Frontier 17
From the completely off-the-record and unofficial notes of Staff-Sergeant Arius Numitor
Bastion Eos, 31th of July to 2nd of August 240
The new crop of colonists is a mixed bag, but it does include a fair number of Aquilans. Most of they get to work immediatly, which is good to see. We have much to do, including a rescue party.
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The Ekanesh have sent a specialist to repair the sphere, armed with scientific articles. I don't trust it, and speak at length with Calyx, the local Priscus that is most technically inclined. She supervises the repairs. She shows me the article the repairs are based on, and to my surprise the source is an Imperial magazine.
I ask the Governor to look into the scientific article. None of the names seem familiar, but her sources are considerably better then mine. A day later, it turns out the names are indeed either someone who has been dead for two years or entirely fake. Looks like some people need to do some spring cleaning.
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We get a ping off the Potemkin escape pods, and the Captain immediately orders the Madayag launched on a rescue op. A crew is quickly gathered, and we head up.
Captain Najat selects Mai as XO quickly issue the commands to take us out of orbit and towards the ping. The bridge is quiet and focussed, with commands being given and then repeated as they are executed by the various positions.
Kat and I run the helm. She is sceptical at first that flying a fighter or shuttle translates reasonably to flying a starship, but we quickly get the handle on it and fly together in the same smooth way as our usual pilot and co-pilot way. It is comforting to do it together.
We rescue not one, but two pods, and Mai's strategy of using probes and the Mk. I Eyeball to scope out enemy movements works like a charm. The enemy never saw us.
As a bonus, we know where the Potemkin is, and confirm her as 'probably salvagable'.
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We lost the signal of the final escape pod, the one we believe SGT Castiel to be in. I admit to some anxiety over it, but we can do nothing but wait as the pod hits Eos atmo without the expected time. A mystery signal appears to be the crash site, some sort of improvised beacon?
FLT Vulcanis leads the response, and I join as medic. We arrive near the pod, but there is a forcefield there. It lets us in, but not out. Some sort of proto-Aquilan (S)AI appears to want to keep us safe. The Potemkin crew has survived, Cass is severelly injured. CPL Acilia sets up a field hospital to treat her.
The aliens also arrive, as anticipated, and we either convince the (S)AI to let us leave or it recognizes my additional input that we have a safe location nearby and allows us to evac. Hopefully we can be back later.
We evac, with the Potemkin XO Megan Tarras and SGT Castiel, a little worse for wear. That accounts for all escape pods and crew.
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It is a trap.
The second I hear the transmission I already feel my trouble-sense tingling, but the response is already sent. I understand the quick reaction, it was sent directly to our strategic communications. Everything sent to there is trusted, actionable intel.
Until it isn't. It is a trap, of course. By people who were very eagle-y and poorly imitated Clan accents.
So now we have a problem. They are into our strategic communications. Worst case scenario: we are hopelessly compromised and need to completely rebuild our OpSec. Best case scenario: someone has used high level military clearance to make it look like we are hopelessly compromised. It turns out to be the best case. But the signature is Aquilan, so we have some housekeeping to do.
Then the second issue. The intel that they are acting on is intel I sent to Legion Venatores Command. So there is a leak there, one that needs plugging immediately.
The talk I have with my Aquilan intel contacts is icey, to say the least. I get confirmed it was a misguided op. I calmly repeat that any future encounters of this manner will at least result in a bloody nose for the initiating parties, and that we will never speak of it again. Later I also locate the leak in our own off-world Venator command structure, and this person unexpectedly receives a promotion to a nothing-position where no further damage can be done.
With everything secure I report that we can continue operations. Leaks contained, no fatalities. Don't know if I will feel this magnanimous next time, though. This is the sort of stuff that gets people killed.
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Gate assaults suck, so we ask to be left off the leash and go in first. We get permission.
We gate into the enemy facility and see... the Bastion. It is a simulation, skin-deep but filled with versions of us, simulacra bases on intel. Some completely off, some spot-on. Further teams follow us, and I have them scour the base for intel - appearantly the scenario the simulated Bastion is in is after the Sphere stops working properly and the loss of an outer Forward Operation Base.
More Bastion prime teams keep following, and in the end, we have 71 people on the mission, well beyond what we need to be effective. Still, I hope that it is thorough enough. We take the enemy command center - the alien operator dissapears, but the equipment remains behind and I put our techs on it. It turns out to be quite the intel boon.
