Durgama Takeover

Dramatis Personae:

Starmada Forces

• 2nd Lt Yousef Gold (Raveneye Officer)
• Cpt Joey Bing (Epsilon)
• Hector
o Astyanax (Tinbot)
• Pavarti
• Betatrooper 1138, aka Lucas George (Betatrooper)
• Betatrooper 1313, aka Jave Favroni (Betatrooper)
• Aella (Varangian)
• Aveto (Varangian)
• Deputy Marcus Stone

Tohaa Insurgents

• Moq’raa (Sakiel)
• Lt. Soeraa (Taqeul)
• Kreesraa (Kotail)
• Agent Liisera (Kriigel)
• Hatail Aelis Keesan
• Koisee (Draal)

Prologue: A Rising Star

“Lieutenants, may I have a moment” Pavarti said as she approached Lts Slater and Gold. The Aristeia star had just finished helping to load the captured Sphinx onto a shuttle for transport to a more appropriate facility. The robotic form of Betatrooper 1138 followed close behind.

“I have received new orders from High Command. Hector has been engaged by Tohaa forces at the far side of Zebu and is requesting assistance”, Pavarti relayed. “Apparently the nanovirus is still running rampant in the area. I have been directed to take some of your forces and rendezvous with Hector”.

Lieutenant Slater nodded contemplatively, “Very well, we seem to have things under control here. I will stay behind with the injured and their teams, you can take the rest”

Lieutenant Gold’s heart rushed with both fear and excitement, he was going to have to head back into that wretched nanovirus, but in doing so would get to meet the real Hector.
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The forces brought from the Raveneye Strikeforce arrived at Hector’s makeshift command station. Seeing the legendary hero in person Lt. Gold could not help but feel a sense of awe. With him stood another Betatrooper, designated 1313, an unlucky designation if Gold had ever seen one.

“Welcome friends!” Hector greeted the new arrivals, with all the charisma would expect of the legendary leader of antiquity made flesh. “You’ve arrived just in time. Our latest reports have Tohaa forces organizing on the other side of the water, I expect they will push across soon, and attempt to make landing here”, Hector said pointing to a location on the holo-map in front of him.

“What’s the plan sir?”, Pavarti asked.

“I will lead a strike team along the left flank. If we scale these rocky cliffs we should be able to take the enemy by surprise, or at the very least have the advantage of the high ground. Given the difficult climb involved it will have to be just you, me, 1138 and 1313 here.” Hector explained.

“Sir, if I may”, Cpt Bing interjected, “My gear has been upgraded with advanced climbing equipment, I should be able to easily scale the cliffs and help provide additional fire support”

Hector nodded, “Good, you will be with us then, and Avetto you can provide smoke support for the Captain along the right of the cliff”. He continued, “Lieutenant Gold, you will lead the rest of forces up the right flank. I expect the fighting to be focused on us, but in case any of the Tohaa try to escape into the facility I need you to intercept”.

Lieutenant Gold nodded “yes sir!”

Just as Hector was finishing debriefing the team a Lawkeeper drove into the camp, stopping just before the assembled team. “Sir, the enemy is advancing across the water”, Deputy Stone reported.

“Very good, everyone knows the plan, it’s time to roll out!”, Hector ordered, “Deputy, you go with Lt. Gold along the right flank, don’t let any Tohaa escape into the facility”

Deputy Stone nodded, and the team began to move out. Lt. Gold could hardly believe where he was. He was marching into battle with Legends…

Chapter 1.1: A Violent Landing

The Tohaa forces arrived from the water, as expected, darting through the clouds of nanovirus that was covering the shoreline. The Starmada forces quickly moved to their assigned locations prepared to repel the invaders. Captain Bing took up a position on top of a loading dock overlooking the beachhead, he would make the artichokes pay for every inch of ground.

As he watched from his perch telltale clouds of Tohaa pheroware tech began bursting along the enemy line. The Epsilon swore under his breath. Even with his multi-spectral visor he wasn’t able to see through the alien clouds. Suddenly to his left he saw three identical Kotail suddenly leap forward from behind a rock. Time seemed to slow as Cpt. Bing quickly tried to determine which Kotail was real.

shimmer, …, shimmer

The shots of the Epsilon’s HMG rang out across the battlefield. Across the field Cpt. Bing saw his shots impact into the chest of the central Kotail ripping a huge chunk out of it’s armour. Recoiling from the impact the alien slammed into the ground of the cliff it had been jumping to as its holoechoes fizzled out.

