Operation Walrus: The Amir and the Khawarij Assault Chalcis Theme Park Part 2

Deployment:
Task Force 29 quickly advanced into the theme park after whiping out the initial defense. Tarik and the Khawarij remained on the left flank, as Asil and her team moved further right with the rafiq's and fanous remotes. Sekhmet taking lead of the force and the CSU continueing to follow, documenting any damage caused. Arrayed ahead of them though was a second line of defense of Nomads. A Gator held the right flank with a Stygmata, backed up by a zondbot attached to a Monstrucker. A Salamndra hid in the back waiting, while the left flank was a group of Uberfallcommando, but these lay right under the sights of Haley, and Neema, the twin Missile Launchers.

Turn 1:
The Nomads wasted no time as a Heckler ran up into the center of the line, tossing out a Fast Panda into the middle of Asils team. While the Heckler was gunned down, the Salamandra's pilot disembarked and began using Trinity on Haroun. The Hacker worked feverishly setting up firewalls, and trying to fight off the quantronic intrusion, after a few moments though his eyes rolled back and he collapsed. There was no time to check on him though as Ein-213 beeped, the remote was being quantronically assaulted as well. Thankfully its firewalls held. The Gator moved to a better covering position, and launched two mines on the path towards it, and began suppressing.

Sekhmet roared towards the Nomads, beginning the offensive. Mau loped beside her, and went charging around a utility building. While the cat was able to dodge the mine that exploded, the Gator supressing the alley was more accurate. Rounds impacted into the thick hide of the beast, and it collapsed. Sekhmet quickly veered to the side, "Hey Amir! Take care of this thing!"

"We are already advancing, do not do anything rash!" Tarik responded, the Khawarij already running up the alley.

They got to the structure quickly, and Tarik began trading shots with the Gator, wounding each other, but not progressing.

"Ugh! I have an idea! I hope you can take advantage." Sekhmet said before screaming out from cover around the building.

She took a smoke grenade out and tossed it down the street, covering the khawarij as rounds hit her and the bike, tossing her to the pavement. With a thud, she slid and rolled into a banner board, knocking her out of the fight. Tarik cursed under his breath as he saw the action, but knew it was his teams chance. Pulling his giant scimitar, Rashid and Khadim did the same, as they raced into the smoke. Qadim and Rashid broke from the smoke, their scimitars flashing in the light as they cut into the TAG, severing its legs, and driving them deep into the torso. They quickly sheathed their blades, and darted behind the same billboard that Sekhmet fell. Qadim did a quick medical check found her stable but too far gone to assist in battle. He tagged her quantronically for evacuation and moved with the rest of the team.

On the right flank, the Rafiqs moved forward, Rafiq-002 connected to and synchronized with a console of interest. The data they found was huge, but too much to decipher on the field. The remote set up a tunnel to the adh-Dhib for review, and moved to the corner of a giant structure, getting sight on the Uberfallcommandos. It quickly set a quantronic spotlight on the chimera, and relayed information to the shaytaniya. A rocket suddenly shot into the air, a trail of smoke showing where it was going. It arced over head and slammed down directly onto the chimera.

Turn 2:
The Salamandra took point of the Nomad forces as it leaped up on a roof, giving it visibility to Tarik hiding behind the billboard, and catching the Amir unaware. The HRMC blasted and knocked him to the ground. The Stygmata then took an offensive path, coming around the building that Rashid and Qadim were taking cover behind, both tried ot dodge the TAG's weapons, the heavy rocket launcher fired continouesly impacting first Rashid and then Qadim putting them down.

With the path open, the Salamander advanced, its HRMC spinning up again as it got site of Ein-213. The remote tried to tag the TAG but got its leg shot out before it had a chance. Seeing what was happening, Neema raised her missile launcher, and hunkered down behind a half wall, waiting. It was not long before the TAG stepped out from the corner, raising its heavy weapon, but it never had a chance as the armor piercing, explosive rocket impacted directly in its chest, cutting through the armor, and exploding. The TAG was decimated. The Stygmata then began moving out towards a console, passing across a narrow alley, but this did not get passed Haley's keen eyes as she quickly aimed and fired her missile launcher. The rocket streaked down the alley, between buildings, and impacted into the TAG's armored shoulders, knocking it off balance but not out of the fight. A Fanous also tried to contest the TAG's advance as it tried overloading its optics. While it was unsuccessfull, the Stygmata was unable to land its own weaponry as well. With time and resources running out, the remote pilote thought it best to simply access the consol and begin tunneling the data and ignore the Fanous remotes. While the pilot was successfull, the TAG temporarily lost its optics. A zondbot attempted to run the gap the TAG did, but Haley's missile obliterated it. With all options exhausted, and their defense forces all but depleted, the Nomads quickly began to withdraw from the field, allowing the RTF forces to push forward.

