Durgama Takeover

Hsien Yue Fei, reporting from the Reliquary at Cameliard. We continue to make our way through the caverns and research locations buried under this stronghold, trying to lock down important items before pockets of defenders can damage them.

In a flooded section of the catacombs, we stumbled on a team of Varuna fusiliers and a couple of tech bees, trying to make use of a Jetski to pull a damaged cutter out of the mud so they could repair it. Suspecting that a reactivated cutter would be much more of a contest than a Jetski, we moved to engage immediately. Before I give my report on the engagement, this reminds me I must share the latest intercepts from our surveillance work on Varuna. Kyle Hawkins and Lisette Beckmann are making travel arrangments and we've learnt that they've moved from the resort area of Ocean Vista to the space elevator at Deepwater:

Kyle Hawkins kneeled in the confession booth and made the sign of the cross over the top of his tight heavy metal t-shirt.

"Bless me Father for I have sinned. It has been 6 weeks since my last confession,” Kyle said. This was true, he had made sure he put all his deeds during the Glottenburg crisis in front of God at the earliest opportunity.

"What do you need to confess, my son." Said the priest's voice, from behind the screen.

"Well, less than my last confession, I think. I haven't killed anybody this time," Kyle started, before thinking to clarify to the priest, "I am a Knight of the Order of the Hospital of Saint John of Skovorodino, so I have killed as necessary to follow my orders from the Church and Pan Oceanian military. While things are not as simple for me as they were before I first fought, I still believe our cause is just and I am defending the people of our nation."

"I understand, as long as you do not take another life lightly, and it is part of God's mission, you can always ask for God's forgiveness. But you say that's not why you're here today. Continue."

"I have had sex with a woman, outside of marriage. Quite a few times, actually," Kyle admitted.

"These days the church is rather used to that, and if it is in the context of a committed relationship you believe to have a future, it is not viewed as a sin." The priest still had to say this from time to time, but the Church had made some advances over the last hundred years, even if many adherents still looked to the distant past for inspiration. Since this young gentleman seemed inexperienced, the priest added, "I would advise you to be careful and use contraception if you're not yet ready to start a family. Now please continue."

"I over-ate at the all-you-can-eat Ocean Vista Serra-fish buffet and missed going running three days in a row. I think I put on 5lb in the last few weeks. I'm worried I'll overheat in my suit again."

"One time while we were having sex, Lisette did this thing and I yelled out 'Oh God!' without thinking. I think that's blasphemy, right? But I just couldn't stop myself. I've tried really hard not to do it again."

"​​I really liked the look of the Yungang Xing 5.4 MULTI Rifle I saw one of the Zuyong carrying on Paradiso. Does that count as coveting my neighbour's property?"

"Oh, that reminds me... I brought a Heavy MULTI Pistol[1] into this church with me, I'm not sure if that's a sin, but I couldn't figure out a safe place to leave it outside."

"Um, this one I think is important though. I worry that somehow I brought about the fall of Cameliard on Concilium Prima. My girlfriend says that's impossible and I shouldn't worry about it, but still... I am filled with doubt."

"I didn't confess this before, but I used smoke to cover my advance on enemy troops at Glottenburg. It felt so safe, without my enemy able to see me in the open, but my order teaches that my actions were obscured from the eyes of God. Is it really a sin, father?"

"I also worry that I know important secrets, that somehow should be shared with the whole human sphere, but that my order wishes to keep secret."

“I’m sorry for these and all my sins,” Kyle wrapped up. Great, he could probably sneak off and grab another Serra-fish pakora before he and Lisette were due to get on the space elevator at Deepwater and head to the circular.

"Hold on a second, said the priest, I need you to tell me the nature of these secrets so that I can guide you in the correct course of action. Tell me what you know, and why it is so important."

"Well," said Kyle, "I know the Tohaa are somehow involved with the Cosmolite that was destroyed on Paradiso. You probably saw the Alpha Four-Four site that was in the news. That's important, right? Do you think my order has told the O-12 everything it knows?"

"It is best to let your holy order decide the right time to tell the rest of the Human Sphere. This is not your decision to make. If that is everything, you should say your prayer of contrition."

"My God, I am sorry for my sins with all my heart," Kyle began.

[1] You are of course, by now, familiar with the Yanjing Military Intelligence listening device that has been placed in the Heavy MULTI Pistol

Fortunately for us, Kyle Hawkins has still not learnt his operational security lesson and continues to talk when even our most junior Celestial Guard would know to keep their mouth shut. Unfortunately, it looks like we have reached the limits of what he knows, and the information he dropped regarding the Tohaa will have to be searched for here at Cameliard.

Returning to the matter of the Jet Ski and the Cuttter, I can report that our Hac Tao was able to make a fairly thorough sweep of the area before being incapacitated by an enemy Zulu Cobra, which he also knocked down with his nanopulser. Our Shaolin Monk, Shifu Deng tracked down and incapacitated Patsy Garnett, and a few Kuang Shi chain rifles finished off the remaining Fusiliers.