Briefing

Delivered by Commander Seo-Hyun Park

• Borean security was informed and have narrowed down the likely area of operations for the smuggling group involved
• Low population density coupled to a mostly unexplored landmass makes it extremely difficult for local law enforcement to police rural areas
• Smugglers likely based out of agricultural area ¼ turn out of capital
• Large automated farming, no real towns
• Whisky Company are to investigate
• Don’t want to alert them, so you’ll be delivered by drop-ship to a location 200 miles from the area
• You’ll be on your own for this one, the Thermopylae has been requested to investigate a signals anomaly just outside the system around 3 light days away
• In an emergency you can contact the Borean Security forces for assistance but don’t expect anything rapid
• Dropship will remain on the moon and we’ll be evac’d if needed
• Expected mission duration would be around 2 weeks

• Recon and identify the smuggling group
• Authorised to use force, else call in Borean security
• Smuggler’s stuff is likely to stand out
• Have seen 1-2 ships coming in and out
• Locals equipment is fairly basic, do own printers
• Borean security might be corrupt
• Expected smuggling – weapons, ship parts, scrap metal, debris metal
• Not overly ‘scary’ but criminal actions

Mission

• Borea is very green
• Even the oceans have a deep green hue
• Deployed by drop-ship to the planet’s surface
• Dropped off in a clearing surrounded by a thick tangle of plants, 6ft tall and with densely packed tendrils it looks like it would be extremely difficult terrain to pass through on foot
• Dropped with a hover sled carrying supplies: Food, ammunition, repair tools
• Vegetation isn’t toxic
• Climate is warm and muggy

• No universal Omni-net, possibly a local one
• Local conversation possibly therefore through radio
• No signs of human life in the immediate area
• This plant is literally everywhere

• Several day journey to the target area
• Arriving in the area, squad begins systematic recon sweep
• Mirbana tries to cover their tracks
• Basco seems distracted listening to local radio
• Gethin sees something (farmed land?) via videolinks
• Drone sent – cleared land, circular field, vast, but no tractors
• Mule’s AI controls the mech whilst he works on the hover-sled
• Fixes thrusters to treat the bushes as ‘ground’

• Reach a swamp
• Clear of the bush, instead there are low weeds and the odd tree
• Across the swamp is a river
• Squad wades through the marsh

Encounter 1 – Swamp

• Half way across the swamp something grabs Basco’s leg and pulls him over into the mud
• Six large creatures attack from under the water
• Central bulbous body with a mass of multi-jointed limbs
• 10ft arm span
• Lamprey like radial maw
• One tries to climb onto Basco and bite through his mech
• The squad defeats the creatures, but in the process loses the hover-sled and most of their supplies

• Spend an hour to repair
• Basco’s drone continues to map terrain and gathering local radio signals
• Wade across the river and up onto dry land
• Benno’s audio sensors detect movement in bushes up 20m ahead but traveling away, preps a mortar and points it in the direction of the sound
• Told by Gethin not to engage
• He boosts backwards over the river, continuing to point the mortar
• Hear engines firing up and are permitted to engage
• Aeric races in, Benno flying directly above Aeric
• Charge in, hearing a scream and some long-legged walker bike ridden by a young man with a rifle on his back, speeds off
• The rider is held just above the level of the bushes
• Basco attacks its electrics and slows it down
• Benno lassos it with his winch

• The rider is a young man wearing farmers clothes
• He doesn’t know what Union is
• Persuaded that they are not bandits (although Aeric does not treat him gently) and offers to take you to his village
• He leads the squad through the bushes to a large area of cleared farmland
• Kid radios ahead to let them know they are not a threat
• After an hour’s journeying, spot ~20x 2-storey printed cylindrical houses plus barns/garages etc.

• Team hops out of their mechs and goes to meet the villagers on foot
• Aeric drops into invisibility and freaks the villagers out, who raise their arms, then Aeric phases back in
• Their leader is a man in his 50’s called Samuel
• He recognises Basco’s accent as Borean
• He knows what Union is and offers food and a place to stay for the night
• They are invited inside for a drink
• They don’t know the bandits location but confirm that they have been bothered by them and that the Borean forces have done nothing
• Gethin offers them a mech sized assault rifle
• Benno AND Basco suggest this might be foolhardy
• The farmers rustle up a busted tractor with enough oomph to power the gun
• There are kids playing around the mechs
• Benno and Basco lie to Gethin that it won’t work