Conclusion:
While the Nomad player played a bit more seriously, he was hit with more aggression and speed than he thought was possible, along with a lucky Missile Launcher crit on the Salamander which he only made 1 save from, putting it fully to dead and not giving his engineer a chance to fix it. The Khawarij were able to get 2 of the haris on the Gator in smoke, and while both have NBW, the Khawarij B2 and CC22 won it out for them, getting a critical hit which the Gator was unable to make either save for. By the end of Turn 2, neither of us had any real attack pieces left, but I had more models to draw from, along with a 4 man Core.

Mission: Superiority
OP: 7-3

Operation Walrus: The Amir and the Khawarij Assault Chalcis Theme Park Part 1

Prelude:

The RTF FOB was bustling with civilians, and soldiers. A quick deploy wall surrounded the compound, patrol by several different units as the Taurags Chasha and Aharon patrolled the streets like shadows. Food and medical supplies were given out to the displaced citizens as gangers are found and arrested. Maih had her rifle slung over her shoulder as she walked around, checking on her soldiers and their jobs. Her geist suddenly notified her that she had a message and objective list from Haqqislam High Command. Opening the comlog, she saw that an offensive was ordered on the Chalcis Themepark and that she will be second to another officer taking charge of the offensive. Rogue elements of the Nomad Nation were dug in with armor and it was her units job to push them out. As she finished her reading, she noticed the sounds of a commotion coming from the area of the compounds landing pads.

She made her way quickly to the airfield where she quickly found the source of the disturbance. The massive form of a khawarij stood among a crowd, shaking hands and smiling, his bright white teeth flashing in contrast to his dark brown, almost black beard. Flanked by Fahim, Rashid, and Qadim, Amir Tarik Mansuri made an imposing sight, but his bright and friendly nature appeared to be drawing the crowd, mostly civilians. The Amir made himself busy handing out small candies to the children and holding them up on his shoulders, which given his stature gave them a great ride. Maih pushed through the crowd, and saluted Tarik, "Amir, as-salam! Welcome to Beta Base in Akhua."

"Ra'id Maih Aafah I presume? Wa-alaikum-salam. You are doing good work here, the people seem happy and healthy." Tarik smiled and put down the children before returning the salute.

The two began walking through the base, Maih giving a tour of their area, "Its all thanks to the wonderful doctor corp of the adh-Dhib. Red light areas, and black market district on any world tend to have many in need of medical attention and food, so that has been our priority, our secondary priority of rooting out gangers to keep the peace."

"Wonderful work here. To change topics slightly, I assume HHC has informed you of our mission? I will be relying on you and your unit in this upcoming engagement. Are your troops ready?"

"My Amir, they are always ready. It will be honor to follow you." activating her Comlog, Maih sent a message to the rest of her unit, "Gear up for an assault operation and meet at the airfield in 30 minutes."

Tarik and Maih stood at the front of the assembled soldiers as the massive man began speaking to them, "Our mission is simple, we have rogue Nomad elements sitting in control of the Chalsis Park. Nomad High Command and Haqqislam High Command have jointly approved an assault on the area to push these forces out. We have information that they are utilizing TAG's in great numbers, so ensure your are armed respectively. I will be taking command while Ra'id Aafah will be supporting in battlefield intelligence. The company over seeing the Chalcis Virtual Theme Park has sent one of its CSU to accompany us in the field and to over see any problems that may occur to facility. Now, any questions? No? Then load up."

Deployment:

The Roc touched down in an open area infront of the theme park. The remotes and soldiers filed out, checking weapons and equipment before checking for deployment instructions on their comlogs. Maih and Tarik looked over the theme park infront of them before she said, "This will be the first time I have fought in a theme park."

"Trust me, Ra'id, when I say it will be interesting."

Waveing his hand to the soldiers to begin deploying, Maih found a large three story building to overlook the theme park from. Taking apair of powerful binoculars from her belt she began scanning the AO, and quickly picked up multiple TAG's.

"Amir, I am picking up a Gator, Stigmata, Salamandra, and Gecko supported by a couple of Moderators, a salyut, and two Transductor Zonds, all of them hiding in cover, and appear to be waiting to ambush. Sekhmet and your team appear to have a straight path forward available."