“Nice try.” Bing muttered under his breath.

As he continued to scan the enemy’s side of the field Bing saw another cloud of Tohaa pheroware spring up at the far side of the nearby landing pad. He waited scanning for a target to present itself. Suddenly a mimetic blur darted from the cloud across the landing pad. Just as Bing was about to target the enemy he caught the site of Taqeul emerging from the smoke to fire at him. Quickly the Epsilon switched his target and let off some shots. His shots hit his target while the enemy’s shots slammed harmlessly into the wall of his perch.

Captain Bing waited, hoping to confirm whether his shots had been lethal or not. They were good hits, but he’d heard tale of his resilient Tohaa symbiote armour could be. The experience of his squadmates that had dealt firsthand with Zebu’s symbiotes stood to confirm these reports. As he scanned the spot where the enemy had been Bing caught more aliens emerging from the initial clouds of pheroware, running for cover. He turned, leveling shots at the lead alien who fired back spraying bullets blindly in Bing’s direction.

- CRACK -

A shot slammed into a gap in Bing’s armour throwing him to the floor.

“Enemy down, we are clear to advance” Moq’raa transmitted.

[Finally] Lt. Soeraa thought, “All units advance, get clear of the clouds before the enemy can regroup!”

The two prime triads advanced and took up defensive positions in the null-zone, setting up to defend the one area the nanovirus seemed unable to access.

Operative Kreesraa pushed himself up, the remains of his symbiote armour sluffing off as he did. He looked around to catch his bearings and watched as the nearby Chaksa began to melt, devoured by the nanovirus. A shock of fear pierced his heart as a swarm changed direction and started streaming towards him, he had to get to the null-zone. Kreesraa began limping towards the zone, he was close, so close. Suddenly his leg gave out, the strength given by the symbiote having dissipated completely. He fell to the floor, trying to pull himself to the safety. 3 feet, 2 feet, he was so close, 1 foot, he reached his hand into the null-zone.

- aggghhh –

The nanovirus swarm streamed into the hole in his chest armour made by the enemy’s rounds.

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The vitals monitor on Soeraa’s display flashed red. He watched as one by one his team’s vitals flashed red. All that remained were the three triads that had embarked on the mission. That will suffice he thought, three triads of three, a most fortuitous number…

Chapter 1.2: Between a rock and a hard place

“Time to move out”, Hector said “Pavarti, get Bing back up. 1138 clear the way”.

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With the command Deputy Stone raced forward, his sidebot detaching from his motorcycle to race up beside him.

“Wait!” Lt. Gold called to the Lawkeeper, trying to reign in the impetuous cop.

- zing - crack -

A rock kicked up from Stone’s motorcycle flew backwards slamming into Gold’s leg just above his grieve, ripping a hole in his biotechnical armour. [This is exactly why I avoid working with the damn over eager and reckless lawkeepers] Gold thought…

Betatrooper 1138 advanced out of the door to the loading dock and around the back of the cargo truck that was sitting waiting to be unloaded.

“Contact right”, 1138 reported. 1138 fired a burst of shots from its spitfire into the Makaul taking cover behind a nearby structure. “Contact eliminated”. As 1138 continued further around the truck Sakiel Moq’raa took aim and fired with its spitfire. “Contact centre” 1138 reported. Unflinching under enemy fire 1138 returned fire with his spitfire. Bullets ripped into the sakiel shreading his bonded symbiote apart and tearing into the soft Tohaa body beneath. “Contact eliminated”.

As 1138 continued to advance Pavarti crawled over to Captain Bing and dosed him with some high-grade medical chem-synths. As the Epsilon came to Pavarti smiled at him, “We really have to stop meeting like this”.

