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Operation Overlord 3am, it's cold and it's raining. This stakeout is taking much longer than I anticipated. We've been stuck here for 3 days now and things are looking worse by the minute. It all started last Friday ... I was roaming trough some application forms, which I get by the dozen every day. One of them caught my attention. It was sent in by Zodiac, unknown to our corp and I could not find anything besides the standard stuff on monsternet. Soon enough I found out he was not applying for a rank within our corp, he wanted to sell us some "vital" information. Zodiac was a merc, he lived for profit no matter who he sold his knowledge to. I had to be extra cautious, mercs are very protective over their wealth and they wouldn't hesitate taking you down if you became a threat to them. Anyhow I decided I wanted to meet Zodiac and I called out for Caruma, I promoted him recently for his outstanding courage and this mission would be perfect for him. Get in touch with Zodiac, arrange a secure meeting place and keep things running smoothly on location. It was only a matter of hours before Caruma contacted me, everything was arranged and I got a secure mail with all the details. The meeting was arranged at 18h00 near the old bunker complex east of our X-17 outpost. Security would be done by our stalker team and the meeting itself would take place in the white room. This is chamber with bright white walls only deformed by the markings on the wall where the door fits in. High frequency scanners would immediately reveal any concealed weapons, everyone could feel at ease and talk freely in this temple of safety. We arrived first at the scene and moved our droids to the underground hangar, we didn't want to get noticed by Blackwing patrols. At 17h53 our radar picked up a faint signal of 1 vehicle heading our direction, this had to be Zodiac. A sentinel painted in sand colors arrived at our base. Sensors indicated that only 1 person was inside but the sentinel was armed. Sergeant Hugin instructed Zodiac to move to the underground hangar and disembark from his droid. A few minutes later Hugin entered the white room followed by what I would call a strange looking person. He was filthy unshaved, unwashed and his uniform was torn in several places, but he whore it with pride. Several medals were attached and I immediately noticed the bronze medal of the crescent moon, only awarded to those that show extreme bravery and loyalty. I asked him about it and in a harsh voice he told me he received many years ago when he was member of an ancient corporation, the Ganja Firelords but he left them when they started reorganizing. This gave me some kind faith in him and we started talking. He offered us the whereabouts of 3 research centers stacked with new technologies and they were about to receive the technology for further finalization of the super weapon: The Arena Dominator. His request: 2 mammoths fully outfitted with heavy weaponry, but they had to be unmarked, that meant we had to repaint ours and remove the proud aquis, symbol of our corp. I discussed his offer with my 2 co-leaders Max Damage and Aranox and my military advisors Chuckie and Beta. The vote was anonymous, we would accept his offer. The deal was done quickly. I gave 2 access cards to Zodiak which would allow him to take 2 of our mammoths and he gave us the exact coordinates and an estimated time. Now this was kind of annoying because the shipment was due within 144 hours, that's six day's at maximum. During our negotiation sergeant Hugin hotwired Zodiaks Sentinel, just a precaution in case he ripped us off. I set up a mission briefing and invited Caruma’s team to be present at the time. The mission would start immediately after briefing so there was no time to lose... As I sat down flanked by military advisor Chuckie I had Caruma brought in. He looked somewhat tired bit still saluted me with honor, I told him about the importance of this mission. If we were able to obtain Arena Dominators then no other corp would come near our capabilities. So this was our plan, we would leave immediately and stake out near the research centers, where we would wait until the equipment was delivered and then we would hit. We steal the A.D. and destroy the research centers, making it look like a failed experiment blew up the entire facility. Caruma understood his mission and accepted the task at hand. The city limits had an artificial climate, born from the industrial waste, combined with terraforming experiments. They were the only place on the planet where it would rain every now and then. But even if the rain was a welcome change from the scorching sun, you still needed environment suits to walk outside, otherwise the acid from the pollution would eat away the very flesh on your bones. I hated rain. It made everything look even more desolate than it already was. That and the fact that I would have to repaint Nazgul after this mission made me feel miserable. But the mission was clear, wait until the convoy arrived, ambush the facility and grab whatever was worth taking. I did a status check with the rest of my team, the fifth one in 2 hours already, moral was dropping every minute as the guys became restless. I guess they liked waiting as much as I did. They had been instructed to take up covert position on both sides of the street we had dubbed ‘the trench’ for the ambush. One lookout was cloaked near the teleporter the convoy would be arriving through. He was also responsible for taking out the rear escort, and making sure none of them made it back to call reinforcements. ‘Alpha one, what’s your status?’ ‘Everything is clear sir, no traffic inbound, alpha one out’. The teleporters in the city were decked out with a traffic control console, ever since there had been several accidents of double incoming travelers. The rematerializing sequence would kill both travelers and vaporize the excess matter, resulting in a deformed vehicle inside the teleport. ‘Stay alert, the convoy is inbound any minute now, Caruma out’ I said, switching off the comms channel. I sent Nazgul walking through the trench on my way to rendez-vous with Harvester, who had taken up position just behind an abandoned skyscraper. His bodyguards who never left his side and would defend him to the death, were stationed just outside visual range of the ambush site and were pretending to be alert. I passed them in silence and met up inside the building with Harvester. ‘Troop moral is dropping sir, maybe we have been led into a wild goose chase by this Zodiak.’ ‘The convoy will be here soon enough’ was the reply I got from Harvester. ‘Patience is a virtue you know, being hasty will only get you killed’ His calm words made sense and I knew I wasn’t going to amount to anything persuing this road. So I decided to change the subject. As I was pondering a good topic to get into with the supreme leader of my corp Harvester looked up from whatever he was writing and said: ‘You look worried, is there something you want to tell me?’ The question surprised me, the leader of VTS was actually concerned with my troubles. This was a side I never heard about. All you would hear when it came to gossip about Harvester were stories of his accomplishments how he ruled VTS with an iron fist. Never had I heard anything about him actually having a heart. Funny how a boring stakeout can bring people closer together, even if they are miles apart, rankwise. ‘I’ve been having trouble sleeping lately, I keep having these nightmares about me wandering alone in the desert. I’m sure its nothing serious, but I am curious as to what it means.’ ‘That’s perfectly normal’ he replied. ‘Perhaps you should take some time off to clear your mind, I think you earned it. Since you joined VTS a month ago you have been on mission almost every second. I can’t have my most promising young officer burn out like that, you have a great future ahead of you with VTS’ The words touched me deeply, and I was finding a way to reply to his compliments but he waved his hand as to say there was no response needed. All I could bring out was a simple ‘Thanks…’ Our moment of bonding was cut short as the lookout reported incoming travelers. I jumped back into Nazgul and set out for the trench, activating my cloaking as I walked out of the skyscraper. The party was about to begin… Thunderclouds gathered above the battlefield, a storm was brewing and heading our way. The trench was quiet now, but soon all hell would break loose in a well orchestrated orgasm of destruction. I almost felt sorry for the people on the convoy, but then again, most of them were there by choice. Working for the senate was equal to betraying your corp, so you knew that the chance of getting killed for no apparent reason came with the job. Thinking about it that way made the job at hand a little easier on my consciousness. I walked into the trench, looking left and right in an effort to spot my hidden troops. A feeling of joy came over me as I found none of them visible, they had been trained well. The tension rose as a series of droids came out of the teleporter. Several mammoths spread out to secure the area around the teleporter. They would be scanning the area actively so our lookout had been instructed to vacate the area as soon as there were incoming travelers. By now he should be observing the scene from well beyond sensor range of those mammoths. As far as I could make out 4 mammoths and a sentinel taking up positions. The energy signatures were clearly Senate ones which was a little odd. Normally the senate would use contractors to protect their convoys, I guess they wanted the job done properly this time. New droids warped in, scanners identified them as cargo droids, the shipment was here. They took up position between the mammoths and slowly started moving towards the trench. My team was instructed to keep their positions secret until I gave the GO, since we did not want them to be able to escape our ambush. Minutes passed as the convoy neared the middle of the trench. Just a couple more meters and we could set of the anti-matter charges on each side to seal them, once done they would be sitting ducks to our crossfire. I had my team deploy cloaked remote charges and EMP emitters along the trench, nothing was left to chance. Once the escorts had been taken out, the cargo droids would be defenseless and we just had to take over control to get our prize. ‘All units, OPEN FIRE!!’ I yelled over the comms as I decloaked nazgul and advanced towards them. Thunder roared as the charges went off, effectively destroying both ends of the trench. The trap had sprung. From both rooftops laserblasts rained down on the mammoths. The well trained senate troopers reacted fast and returned fire to their concealed assailants. The fight continued for several minutes as my team reaped the mammoth shields apart aiming for tactical weapons systems first to minimize return fire. 2 stalkers from my team were taken out by the escorts but they were still outnumbered and outgunned three to one. Eventually the gunplay died out and the smoke started to clear. Both sides of the trench were scorched and large parts of the buildings had caved in from missile impacts. The cargo droids had been left alone and the only damages visible came from area effect blasts and stray shells. ‘Alpha Team move in and secure cargo’ 6 stalkers jumped down from the rooftops and landed near the cargodroids. Datalinks were attached and the control override procedure was set in motion. ‘Beta Team, clear entrance and secure our retreat!’ 