Smoother than expected
The white page stared at her from her retinal display, the cursor blinking mockingly, showing second by second all the time she was wasting.
Mariam got up, grumbling, the page automatically becoming more transparent to let her see her surroundings.
“What am I even supposed to write in this after action review, ‘I sat on my ass for two hours and let the Special Forces guys do all the work’?”
“I guess? Man, at least Dinka got to shoot some baddies in the end.” dejectedly answered Zuri from her bunk - she was clearly having the same problems as her, with the added difficulty of having been the Commanding Officer for the operation.
Everything had started two days earlier, with a strange hostage exchange proposal from an anonymous source: the Nomad tech they had lost in Porto Interplanetario, Joline Sandoval, in exchange for Hsien Peng Huizhong. Only problem was that they never did capture the Hsien, despite crossing paths with him a couple of times - and indeed, the message helpfully included a link to his current position. The whole thing reeked of some kind of internal score being settled between Yujingese splinter groups; it didn’t take a genius to connect the dots to the Tundra Wolves Task Force Huizhong had been hunting for the past months - even though it looked like this time the roles were reversed.
Could be bait, could be a trap - Okiro wasn’t too keen on risking their lives doing someone else’s dirty work without any assurance; however, the info on the Hsien seemed legit: the Spirit of the Forge was orbiting LuY, and numerous reports were coming in of fighting both on and under the surface - a Stoorworm had somehow appeared on the Ammonia-rich planetoid, and protecting the Rocaworks miners was proving difficult for the NMF, already stretched thin across the Human Edge.
In the end, the 404 had resorted to sending a small contingent to help the soldiers already stationed there - if there happened to be a conflict with the Imperial Service forces, they would have a target of opportunity to abduct.
That was how the three Wildcats (Obasanjo claimed he was ‘still recovering’ from his hand injury) were sent on Louie aboard the Which way to the Beach together with a couple of jaguars.
Once there, they were assigned to a small squad of veteran operatives - some from the Paradiso front, some from the Durgama crysis - and tasked with patrolling an abandoned section of the mining tunnels, where they suspected smuggling of Rocaworks and Sterling Forge machinery was taking place.
They quickly found ties between the local Submondo lowlifes and FZX, and followed their trail to a base camp in a vast underground hollow, where they discovered Yujingese troops already seizing the stolen equipment and putting the smuggler crew under arrest.
A firefight immediately ensued over control of the cave, but the noise and vibration quickly attracted the Stoorworm: the monster emerged roaring from the frozen ground, and made short work of the mercenary hunters the State Empire had hired.
With all the enemy attention focused on the rampaging beast, the Nomad veterans - a Sombra and an Intruder - leveraged their active camouflage to advance unnoticed and take out isolated targets, while the rest of the Corregidoran forces secured the near side of the cavern.
When even the mighty Guija leading the Yujingese resistance was torn to pieces by the worm, their front started to crumble; the Megabeast was wounded, but the Nomads had already claimed control of the storage buildings, and even took the local FZX broker into custody.
Of course, neither Mariam nor Zuri got to see any of that, as they held their position behind a big container near the back of the cave - only Olujimi, posted over the structure, had the chance to fire some long range shots, preventing the enemy from establishing a smokescreen to cover their movement.
The highlight of their “battle” was the reunion with Lottie and the other jaguars: the blue-haired girl had an ear-to-ear smile, and proudly narrated how she had hit the Hsien they were looking for straight in the chest with an explosive panzerfaust shot, and how she had the chance to finally use her unbeatable three-sixty-no-scope shooting technique. Luckily, shortly after they found Peng still breathing under the rubble of a collapsed building - his state-of-the-art Yujingese heavy armor stopping even the explosive payload of the anti-tank launcher.
While the NMF coordinated the recovery of the mining assets and started interrogating the FZX employee, the 404’s contingent returned to the Bring Guns to Bear unscathed, prisoner in tow.
Now Lieutenant Okiro had departed for the hostage exchange in neutral territory, and expected to have an after action review of the operation on his metaphorical desk by the time he returned.
“Baah, screw it.” Mariam suddenly burst out, stopping her exasperated pacing up and down the small cabin “I’m just gonna send him a photo of that orange cat we met while we were getting on the shuttle - that was the real action anyway.”
“Yeah, and the bloodiest part of the mission, given how bad it scratched you.” laughed Zuri, her face emerging from the bunk bed above her with a mischievous grin.
Mariam flipped her off making a face, the red lines left by the cat’s claws still clearly visible on her hand and forearm.
“Not my fault if the little fucker can’t appreciate my gift of warm hugs and boundless affection.”
“Yeah, it would probably have appreciated more a gift of warm blankets and boundless cheese.” mused the sergeant as she floated down from her bed - apparently she had given up on writing the review as well - “Don’t worry too much though, Takeshi, there are those who appreciate your warm hugs.” and gently squeezed her before heading for the corridor.
Mariam just stood there for a second, dazed.
Her face and ears had acquired a deep red undertone, and she could feel a whole swarm of butterflies going wild in her stomach.
That definitely went smoother than she expected.
This narrative follows a game of Wormsign, my Corregidor versus Drop Bear’s Vanilla Yu Jing. If you want a more accurate look on what happened (and more photos!), check out his battle report:
https://dropbearslog.blogspot.com/2024/11/wormsign-operation-edgelord-november.html
Here are the table setup, and the list I used for the game (sorry for the muted filter on my photos, I forgot I had that on, and found out later) :
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