Acknowledging the intelligence Task Force 29 spread out, Tarik, leading Rashid and his Mk12, and Qadim the Doctor on the left flank with a Kameel, Shaytaniha, and a fanous. Asil and her team of Haley, the Zhayedan Missile Launcher, Haroun the Hacker, Neema the Missile Launcher, and Talibah the Doctor standing on over watch. Ein-213, the Red Fury Rafiq, and another Rafiq took up the right flank. The assigned CSU deployed with the additional Rafiq, and Sekhmet and Mau took a forward position, the motorcycle reving.

Turn 1:

Tarik's team and Sekhmet took the initiative as the motorcycle roared forward into the holographic landscape of a Japanese town. Tarik and the khawarij bounded forward, moving quickly through the streets until they achieved the right flank of the Nomads, guarded by a Gator. The Amir raised his rifle, quickly putting heavy and accurate rounds into the TAG, damaging it significantly and forcing it to fall back. To get better line of sight on the TAG, Tarik leapt into the street, his rifle firing. He took a round to his shoulder armor, but the whithering and heavy fire put the tag down. Sekhmet roard up them and tassed smoke, covering the street and allowing the khawarij to move forward. coming around a utility building, Tarik's underslung shotgun roared into a Moderator taking cover there, the heavy rounds putting him to the ground. moving up along the side, Rashid activated his multispectral visor, and raised the Mk12. The heavy rifle sent rounds ripping into the Stygmata beyond the smoke, and put it out of commission.Seeing the Salamandra beyond the wreckage of the Stygmata, Rashid fired again, doing minor damage to the heavy TAG.

The Rafiqs and Fanous remotes quickly moved forward pushign their frontline up.

The Salamandra was the first to respond quickly, swinging the large HRMC around and tearing up the area around Rashid, hitting him and wounding him. The TAG then turned its gun to Haley in a tower looking down on the field. The HRMC spat fire at the Zhayedan, but she remained calm, and fired several missiles, all impacting the TAG directly, a fireball of an explosion rolling up into the air. With the loss of the Salamandra, the Nomad forces began retreating further into the theme park.

Conclusion: After Turn one, Nomads had nothing to really work with, and with the Khawarij team in their backfield, and remotes taking the mid field, the opponent conceded. This was a "meme" list that he wanted to try and unfortunately, really demands first turn, but with Tarik and his team being so fragile I chose to go first, taking the advantage from him. If I did not have Tarik though I would have been hard pressed to stop the TAG march as Ramah does not have a lot in the way of AP. Luck was with me.

Mission: Superiority

Score: 10-0 OP

Operation Walrus: Morat De-escalation

Prelude
Alarms rang through the hastily constructed RTF FOB in Akhua District. Maihs geist quickly informed her that Task Force 29 was needed immediatly in response to a Combined Army assault on the district. Moving quickly, she grabbed her rifle, ammunition, and helmet running for the mustering area. As she got there, the rest of her unit was already filtering in, checking weapons and equipment. Civilians the base was protecting began running for cover and safe areas, getting out of the way.

"Combined Army contact to the west, only 4 kilometers." Maih began repeating the information her geist was giving her, as it proactively made objective points on her comlog. "Onbasi Tilki, get your squad, Fahim, and Palavi with me. Sekhmet get to recon, and Khepri, take Ein-213 again, and act in support of Sekhmet. Lets go, looks like additional information states its a MAF, so be ready for CQB."

Deployment
The unit moved through the buildings of the Akhua Liesure District carefully. Khepri, and ein-213 on the flank with a Fanous, Sekhmet moving along side with Mau. Asil Tilki, Neema and her Missile Launcher, Talibah the Doctor, Haley and her Missile Launcher, and lastly Haroun, the hacker were taking position in a short building with good sight over their AO. Fahim, Palavi, and Maih moved up with a couple Fanous around a large house. A lone Rafiq situated itself between the two main forces.

"Ra'id, we have a CSU here. Hes employed by one of the local businesses, and is willing to give information and assistence." Sekhmets voice came through the comlog.

"Understood, I can authorize payment. Put him under Khepris command." Maih responded.

"Got it, he says he can confirm Morat forces moving through the district. Apparently some alien computer consoles appeared around here yesterday, hes providing positions to all four."

The map on Maihs comlog updated with 4 distinct markings in the district, "I got them. Lets move out, and take control of these consoles."

Turn 1
"Contact! I see smoke rising directly ahead, and movement in the smoke!" Haley called out over the comlog.

