Durgama Takeover

– Query Received: Most Recent Engagement on Raveneye Orbital
– Searching Recent Battle Reports…
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– Query returned 1 record: “Hold the Line”
– Review contents?
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– Classification: Firefight
– Location: Raveneye Port Battery: Ammunitions and Supplies Module
– Resource Value Allocated to Defensive Position: 200
– Combatants:
Bakunian Forces assigned to the ship The Amethyst Sky led by Rev. Mira Rivera
Combined Forces led by Umbra Samaritan Nourkias, Kai'l Rank
– Loading Battle Report:
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– (9) Logs Found:
Phase 0.0 - Prologue
Phase 0.5 - Deployment
Phase 1.0 - Bakunian Advance
Phase 1.5 - Combined Forced Advance
Phase 2.0 - Bakunian Counterstrike
Phase 2.5 - Combined Forces Regroup
Phase 3.0 - Bakunian Forces Close Operations
Phase 3.5 - Combined Forces Perform Desperate Strike
Phase 4.5 - Epilogue
– Playing Log 1:
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Mira was exhausted, and it was making her a little snippy. Her life had been chaotic over the past several days, to say the least. After watching in horror as the Combined fired upon Corregidor, she was immediately sent as an envoy of Bakunin to the Raveneye Orbital Complex. Since arriving on the station, she’d already been in active combat zones, issued statements on behalf of the Nomad Nation, and gotten into arguments with both Ariadnan and O-12 leadership. It sure seemed she wouldn’t get any rest on her first mission off of the Mothership.

To be fair though, Mira was always a little short tempered. As a Reverend Custodier of the Observance of Saint Mary of the Knife (Our Lady of Mercy), she was used to both being in charge and having others respect her orders. The crew of her ship, The Amethyst Sky, followed her without question while at home on Bakunin. Aboard the Raveneye, she had no choice but to fall into the hierarchy of the Nomad Military Force. While she had been assigned members of her own crew to operate as a tactical squad, she still had to follow Command…

And right now, Command directed her to defend the Ammunitions and Supplies Module of Raveneye’s Port Battery. So, The Amethyst Sky would hold the position at all costs.

Mira glanced around at the supplies and troops around her. The low hum that permeated the tense atmosphere was broken by light chatter and the click-clack of REM legs on the hard floor. The Module was larger than she had expected, and her meager forces would have to fight their hardest to maintain control. Lottie and Zinnie, two bunny-girl Moderators, laughed together off to the side which didn't do much to assuage her dour mood.

She watched as Stephanie adjusted her camouflage settings, flicking through different colors and patterns in a test sequence. Mira had known the scrappy Zero since before her time in the Observance. They were close, and the fact they continued to be paired together by Command suited them just fine.

“Ready for this, Steph? We’ve been told Combined Forces are on the move in our direction.”

"Always ready, Rev." Her voice had a slight echo from the vocalizer in her helmet. "I've got my dep-reps ready, so you better bring your big girl hacks."

"Don't call me that. And do you really think I'm not ready to scramble their tech? Just make sure you hit your shots as I mark targets." Stephanie sniggered before going quiet and disappearing entirely.

“I didn’t realize she’d be part of our contingent,” what looked like empty space whispered to Mira. A purple, one-eyed helmet appeared and nodded toward a blue-haired girl made more of cybernetics than of flesh. “Zoe’s a legend, and if they sent her this must be really important.” She spoke quietly, but Mira figured Zoe’s implants probably let her hear every word.

“This is to protect our homes; it’s the most important mission we’ve been on. We’re lucky to have the best Clockmaker around,” Mira replied. “Our defensive REMs are going to be in tip-top shape.”

“Let’s hope we don’t need them, Rev.” The rest of Stephanie’s body appeared, and she started to wander away toward a munitions stockpile.

“You know I hate it when you call me that!” Mira called after her. The two bunny girls jumped at Mira’s voice.

“No need to yell, Captain,” Zinnie replied with a wry smile. “You know we have big ears.”

Mira sighed. Morale was clearly high, but she worried about the coming battle.

She reviewed her full roster of troops. Most of them were regulars from The Amethyst Sky.