• That evening the village assembles for dinner in a communal hall
• Served stew from a large pot
• A group of teenagers grill Basco on how he left the planet and joined the UN
• Sitting there Mirbana and Benno hear a group of young men having an argument in whispered voices
• They keep glancing over
• Can’t tell exactly what they’re saying but they seem agitated by the team’s presence
• Mirbana and Benno approach and initiate conversation
• One of them tries to distract them and another leaves to go to the bathroom but heads out the building
• They sat they were raided 3 weeks ago, no specifics on likely location
• 3 mechs and 6 hoversleds
• The one who stepped out is gone 5 min and they’re obviously having interference run on them
• So Benno heads out to also ‘step out’ and calls Basco with him

• Basco finds an encrypted channel which Benno breaks
• They hear someone reporting their presence and that they are Union
• Alert Gethin who lays the call to Samuel who recognises Jonesy and shows Gethin to his house
• After knocking the feed cuts and the fella flees thru a window
• They catch up with him, he moans that they’ll get them all killed, then the village imprisons him

• Squad sends up a drone and waits, aiming to move to intercept any bandits away from the village
• In the early hours of the morning, 5 mechs and 2 hoversleds break cover and charge the village
• They’ve missed their movements
• Initially the squad moves away from the village to try and draw them away but they bandits open fire on the village
• Head back in and intercept them at the edge of the village

Encounter 2 – Village

• Firefight at the border of the village and the fields
• Buildings take damage from missed shots and grenades
• Bandits are well equipped with missiles and drones
• One of the buildings catches fire and the roof collapses
• A woman comes running out screaming about her kid being stuck in there
• Basco dismounts from mech, heads up to collapsed roof with his mobility suit, downing stims as he goes
• Crashes through the burning floorboards and is pinned
• Manages to break out and drag a child from the building
• Towards the end of the fight a number of villagers rush out to help
• The remaining three enemy flee

• Aeric chases down an infantry man
• Knocks him down and stands his mechs foot on him
• Dismounts
• Looks like a young farmer in a thrown together collection of armour
• Interrogates him about enemy numbers – 15
• Doesn’t believe him so cuts off a finger but the answer is the same
• Gethin comes over at the scream, but Aeric claims that the prisoner was resisting

• Basco is able to access a bandit mech’s radio
• Lots of chatter asking what’s happening and demanding a response
• He pretends to be a bandit and informs them they’ve had to retreat
• Response is that they have 3 hours to get back to base or they’ll miss evac

• The villagers help repair their mechs quickly
• Basco gets some intel on the target area

• Team sets off
• Hilly terrain, covered in monoculture bush
• Reaching the target area Aeric dismounts and scouts ahead over a rise
• Can see no enemy
• Spots that bushes on a hill in front don’t seem to be moving
• Moves up to check it out
• It’s a dome, 2mm thick, hard but thin
• Seems to be holographic, but its solid
• Doesn’t seem to touch the floor at all, floats about 5ft off the ground
• He ducks under and can see a base full of people and mechs
• Rapidly packing up and loading into 2 ships
• Mixture of conscripted farmers and spacers
• Pretty heavily kitted out – far more than any other criminals in this system
• Patrols and four automated gun turrets
• Central emitter, projecting green light out to the dome

Team plans and prepares

• Benno makes two bombs out of mortar shells

• Basco sneaks up to a turret and plugs in a diagnostic kit
• Hacks in to disable the FoF system
• Sneaks back out
• Basco thinks the light from the emitter is just making the camouflage

• Mirbana and Aeric take off around the base to reach the ships
• There are lots of people around the ships
• Aeric suggests a distraction
• Gethin agrees and has Basco fire the hacked gun
• Fired up into the air through the dome beyond the base
• Distraction works
• Sneak in and plant the bombs
• Basco loses his connection to the gun

• Bombs go off, damaging the ships
• People panic but commanders are able to gain control
• Engineers set to repairs
• Patrols increased
• They are assembling a recon drone

• Aeric takes a shot at the emitter
• Round passes through without serious damage
• Turret locates the shot and suppresses him with fire
• Team decide to go for it
• Benno smashes into the dome, dissipating a section of it
• Aeric shoots the emitter causing the dome to drop
• Team charges in, blowing up fuel and ammo dumps
• Overwhelm the enemy defences and push towards the ships

• 4 remaining mechs falls back towards the ships
• Squad follows after, engaging them outside the ships