Two massive Kaitoks, and a Rindak suddenly burst from the smoke infront of Sekhmet, Mau, Ein-213, and the CSU. They all immediatly opened fire, but a flammenspear suddenly impacted Ein-213, the blast enveloping the Rafiq and the Fanous, damaging them. Sekhmet and Mau immediatly began dodging forward, as the CSU's crackshot from his Breaker Rifle slammed into one of the Kaitoks armor, damaging it.

This slowed them very little as they moved onwards towards the house containing Fahim, Maih, and Palavi. Palavi, immediatly sensing the danger, yelled, "Looks like they know where we are, lets get out of here."

The Doctor immediatly, leapt through a window of the house and onto the street as the Morat hunting group disappeared around the corner. As they approached the door, their quantronic signature pinged on Harouns hacking device and he immediatly shut one down. This detered them little though as the Rindak burst into the door way. Maihs shots went wide as the Morats SMG pur several rounds into her direction, one of which catching her leg. Another burst on Fahim, put the khawarij down. The Rindak then moved along the buildings wall to see a fanous behind Tilki's squad, opening up, he did not notice the other Fanous nearby, extending Harouns hacking range. The hacker immediatly shut down the Morat remote. Finding themselves free of hackers in their area, the small hunting group reset themselves as Sekhmets motor cycle began roaring from down the street.

The biker and Mau immediatly burst from behind a building, the great cat loaping along the bike as they sped. One of the Kaitoks opened up with its chain rifle, but both of them veered to the side, the chains of metal roaring passed. The bore down on the first Kaitok, Maus' limited use rail driver firing into the armored Morat as it sprayed the cat in chain rifle shot. Sekhmet responded as well, spraying down the entire group with her own chain rifle. Both the front Kaitok, and Rindak fell to the withering fire as the last Kaitok turned to face the threat.

Driving over the downed Morats, Sekhmet took out her heavy pistol, and with a boost of gas, kicked her back wheel out sweeping under the kaitok. With a great crash the heavy armored Morat fell to the ground as the bike swept around with a screech. With swift fingers she fanned the hammer into the alien, the heavy rounds thudding home and keeping the beast down for good.

Palavi poked her head back into the house and saw Maih and Fahim proping themselves against a wall administering their own first aid. Fahim gave Palavi a thumbs up. Nodding Palavi hefted her shot gun and sprinted towards the two story structure across the street. The streets were odly quiet as she came to a stop by the corner. According to her overlay, there should be a console right on the other side of the building. Sprinting around the corner she got to the console and quickly looked it over. It was very foreign, the symbols on the keypad were nothing like she had seen. She began pressing buttons at random but nothing was happening.

Question marks suddenly appeared on her comlog from Haroun, looking behind her, she saw him watching from the other side of the street, "Why don't you come over here and push these buttons, Tech Support?!"

Haroun shook his head and ducked back into the house.

"By Allah, I am a Doctor!" She yelled at the street as she picked up her shotgun and hit the butt on the keypad, "Not a hacker!"

The console suddenly beeped and came to life, data began pouring into her comlog.

"Oh...perhaps I can diversify."

A green thumbs up and a smiley face emoticons suddenly scrawled over her comlog from Haroun, making her groan. Taking a moment she launches herself into the air and up over the parapet of the second floor, going prone on the roof.

Further down the street, the CSU ran forward, his augmented legs making him extremely fast as he got to another of the consoles, and looking it over, found he had no idea how it worked. "Hey-yo Hokk-girl! I cant get this thingamabob to work!"

Khepri came running up behind him shooting a glare, "Khepri, my name is Khepri!"

"Eh, whuteva, tomatoe-tomatah. You able ta get this?"

"What? No, its in alien, I cant read it."

"Then whut are we here for huh?"

Turn 2
Smoke suddenly erupted along a two story building across the district, bathing the whole area in concealment. Neema suddenly exclaimed as she saw a shape moving through the smoke, and her missile launcher leapt to her shoulder, spouting flame as the projectile went streaking through the air, impacting with the Yaogat sniper. A few moments went by until suddenly a shot came streaking from the smoke, hitting her squarely in the chest, dropping her to the roof. Before Haley could figure out where the shot came from, another Yaogat sniper strode from the smoke on the second story of a building, and put two rounds into the Zhayedan, dropping her to the roof as well, wounded.

"Be warned, sniper on the roof top, second story building." She relaid into her comlog, swearing as her auto-medikit failed to diagnose the wound and activate.

Sekhmet revved her bike, "Ill move around on them!"