Zoe and Pi-Well were a special treat for this mission, but the loaned Tsyklon and Vertigo Zond were fairly standard for defense. Dorina, a gray, squirrel-girl chimera was petting her pupniks while simultaneously riling them up to get ready for their inevitable charge. Meanwhile, an energetic elf bounced around the group chattering non-stop. Luna was a Morlock, and you could tell she was just itching to activate her metachemical enhancements. Despite her cheerful demeanor, she was a terror on the field.

Command had even seen fit to send a Warcor as part of the detachment. This fight would either be used to generate rage at the Combined or serve as propaganda to show the might of the human sphere. Mira really hoped it would be the latter.

"Reverend Rivera! Reverend Rivera!" The Warcor had noticed Mira looking at her and hurried over. "Abigail Trinity, with the Durgama Defense Coalition Press Corps. This is clearly a perilous and deadly situation that is vital to the defense of Concilium Prima. Do you have any comments for the citizens of the Human Sphere?" She held a microphone in Mira's face.

"Ms. Trinity, I appreciate your fervor and inquisitiveness, but I'm a little preoccupied at the moment." She walked away, leaving the crestfallen reporter without a real comment.

That's when she heard the first shots. Her hand was on her combi-rifle before she realized she'd moved. Pitchers were loaded, hacking systems were online, and, as nervous as she was, she was ready.

“All Nomad troops report immediately to defensive positions! This is not a drill, we have Combined forces on us now!” Her order was punctuated by more gunfire coming from the corridors outside the perimeter. "Lottie, you're on logistics during this operation! I’ll support quantronically.”

Mira kneeled and said a quiet prayer to Saint Mary of the Knife. “...and may You have mercy upon our enemies, for we cannot. Amen.” She lowered her mask, and the eyes began to shine a vibrant pink.

“Let’s take a look at what we have here…,” she muttered to herself while hacking into the Module’s security cameras. She quickly started piecing the information together into a coherent map of the combat zone.

A voice cut through her thoughts. "Captain, priority orders are currently being sent by Command. Downloading to your HUD now."

'Alright, we can handle this,' thought Mira. Despite her fear, she trusted Saint Mary and her troops. The visuals on her display started lighting up with various information. She quickly scanned the position and vitals of her comrades.

'Green across the board. Now, where are they?' The Combined had taken positions on the opposite side of the Module. Quick scans revealed bright red silhouettes behind the bulkheads and supply depots. A read out of the troops displayed next to her map.

"Let's do this!" roared Luna. The Morlock charged forward, throwing smoke grenades to cover her advance.

A thick cloud spread over the central panoply. Pi-Well's eyes glowed brightly as it activated, marching into the smoke. Pink LEDs slowly faded from sight as it moved to its objective.

"Enhanced Magnetic Leg Plating has been recovered," the obscured Pi-Well chirped. "Movement abilities upgraded."

Suddenly, a bright pulse of shimmering blue energy burst from the center of the smoke. Pi-Well had activated a sensor pulse, and a surprised Shrouded appeared in a previously empty space behind a nearby vid screen.

"High value target identified. Biometric data logged for future study and classification.* Having completed one of the priority missions, the small robot marched back out of the smoke and took cover behind a nearby building.

"I'm not getting shown up by that creepy bot!" an echoey voice called across the comms. The air rippled as Stephanie crept to the nearest panoply. She appeared a moment later with a pair of double-action shock gauntlets on. "Hey Rev, am I cleared to punch someone?" she laughed as she said it.

"This isn't a joke," Mira hissed back. "Focus and stay alert."

On the other side of the field, the insect-like Tsyklon whirred to life. There was a sharp, pinging noise as a pitcher armed with a repeater was readied. The sensor array on the front of the bot darted left and right as it found its targets. Dozens of complicated calculations happened almost instantly, and the last miniscule adjustments were made. There was a loud popping noise followed by a crack as the repeaters burrowed into the wall.