Encounter 3 – Enemy Base

• The retreating bandit mechs fall quickly
• Two mechs emerge from the ship’s ramp
• A lithe, humanoid mech, white with a gold trim
• Advances towards the team, arms spread wide
• A sword of golden light materialises in his hand
• Second, squatter mech, also white and gold follows him
• Holding a long staff
• There is a golden halo behind its head
• The swordsman declares them to be Usurpers and offers praise to Aun before charging forward
• Movements are fast and incredibly smooth
• Flows past Basco’s overwatch fire and lunges at Gethin, sword piercing the Everest’s chest and destroying it
• Gethin ejects, aiming to land on a flying Benno, misses and bounces of the mech falling back to the ground
• Benno rushes over and picks him up
• The support mech activates a flight of drones from its halo, they move to protect the swordsman
• The swordsman is constantly moving, jumping back and forth between opponents whilst the priest utilises tech attacks and shields his companion
• The squad open fire on both mechs and a mine deployed by Basco inflicts significant damage on the swordsman

• Mirbana’s heavy machine guns punch though the support mech and obliterate its reactor core
• With the team now focusing on the swordsman he continues to evade the worst of their fire before slicing through Benno’s Everest, destroying it
• Benno and Gethin eject (This is becoming a habit)
• The swordsman deflects Basco’s fire back at him with his sword
• Aeric finally manages to overcome his enemy, knocking his blade aside before executing him with a pistol headshot

• The team investigate the destroyed mech but the pilot is dead in the cockpit with a smile on his face
• Call in evac and are picked up by the BDF and taken to their moonbase

Downtime

The team has been left to their own devices on the BDF moon base

• The BDF officer corp are rather standoffish with their Union counterparts but the soldiers are friendly
• The Thermopylae is still on its recon mission and hasn’t messaged in some time
• The base serves as a low gravity, non-atmospheric resupply base for the Borean Navy and houses a small garrison
• Mostly underground tunnels connecting sealed surface structures

Over the next week, without any word from the Thermopylae the team enjoys some downtime

• Mirbana spends some time schmoozing with the local troops and gets friendly with a BDF captain, Alexandra Ritter
• Benno tries to get into the mech engineering area to look at his AI but is sent away by the locals
• He ends up drinking with Gethin who has been trying to get some more info on the Aun
• Basco crashes from his drug induced high and when he recovers spends some time working on his drone
• Aeric tries to spread the way of Union amongst the BDF troops

After about a week and a half the team receive messages to your personal terminals, a group message inviting them to come to hangar bay 3 to meet the head mech mechanic

• Entering the hangar they find 5 incomplete mechs lined up along the wall, metal walkways give access to the top
• There are teams of mechanics working on them, assembling them from printed parts
• In front of the nearest mech a woman in heavily stained overalls is shouting up at the mechanics on its hull
• Noticing you enter she turns and waves you over
• She introduces herself as Yukina and is very excited about working on their new frames

She gives them a tour of the new mechs

• IPS-N Tortuga – Basco
• Hulking humanoid mech, standing around 20ft tall and covered in armour plates

  This beast is the IPS-N Tortuga. Kind of simple compared to some of the others we’re building here, just armour plating and shrapnel but it’s my favourite, just don’t tell anyone. She’s designed to breach and clear ship hangars and spinal columns and she is damn good at it, you do not want to be at the wrong end of this baby trust me.

• HA Sherman – Gethin
• A shorter humanoid mech with a boxy torso and large head
• The mechanics are installing a long gun onto its shoulder

  The Harrison Armoury Sherman, so common we even see them out here. There’s a reason they’re so ubiquitous though, versatile, easy to repair and mounting Harrison’s extremely effective ZF4 SOLIDCORE beam weapon as standard. The team is just hooking it up to the reactor now.

• IPS-N Lancaster – Benno
• A Quadruped with a rectangular boxy form

  This one is a classic, the IPS-N Lancaster. Driven a few of these myself over the years, engineers are more important than soldiers on the battlefield after all. Although I might be a bit biased there. Don’t let the ancient design fool you, these things are incredibly reliable and can mount some cutting edge repair tech.

• SSC Mourning Cloak – Aeric
• A slim humanoid mech with long limbs

  Now this one, this one is probably the most exquisitely precise thing I’ve ever had to build. This is the SSC Mourning Cloak and I’ve never seen anything like it, the design tolerances are to the micrometre, I’ve had to print new tools just to put it together. Apparently the reason for all this is their proprietary EX slipstream module, damn thing’s a black box, I’ve no idea what’s in it and I watched the printer fucking build it! But it’s supposed to enable nanosecond duration entry into blinkspace, so you’ll fucking teleport. I’ll believe that when I see it!

• HA Saladin – Mirbana
• A heavily built humanoid mech, much less angular than the Tortuga

  Last but certainly not least, the Harrison Armoury Saladin. Big Sal here has more shielding systems than most corvettes, including a hard light system reverse engineered from stolen Aun tech. We’re still fiddling with the tachyon shield, calibrating a system that’s moving FTL is quite the challenge.