There are also some puzzles that I put others on, and I have our newest colonists scour the outlying rooms for intel as they may see things we won't. An ominous timer in the command center counts down, and I think this is until the enemy begins training.
As we are in a desert I send the Sudja out on patrol, and they run into trouble. I have the Apatar arrange Medevac. The simulated medbay may be real-ish, the simulacra themselves have no medical knowledge, and we can only stabilize them. I ask the Apatar to run point on the medical evacuation.
The timer runs out, and the alien attacks begin, as anticipated. They are practicing attacking the Bastion, and seem initially surprised to encounter real resistance. We send them off, but I see the writing on the wall and order an evacuation. It will take time to get everybody out, and the attacks will likely intensify. I run down the various teams that I sent to hack, check out rooms and talk to simulacra. All report they have what they think they could get out of it.
Evac is surprisingly smooth for such a big ground. My own group is the last out, using Najat's ability to gate us directly to the Tachar. The only way to fly.
The intel gathered is significant. Much gives us context. Not much into to go forward on though. Yet. I warn the Ekanesh that the the intel they got to repair the sphere appears to be planted by the enemy, and they start affecting repairs. Sometimes, I hate it when I am right.
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We launch the Madayag for a second time. Captain Najat has given us permission to attempt to salvage the Potemkin itself, and I put together a crew
Once again we double up on crew positions, and once again an aura of controlled calm descends on the bridge. In many ways it is like an opposite Bastion, with zero hubbub and all focus. Mai takes the captaincy, I take the XO position and Vitus runs crew chief. I asked Denna and Yevgeny to join us as experts as they did a comprehensive survey on the Potemkin to see if she could be salvaged. They slot into the Engineering position with the same quiet confidence and run the vessel with optimum power distribution.
We sneak to the Potemkin location, and using the salvage evaluation the Clans did lock on to tow her. As we do so, an enemy fighter or scout turns towards us, seemingly having detected our movement. But before it can close to any sort of weapon range, we jump out. It damages are jump drive and the hull groans a bit, but we make it to Eos orbit, safely docking the Potemkin hulk to the station.
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Among the intel we get from the enemy is one passage that concerns the Madayag. They are afraid of it, afraid that we use it to escape the scope fo their control. They can't detect it, and call it 'The Cosmic Shadow'. I show it to Najat and Mai, and we share a good laugh over it. Plus, I think we found what we want to put on the patch...
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It is a nice, basic op. A Hasiru village radios for some defense assistance, and we vector in a team. Curo as Limar sets up the mission, but asks me to run it. I divide the group up into a main force led by Vitus, a flanking force under CPT Quartus and another under the Limar, with myself in a rear support group to keep overview.
We land, and quickly sweep in. We support the Hasiru defense, put down enemy opposition and help their wounded without undue stress or expenditure of resources. I direct the groups around with short commands and reel them back in once everything is over. I shake hands with the Hasiru village head, and get a thank you.
Mission success. Definatively the sort of mission I like.
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The Captain calls me into the CiC, asking my opinion on a Godspear strike. The Apatar is also there. I come up with four reasons why we shouldn't strike the fake Bastion, and later radio in a fifth. I leave the CiC soon afterwards, intuiting where this is going to. Appearantly Maati and Darius put this idea in the heads of the Bastion Commanders, and they are going to do it.
What follows is an exchange of rods, missiles and words, of which I don't know the exact order. But I am back in the CiC to support LT Tilia's cooler-heads-should-prevail argument, and this time it sticks.
Coincidentally, at least two more hacks were discovered. Our OpSec really is a mess. I am going to have a word with Maati.
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The intel we got from the Ecoform Science Division facility is disturning. Symbiont capable of taking over their host instead of augmenting it. And even if Medivolve broke off relations, they still took delivery of genetic materials, including the proto-symbionts. Which they are now selling to ravers. Great.
The thing is, it is a real time sink. Ecoform all over again. ICC was too impotent to stop it, factional governments too slow and in the end we were up to our necks in enemy mutants. Either the factional intelligence services need to step up, or we need Juno to make another damning expose.
Ugh. I swear, if we get called back to the core worlds to root out some infestation I am going to be seriously annoyed.