Durgama Takeover

Truth be told, you could smell the Morats advancing upon the Raveneye Starboard Fire Control Battery well before you could see them. The foreboding blackness of the cramped orbital station reminded Lieutenant Pyotr Beria of the dark woods he had played in as a child, having endured the countless warning of his parents. “Stay out of the woods,” he could practically hear in his distant memory, “lest the beasts in the darkness take you.” As he sat in wait, watching the ghastly silhouettes of the advancing alien troopers cast intermittent shadows from the glare of alarm lights, he realized with a start that he had been letting his thoughts wander from the mission at hand.

The assignment itself was simple enough- dig in, and slaughter anyone stupid enough to cross into Ariadnan territory. And it looked like the part was just about to begin. Pyotr glanced at his tactical display, checking on his skirmisher elements to ensure they were in position. Two SAS had managed to take up forward positions in secrecy, alerting the men and women of the 9th Assault Section what the enemy force composition seemed to be. Lying prone in cover were two Polaris teams, both visibly agitated at the restraint being pressed upon them for the time being. Perched on a catwalk with Section HQ fireteam was Grisha, a hardened Volkolak who casually hefted his missile launcher onto his shoulder with one hand, readying a firing stance. Outside the station, the Unknown Ranger readied his EVA assault with a star-struck Patcher and a particularly foul-tempered Varangian, who bemoaned his assignment to zero-G operations while wearing a tactical kilt.

A bout of smoke erupted downrange, alerting the Assault Section that the party was about to get started. A staccato-roar of a spitfire rang out across the station’s hold as a small fireteam of Rodoks advanced on the Kosmoflot firebase. With inhuman fluidity, Grisha spun to face the attacking Rodok and loosed a missile directly at the attacker, knocking the armored alien away in a gout of flame and shrapnel. One down. Across the battlefield, an airlock hissed open to admit a Rindak, the cyborg warrior entering the station cautiously. He paused to sniff the air briefly, weapon at the ready, querying his sensors to detect any trace of an enemy while he made his advance. Satisfied with the result, the Rindak took up a defensive position as a trio of Daturazi Witch-Soldiers began to make a stomping advance up the corridor. Less than a meter away, SAS Operative Charlotte “Champ” Taylor sat in almost meditative stillness, mustering the full suite of her training to remain undetected.

The tension was suddenly and unexpectedly broken as a green blur came crashing into the Kosmoflot lines, startling the life out of a nearby Irmandinho. The smuggler checked her IFF an instant before opening fire with her chain rifle, then breathed a sigh of relief. The new arrival was none other than Corporal UXia McNeil, famed commando of Caledonia. While she had originally intended to take up an extremely aggressive position against the Morat attackers, she had botched her EVA jump and was forced to land behind friendly lines to rejoin the fight. Uxia, seeing the Daturazi advancing down the corridor, bounded into a graceful somersault forward as she rushed to engage the invaders. When the distance was finally closed, the Witch-Soldier let loose a bellowing roar and charged, swingly wildly with berserk intensity. McNeil, understanding that she could not possibly dodge the attack in time, muttered a quiet “ah, fuck” before discharging Ramona, her trusty boarding shotgun, in a spray of Tesium pellets. The shot blew clean through the ape-warrior, carrying enough force to knock over the Daturazi behind him, but not in time to stop the swing of his vicious bladed staff. She caught the blow straight to her midriff, knocking her out cold.

It was time to launch the counterattack. Grisha reloaded his missile and aimed at the next Rodok, now visible behind the clearing smoke. The two exchanged missile fire with one another, Grisha’s shot going wide while the alien warhead made impact with the Volkolak. Despite the direct hit, the Volkolak’s superhuman durability and Tesium armor plating had allowed the soldier to keep fighting, now sporting some nasty-looking injuries that would require a medic when the bullets stopped flying. With a snarl, the soldier rolled to his side to acquire a new target. In the corner of his eye, Grisha caught a hint of movement. Through a doorway, barely visible through the darkness, was the looming form of Superior Warrior-Officer Kornak Gazarot. Recognizing the high-value target, Grisha let out a chuckle as he loosed a volley of missiles at the ape-man. A direct hit caught the alien officer square to the body, instantly killing him and a nearby Dartok hacker who was caught in the blast.

As the Volkolak took cover and tended to his wounds, the smell of the hybrid-warrior’s blood reached the eager nose of the Polaris team. With a bloodcurtling, primal roar, the Bearpode broke from cover and began to charge forward, running with singleminded ferocity towards what remained of the Rodok team. The Rodoks attempted to fire on the looming monstrosity, but the beast managed to disappear into a cloud of smoke as quickly as it had appeared. A moment later, like a thing from nightmares, the Bearpode came bounding out of the smoke, swinging its massive trench-hammer in a wide arc. Undisturbed by the shotgun slugs and missiles impacting against its unstoppable bulk, the bear made a crushing impact with a Rodok paramedic, killing it instantly. Roaring in victory, its bloodlust sated, the bear finally succumbed to its wounds and fell over dead. Following shortly behind was the second Polaris unit, who had met his end by a volley of defensive fire due to a misjudged attempt at closing the distance and fighting in close combat.

With the way cleared, the Unknown Ranger and his team began their advance. Team Moonwalk, as they had taken to naming themselves, scurried along the outside of the station, clearly struggling with the Zero-G environment. Except for the Patcher, of course, whose sure-footed magnetic stomping along the hull of the station set an admirable pace for the rest of the team as they pushed forward. Reaching a cargo airlock door, the Unknown Ranger shouldered his spitfire and took point. Air rushed out of the station in a gale of wind as the team stormed in, acquiring a Yaogat and loosing a burst of fire at it. The Yaogat, in turn, launched a volley of panzerfausts at his foe. Fortunately, the Yaogat’s fire was not as true as the Ranger’s, and the Morat fell to the floor unconscious after taking several direct hits.

Their leadership shattered, the Morats attempted to regroup their surviving forces and attempt one final push against the Ariadnans to blunt their assault. Unfortunately for SAS Champ, the Rindak searching for her was finally able to find its target, cutting her down in a spray of submachinegun fire. The cyborg ape, desperate to revive some of the combat losses from the mission, fired a medikit at the Daturazi that fell earlier. Though the medic was successful, the victory was short-lived as the Volkolak Grisha rounded the corner unexpectedly, loosing a torrent of chain colt fire that put a quick end to the Daturazi’s second attempt at fighting. Across the way, Team Moonwalk had successfully breached the Morat command center and made short work of the remaining defenders under cover of smoke.

With only a Raktorak Sergeant Major left standing, the Starboard Battery had been recovered and the apes successfully terminated. Left with full tactical control of the battlefield, the 9th Assault Section was able to secure all fronts of the battlefield, as well as secure the enemy High-Value Target.

Stay out of our woods, you alien bastards, lest the beasts of the darkness take you.