Captain Bing thanked Pavarti, and stood back up. As he rose he spotted the enemy Taqeul officer aiming a spitfire in his direction. [Not this time he thought] Unloading his HMG into the enemy. Cpt. Bing advanced as he unloaded into the enemy, taking cover with the rest of Hetcor’s team, apart from 1138 who continued to advance along the low ground.

“That bastard won’t go down”, Cpt. Bing exclaimed. Despite landing several solid hits on the Taqeul Bing’s shots seemed to have done no damage.

“Perhaps we should try coming at it from another angle” Hector suggested, gesturing to the left side of the rock.

With the rest of the squad staying low to avoid enemy fire Bing swung around the left side of the large obscuring rock and into sight of the blur he had seen before, a Draal saboteur. The gaze of both combatants met, and they fired into each other. At close range Cpt. Bing had a hard time bringing his gun around quickly and accurately and was only able to grazing hit on the Draal before it ducked behind a stack of containers. The hit was enough however to wound the Draal’s symbiote causing the alien’s armour to cease its visual distortion.

As the Epsilon engaged the Draal, the rest of the team attempted to move forward but hit a wall as they entered the gravity field of a dazer the Draal had secretly placed behind the same container it now hid behind.

Forcing his way forward, Hector rose and moved to gain sight on the Draal.

“Enough tricks” he said as he levelled his plasma rifle at the alien. The Draal aimed and fired at Hector as he aimed at fired at the Draal. But the Draal was faster and the rounds of his SMG slammed into Hector’s arm, causing him to fire wide.

[OOC note: this is where we made a mistake in the game, I forgot that the Draal lost mim -6 after taking the wound from the Epsilon so the plasma may have actually hit the Draal, and at the very least would have hit the Dazer]

As Hector fell back out of sight of the Draal, Cpt. Bing led the team forward taking a firing position on the ridge alongside Hector. Seeing an opportunity the enemy Kumotail bioengineer fired on Hector, finding a gap in the Trojan’s armour and wounding him. Her attention focused on Hector the Tohaa medic didn’t notice Cpt. Bing until it was too late. The Epsilon’s shots hit home shredding the alien.

As the alien fell Cpt. Bing turned to see the nanovirus swarm rushing towards them, and slam against the invisible barrier of the null-field not a foot from where the team stood at the edge of the cliff.

Lieutenant Gold took in the reports from Hector’s team. They were pushing back the enemy, causing significant damage, and had secured the high ground. His focus on the information filtering in he didn’t notice the encroaching nanovirus swarm until it was too late. The swarm set about him, but thanks to the additional biotechnical shielding he had equipped for this op it could not get in…until it found the tear on his right leg.

As the nanovirus moved into the opening Lt. Gold realized he had only one choice. He drew his weapon aimed it at himself and fired…

Chapter 2.1: You underestimate my power

Hector stood resplendent on the cliff, every bit the image of a legendary hero of ancient Earth. But Soeraa had a mission, and he would not let these humans stop him. Sending a silent pheromonic message to Agent Liisera, Soeraa ordered the Kriigel to deploy a Mirrorball over his location. The humans may kill what they could see, but Soeraa didn’t need to see to kill.

Hector watched as the alien pheroware formed into an impenetrable sphere. “Brace yourselves and be prepared for what may come through that cloud”.

“What’s that smell” Cpt. Bing said quizzically.

Hector’s sensors scanned the air picking up the faint signs of the alien pheroware attempting to penetrate the Epsilon’s defences.

“Astyanax, deploy counter pheremones”, Hector ordered his tinbot.

As Astyanax acknowledged his understanding holes opened along the Tinbot’s shoulders and began spraying a fragrant perfume into the air. As the spray mixed with the pheromone produced by the Tohaa officer it began to dissipate harmlessly into the air.

Trying to capitalize on the distraction caused by the pheroware Koisee attempted to peak out and take opportunistic shots at the human defenders. As he moved out of his hiding spot he realized he had made a mistake. Not at any risk from pheroware attacks, Betatrooper 1313 was staring directly at the corner the Draal had ducked away from.

Realizing his mistake Koisee tried to fire at the Betatrooper and fall back behind the containers, but it was too late. 1313 unloaded into the Draal. “Contact eliminated”.

