarily send their pointman and hacker into shock, two quick Medikit shots had them back in the wargame promptly.

Resigning myself to endless embarrassment, I chose to devote the rest of my energies to attempt to down that most troublesome pale skinned blonde mercenary in the objective room. Predictably, Lt Shakti was blinded by a Fugazi and a second Doctor Proxy couldn’t land a hit through the suppressive fire and was unceremoniously rendered into yet another project for the Mother-Forges to rebuild by all of the other enemy troopers looking at her.

Final Analysis
I ask no forgoveness. When attempting an offense, I must go on the offensive. Any fear of losing access to the codes in the objective room early is entirely secondary to being forced to always react to opponent initiatives. Doubly so when the terrain is not conducive to putting troopers on overwatch safely. While hardened Aspects like Lt Shakti and Sgt Acmon may be sufficient fighters in dispersed data acquisition missions, it is clear when zone dominance is critical that I must enlist true superior firepower. Fortunately, there is no better description of the Assault SubSection.