Suddenly, a Noctifer shimmered into view on an opposing rooftop. Its eyes glared at the bot as it aimed a missile launcher. Before the Tsyklon could react, the Noctifer had fired. The Tsyklon exploded into a ball of flame as it was hit. A chunk of metal landed at the feet of the small Zondbot that had been assigned to repair it.

The Noctifer wasn't finished though. Mira had gotten sloppy and had let her forces get too concentrated. A missile came flying into the cluster of pupniks, and she had to dodge out of the way of the blast. A moment later, Pi-Well emerged from the flames unscathed.

"Leo!" screamed Dorina. A mournful howl pierced the air as a pupnik realized its sibling had been murdered.

"I've got incoming." It was Steph. A shadow slowly approached from behind a shipping crate. "You better have me covered. Repeater deployed and set. Mira, Zoe, whatever it is should be entering hacking range."

Tendrils of smoke and shadow crept around the crate as Nourkias emerged with a wicked grin across his face.

Nourkias continued his slow advance until, suddenly, he flew at Stephanie. Before she could react, he grabbed her by the throat and absorbed her lifeforce. With the body completely drained, he tossed Stephanie’s corpse away onto a nearby roof.

All of Mira's HUD was red and alerts were quickly filling her vision. Her head swirled with emotions and she had to fight to keep her composure. She was a Captain defending her home in a time of war. She had readied herself for this. The battle was too important to think about her and Steph right now.

But she couldn't shake this one off. The Zero was her closest friend; this wasn't supposed to happen. She had to make it right somehow.

Mira cleared her HUD and refocused her hacking programs. Her vision was still red, but her screen showed all systems were nominal.

She scanned frantically for enemies within her hacking range and stretched her digital fingers outward from each of the repeaters, grasping for targets, looking for Nourkias. And then, she found him.

She launched Carbonite, hoping to lock down his systems. She felt Zoe working alongside her, firing her own salvo of digital attacks. Spotlight and Oblivion flew through the network, piercing Nourkias' bio-technical shield. His movement slowed, and his signal disappeared from the network. The attacks had worked.

That was the second of Command's priority missions complete.

Mira and Zoe were working overtime, locking down anything they could within their reach. An unwitting Daturazi moved to grab a weapon from a nearby panoply and instantly found itself spotlit.

"You fuckers are going to pay!" shouted Dorina, lunging forward. Eclipse smoke covered her advance as her viral weapon chain swung wildly around her. The pupniks were used to the flurry; they dodged and weaved around the flying edge, jumping at Nourkias.

With him unable to move, the carnage was over quickly. Claws, teeth, and a wicked green-tinged blade ripped through his body, and he dissipated into a burst of shadow.

The Combined Forces reacted instantly. They’d clearly lost their leader, and Mira’s HUD showed a huge amount of chatter on their comms.

Dorina, completely unaware of the disarray in the enemy troops, charged a nearby Daturazi. Another round of close combat, and the creature fell to the floor, unconscious.

Seeing an opening, Mira rushed forward, flinging her back against a nearby supply crate. She breathed heavily, working to regain composure and be useful in this fight. 'If the corridor wasn’t so locked down,' she thought,'I could retrieve something to help us from that munitions pile.'

The Combined Forces had recovered from the initial shock of losing their lieutenant, but they were still disorganized. Without coordination between the troops, their irregular motions resulted in useless fire across the field.

Not all of them were so fazed, though. The Noctifer, still on its rooftop, laughed to itself and fired another missile aimed directly at Dorina. She noticed it too late, and it hit her square in the chest, resulting in a small explosion that knocked her unconscious to the ground.

Suddenly, the whining noise of a jump pack came descending from above. The Combined must have infiltrated the vents, and a Rasyat descended onto the field. Seeing it land, Abigail fumbled with her flash pulse, firing wildly and missing completely.

An E-Drone that had been positioned toward the rear of the Combined lines beeped loudly as it sprang to life. A red tracer light emerged from its weapon. It had gone into a suppressive fire mode, and was prepared to blast anything that stepped into its sight. The Combined may be working independently at this point, but they weren’t given up and had plenty of fight left in them.