Recognizing the failure of Soeraa’s plan, Agent Liisera ordered his Reex escort forward. [No more tricks] he thought, let’s do this the old fashioned way. The Reex grinned with a wicked smile and scurried forward, climbing over the body of the dead Sakiel. It knew it’s target, and would delight in his death.

As the diminutive creature scurried around the corner its gun raised it saw the Epsilon and Hector staring back, aiming their gun directly at it. Before it could even get off a shot it exploded in a ball of plasma, utterly destroying the body of the Sakiel beside it.

[That’s enough] Hatail Aelis Keesan thought to herself as she moved up the field. She knew O-12 was experimenting on Tohaa property, beyond what they had agreed to, all she had to do was get the evidence to prove it, and these humans would not stop her from getting it. She turned the corner of the landing pad’s control centre and aimed her viral rifle at the Epsilon.

She unloaded her rifle as the Epsilon scrambled to return fire. Too late. The viral rounds slammed into the trooper, eating through his armour. Captain Bing screamed in pain as the virus began eating through his body. He passed out from the pain as the virus worked its way up toward his head…and cube. Acting quickly, Hector drew his sword and severed the captain’s head from his body.

Using this distraction Keesan darted forward, firing at Hector. Focused on saving his injured comrade’s cube the Trojan failed to notice the Tohaa operative in time. Viral rounds slammed into Hector’s chest, but where Cpt. Bing’s armour had melted Hector’s stood strong.

Chapter 2.2: You’re under arrest!

Deputy Stone raced forwards along the rocky steps of the facility, his sidebot racing alongside him. Without slowing he turned in his seat and fired his red fury into the Reek and Kriigel hiding along the wall of the landing pad. Not expecting the Lawkeeper to be so far down field the Reek and Kriigel were caught unaware and fell to the Lawkeeper’s fire.

Not slowing, Stone swerved through the narrow doorway of a rain shelter and drove into what remained of the enemy lines. At the last moment Hatail Keesan heard the approach of the Lawkeeper and dodged, narrowly avoiding the spray from the sidebot’s riotstopper.

“Too slow” Deputy Stone said, as his red fury tore into the Tohaa Operative.

Hector advanced off of the cliff aiming his gone at Lt. Soeraa.

“Get-up with your hands up!” He ordered, “You are under arrest!”

The Tohaa officer rose, his hands above his head and distain in his eyes.
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Prologue: Time for some rest

Lt. Gold opened his eyes to a bright light shining into them, his body completely numb.

Pavarti leaned back from the Raveneye Officer, smiling.

“That was quick thinking lieutenant” Pavarti praised with a smile.

“I guess since I’m alive that it worked then” Gold said with a chuckle. He hadn’t been sure if firing the E/Marat at himself would neutralize the nanites of the nanovirus, but it was the only thing he could come up with.

“You are safe in the null-zone now, I’ve removed the remaining nanites from your system and the swarm has receded” Pavarti explained.

“I take it we won then?”

Pavarti nodded. “Captain Bing will need a new L-host, but Hector has said that he will see to that, sadly Aella will not be so lucky”.

Lt. Gold looked around and saw Hector standing with a Tohaa. The alien was bound and Hector’s tinbot was standing beside the two spraying something into the air.

Pavarti caught where Lt. Gold was looking. “We caught their leader. Hector is debriefing him”.

As Pavarti said this Hector turned towards the two and began walking towards them, leaving the Tohaa officer with Deputy Stone.

“Good to see that you are okay lieutenant” Hector said with a smile.

“Thank you, sir. I’m just sorry I missed out on all the action”

Hector chuckled “Don’t worry, you didn’t miss much”.

“Sir, did the alien say anything?”

Hector’s smile fell from his face. “Yes, he has let slip that the Tohaa are organizing a push on Zebu. High command has been notified and more forces are inbound”.

“So, what’s next?” Lt. Gold questioned.

“I think, Lt. Gold, that it is time for you to take some rest”

For the previous tale of Lt Gold and Squad pleas follow this link: https://durgamatakeover.warconsole.com/battles/obyiscus-vs-farox-1658374269

Unfortunately, this concludes Lt. Gold's tale during the Durgama campaign. It has been a pleasure, thanks for reading.