4 more stalkers leapt over the rooftops towards the exit of the trench and started clearing rubble. ‘Caruma to Harvester, Sir we have secured the cargo and are preparing to move out.’ ‘Excellent, good job, Once the cargo has teleported out we will commence the attack on the research facilities. Harvester out!’ Satisfied with the turn of events so far, I advanced towards what was left of the escorts to perform some scans. Somehow I had a feeling this had been a little too easy. After all this was a load of experimental weapons, weapons that could obliterate a normal droid in one shot… how come it had defended so lightly? I swept away my doubts and carried on with my scans. ‘Sir, we are ready to move out, cargo has been checked and identified as Arena Dominator v0.8’ ‘Good, transfer control to Beta Team and regroup at location B’ ‘Understood, Sir.’ The convoy, escorted by the 4 remaining stalkers from team beta started moving back to the teleporter. Team alpha advanced to a location predefined in the mission briefing. From there we would commence the assault on the research centers, a surgical strike since we wanted to make it look like an accident. I rejoined on Harvesters side just as he left the skyscraper. His guards formed a wide circle formation around him to maximize sensor range. ‘I trust all went well’ He inquired casually. ‘Yes sir, Two stalkers from beta team were taken out by the escorts, their loss will be avenged. Cargo has been positively identified and is en route to HQ as we speak.’ ‘You sound troubled, I expected you to be ecstatic’ ‘Something doesn’t sit right with me sir. It all went a little TOO easy I think’ ‘The Senate is overconfident and careless, they think all their secrets are safe from the outside world and believe no corp would dare to attack them. Today we proved them wrong. I expect them to increase security in the future. They may be reckless, but they learn from their mistakes.’ The words set my mind at ease, at least for a little, I had always been doubting by nature. We continued the rest of the way in silence. The storm had picked up in fury, and lightning was striking randomly. Static charges disrupted long range scanners limiting our vision, but also providing us with a perfectly hidden approach. Luck was on our side again it seemed… The night was falling by the time we arrived at the research facilities. The long walk had given us plenty of time to recharge our shields and make quick repairs to whatever systems had been damaged in our last fight. I sent 2 stalkers, equipped with cloaking to scout the immediate surroundings and report the defense status of the facility. The rest of my team were ordered to rally in an open spot about 1 click from the facility. The rallypoint looked like it used to be a marketplace of some sort. The buildings surrounding it all had large open spaces that used to be display windows I reckoned. Times sure had changed, it was funny how so much chaos could be brought to a civilization is so little time. I often wondered what it was like before the senate had introduced its first droid as a form of entertainment. People say it had all started innocently, until some powerhungry corp had decided to use the arena droids to wage war upon his enemies. From that moment on chaos had ruled the world, wars broke out between corps, cities were decimated by violent attacks, 1/3 of the earths population got killed during the ‘war of the world’ as people tended to call it. After a decade of anarchy and chaos the senate had finally reestablished control in most regions of the world by deploying an immense v2 army. Corp wars were ended and several corps had united to fight a common oppressor once again; the Senate. The 2 scouts I had sent out reported back to our staging area, base defenses were minimal due to the storm raging, blackwing patrols had been grounded since flying in such rough weather was next to impossible. The walls were patrolled by several warlocks and two stalkers had been spotted guarding the entrance. Intel had told us that the facility had a squad of 5 mammoths armed with antimatter guns on stand by. All in all the storm had made sure they formed no threat since by the time they could get outside, all the other guards would have been taken out and their slow speed would make them sitting ducks for our missile launchers and Deathrays. Team alpha was ordered to take out the warlocks while Harvester and I would take out the Stalkers at the gate. While our attack was in progress Harvesters bodyguards would advance to the walls and plant antimatter charges at strategic spots. Once set we would blow up the entire wall in one blast and overrun the rest of the defensive forces. ‘Alpha team, spread out and wait for my go!’ I said as I moved alongside Harvester to commence the attack. ‘Roger sir, moving out!’ As we rolled over the slope leading to the facility our presence was spotted by the two stalkers. Two volleys of antimatter missiles emerged from our launchers searing towards the two stalkers. The impact on the walls blew our targets out into the battlefield, effectively splitting them up. At this point Harvester and I split up as well, each going after one of the stalkers. As I came into sensor range of my target warning lights started flashing on my control panel, seconds later I saw a missile being launched from the stalker and heading straight for me. I quickly twisted my lateral servos and started sidestepping. The rocket missed me by inches and impacted several meters behind me. The blast caused my sensors to go offline and I lost my target. A rain of nuclear shells rained down on my shield as I tried to reacquire visual contact. ‘Shields down to 74%’ the HUD started flashing yellow as I saw my shields decreasing with each hit. Finally I tracked the origin of my assailants minigun fire. I repositioned myself to face his stream of shells and fired two bolts from my Deathray in his direction. The hail died out as I saw an explosion in the distance. Without wasting time I ran towards the last known location of my enemy and found him advancing backwards towards the gate. A green light lit up at my control panel and sensors were restored. ‘target acquired: Stalker class droid, status: red.’ Marvelous, I thought as I set my minigun to autotrack and hit the firebutton. My gun started belching fire as the shells were sent on their way towards their target. In Mere seconds the reactor of the stalker reached critical condition and blew up, covering the battlefield with a bright burst of light. The pilot had no hope of surviving that blast. ‘Target down, Harvester, What’s your status?’ ‘I hope the senate engineers like puzzles, since they’ll be spending a lot of time with that trying to repair this one !’ His laughter caused static on my speakers. ‘Well done sir, reports are coming in and we ready to blow up the wall’ ‘make it so !’ The earth shook as 20 large antimatter charges went off simultaneously. Once the dust and rubble cleared from the air we got a clear view of the inner courtyard of the facility. The look on my face rapidly changed from triumph to utter terror… Twenty mammoths stood there… weapons charged and targets locked. Behind them was a lone Sentinel, painted in sandcolors… My scanners identified the Sentinel as Zodiac. We had been set up. ‘ALL UNITS, FALL BACK!’ I shouted franticly over the comms. This was a fight we could not win. In the distance I saw a series of explosions as the mammoths opened fire on Harvesters guards. They had been closest to the walls after the blast. One by one they their blips disappeared from my scanner. This was going bad really fast. I set my throttle to full reverse and launched a volley of missiles at one of the mammoths in an effort to cover our retreat. A large explosion followed the impact of my projectiles but it did not stop the mammoth line. Slowly they began advancing forward, discharging their weapons at my retreating team. The speed of our Stalkers allowed us to move out of range pretty fast, leaving harvester in his slow mammoth Pure to become the main target. His vast shields absorbed the hits without any trouble. A sigh of relief was uttered by me as I saw the last laser hit Harvester. We were safe for the time being. ‘Sir multiple droids decloaking behind us!! We are surrounded!’ This couldn’t be happening. It had to be a bad dream and I would wake up any second now. The opposite was very true, this was happening, and it was happening lightning fast. In front of us the Mammoths were advancing and a squad of Stalkers had cut off our only means of escaping this deathtrap. The light on my comms panel started blinking, informing me of an incoming transmission. I pressed the button and opened a channel. ‘This is Zodiac, emissary of the senate, power down your weapons and prepare to surrender your droids, you have 20 seconds to comply!’ This was an odd turn of events, it seemed like they weren’t out to destroy us. What could they possibly want from us ? I ordered my squad to cease fire and stand down. At least this would give us some time to find a way out of this mess. Within a few moments we were surrounded by the mammoths and the stalkers, their guns charged and ready to fire. A new transmission was received. ‘For crimes against the senate you will be brought to justice, you and your team will be publicly executed to set an example to all other corps. Nobody crosses the Senate and gets away with it.’ He was gloating at the fact that we had been beaten. I got a text message from Harvester : No way we are going to surrender to this bastard, I would sooner die than be publicly executed. I shared his sentiment and tried desperately started looking for a way out of this. As I was performing some calculations and checking stats I accidentally performed a bio scan on my surroundings, I cursed and reached for the delete button on the console. But as I my eyes crossed the scanreport on the console I noticed an anomaly in the scene. There were no life signs aboard the mammoths and stalkers, only one source of human heat was discovered aboard the Sentinel. Fast as light I typed a textmessage to the whole team : No life signs in enemy droids, Sentinel has them on AI control. Take out Sentinel at all cost. I rerouted all available power to my Deathrays and squeezed the trigger. The lights on my console dimmed as a massive bolt of energy was charged inside the Deathray. The bright blue beam hit the Sentinel dead center, along with 12 other beams from the others. Its shield went down instantly and the raw energy bust trough the hull plating literally cutting the droid in half. In reaction to our sudden power up the mammoths had opened fire as well, 4 Stalkers were disintegrated where they stood. 3 lasers blasted away at Nazgul severing its left arm leaving sparks flying all over my console. But with the destruction of the sentinels AI link, all our attackers went offline instantly leaving a deadly silence. It was over, we had prevailed. Back at the VTS hq harvester approached me in the hangar. ‘That was some fine split second thinking you did there, we owe you our lives.’ I looked up at Harvester and simply said : The Bahamas. ‘Huh ? what ?’ ‘That’s where I will be the next two weeks, You owe me some R&R, and I plan to spend it on the Bahamas. I’ll be leaving tonight with my blackwing while Nazgul is being repared’ I simply said as I turned around and walked away slowly. ‘Dismissed’ Harvester whispered too soft to be heard. ‘You’ve earned it’. Written by VTS_Harvester and VTS_Caruma