In the midfield, Luna’s metachemicals surged within her body. She bolted toward the nearest Ikadron, laughing maniacally. She fired a quick series of shots with her assault pistol into the bot, which sprayed a jet of flame at her as it fell to the floor. Luna just laughed louder as the flames enveloped her. She wasn’t hurt; she was determined to rip through the enemy lines.

So she dodged around a corner and then fired another round of shots at the nearby Shrouded. The creature turned to her with a menacing look, aimed its weapon, and fired into Luna’s gut.

“Fuck, fuck, fuck!” she screamed, unable to remain on her feet. She crawled slowly backward, hoping she wouldn’t be followed. She pulled herself behind a nearby panoply and collapsed in a heap.

The Amethyst Sky was taking more casualties than were acceptable to Mira. She needed to take charge of this fight again and lead by example. Trusting in her optical disruption device, she took a deep breath and stepped from behind her crate. The E-Drone’s tracer scanned over her several times, but her ODD kept it from getting a solid lock. Mira fired her combi-rifle into its frame, and the bot collapsed. One last high-pitched squeak emitted from its chassis before it shut down.

The Combined Forces at this point had completely regrouped, and while they had taken great losses, they were still able to fight.

Within the Bakunian deployment zone, the Rasyat crept forward. This time, Abigail’s flash pulse hit its mark, stunning the creature. Not willing to take any chances, Zoe spotlit it in case a guided missile needed to be fired at it in the future.

The Shrouded had sensed the battle was lost at this point. It decided to make a final charge at the nearest panoply. Mira fired at it as it reached for a heavy machine gun in the pile of munitions. The Shrouded stumbled away, unable to retrieve its prize.

It knew things were over. It activated its camouflage, and disappeared from view to make its retreat.

The Combined Forces had been repelled, and The Amethyst Sky had held the Ammunitions and Supplies Module.

The remaining Rasyat was put down unceremoniously, and there was no trace of the Noctifer. Two Imetrons were recovered for further research.

The Bakunian forces had taken some casualties, but nothing they couldn’t recover from. Luna was evacuated off the battlefield before bleeding out, and was expected to make a full recovery. This wasn’t the first time Dorina had gotten herself killed, and her cube would allow her to be resurrected without a scratch (though ready to scratch). She had lost her pets, but new pupniks could always be created.

The loss of the REMs is always an unfortunate cost of war, but the Tsyklon Sputnik could be replaced. Unfortunately, with its pieces scattered around the Module it was far beyond repair.

Mira didn’t notice any of this happening. She had already scaled the nearby building to find where Steph’s body had landed.

“Please, please, please…” she begged as she approached the obviously dead Zero. No lifesigns were detected by her HUD. She was already far too late to save her.

“Oh, Steph… I’m so sorry,” she whimpered, cradling Stephanie’s body in her arms. She knew this was completely unbecoming for a Captain that was supposed to be a beacon of hope for her ship, but she didn’t care. Her friend was dead, and she felt it to her core.

Mira gently placed Stephanie back onto the ground, and went about the dirty work of retrieving her cube. It was a grim task, removing it from her friend. Stephanie had never died before, and Mira was sure the process would be jarring and uncomfortable for her. There would be time to comfort her and guide her through it back at home; reviving her aboard the Raveneye wasn’t an option.

“I’ll get them for you, Steph,” Mira whispered. “Your loss won’t be in vain. We will hold the line.”

– End Final Log
– Analyzing Battle Data…
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– Mission Status Classification: Bakunian Victory
– High Command Battle Score Rating of Combatants:
The Amethyst Sky - 9
Combined Forces - 0
– Resource Value Allocated to Remaining Nomad Forces: 118
– Resource Value Allocated to Remaining Combined Forces: 104
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– Tactics Similar to Rev. Mira Rivera’s Found in Previous Battle Reports…
– Loading vid files…
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– Vid File Retrieved: “Rose City Raid Recap”
– Relevant Portion of Tactics Begins at 35.53 mark

– ALERT: Incoming Transmission from Rev. Mira Rivera
– Additional Battle Report Data Being Loaded...
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Additional Report Data Available at: https://durgamatakeover.warconsole.com/battles/mjgrey-vs-yue-fei-1657758202
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