The bike roared as she took off, riding down the large wall of a warehouse, passed Khepri and the CSU still arguing over the console, and coming around the warehouse rear. An enemy CSU and a batroid dodged our of the way as she roared around, her heavy pistol firing. Thats when she saw the squad of Morats, and the daturazi behind a series of buildings. Her engine revved up as came screaming around the building, and behind the daturazi. Two shots from the Yaogat sniper hit her and the bike, but adrenaline kept her going. Her chain rifle spat shards of metal and chain down the street with a metalic shriek, as the Daturazi tried to slash at her with its strange axe, but the blade cut into the chain rifle, breaking it, but not before the alien took metal shards to its side, and the Dartok behind it taking some too. The white morat, Kornak, dodged out of the way before getting hit and snarled in frustration.

Sekhmet grined and kicked the bike back into gear, and raced towards the intimidating Morat officer. Slidding to a halt, she brought her pistol up, spitting out two shots, but the skilled alien brought his hide blade up, shielding himself from the shots, and then counter attacked, the blade slamming into the woman and knocking her down into the street, bleeding.

Khepri leaves the CSU behind, frustrated by the mercenary and darts along the warehouse, following behind Sekhmet. Running through the open, she dodges passed a narrow alley covered by the sniper, and posts up behind some shipping containers.

Turn 3
Kornaks angry roar could be heard across the district as he hefted his gun and came charging down the primary street and across the warehouse. Slamming open the door in the bottom floor, he scans the room finding nothing. Hearing the activity below her, Palavi began rolling along the roof top towards the roof access hatch, and pulling out her shotgun. She listened to the rampaging bull below her, until suddenly the hatch burst open and the white morat pulled himself up onto the roof. She didnt wait, the shotgun kicked as it sent a slug into the back of the alien, but his armor caught the round. Turning, he roared, opening up with his Mk12. Rounds burst around Palavi, as she rolled around the rooftop, racking another round and firing. Finally a round slammed into Palavi as she got to her feet, and slammed her back with the heavy round. Moving to the corner of the building, Kornak, began laying down supressive fire below.

Khepri heard the advance of an enemy soldier from the other side of the shipping containers. Moving carefully along the side, she came within sight of the ikadron first. A quick burst of her Breaker rifle put the remote down, and she quickly moved up the side, and let loose with her shotgun around the corner. The enemy CSU was caught by suprised byt managed to quickly fire off his nanopulsar, catching Khepri. The Namurr shook off the hit though, and moved into the warehouse to find another of the alien consoles. Quickly climbing up the ladder tot he second floor, she wrestled with the buttons for a few moments before activating the console. From the otherside of the warehouse, the CSU they hired poked his head in with a dumb grin, "Got the console beepin luv!"

Khepri groaned.

Conclusion
My opponent ran a Kaitok and Rindak Haris straight down the middle with his orders to eliminate my primary attack haris, and kill my Key Ops (Khawarij Doctor). This prevented him though from having anything captured first turn. Carmen and Batard (Sekhmet and Mau) also had a great deal of luck in their runs, the +4 ARM booty roll making most of what he threw at her bounce.

Mission: Superiority
OP: 9-0 Ramah - Morats

Operation Walrus: Battle of Akhua

Prelude

"'Aqid, we are tracking anti-orbital fire targetting the Halmeoni. Estimated impact of 31 minutes." The voice of a technician broke through the silence of the adh-Dhibs' bridge.

"Aye, send me the information. So much for Brutus and his cease fire, Surface Warfare, confirm trajectory." Fayaz Aafah responded, as a ding on his comlog announced the arrival of the afformentioned data. He was able to quickly confirm what was said, and began calmly relaying additional orders, "Helm, bring us 15 degrees clockwise rotation X axis, 20 degrees clockwise rotation Y axis. Ordinance and Gunnery get me intercept calculations and prepare to fire a Tor."

"'Aqid, we have confirmation of four launches, and calculations have all but 1 being a miss. The 1 appears to be a near miss, and we expect the Halmeoni's PDS to take care of it. Estimated impact is TM 31 minutes 22 seconds, weather depending."

"Understood, stand by and wait for confirmation that we see Halmeoni activating. Ping them and confirm they are tracking."

"Aye sir, Comms, confirm order?"

Another woman on the bridge, responded with a nod, "Comms confirming, contacting Halmeoni."

Fayaz sat back and crossed his legs, waiting for his order to be complete when another communications officer spoke up, "Sir, we have orders from HHC coming through for TF29. Orders include confirmation of reciept from us and preparation of medical and civilian facilities surface side."

"Understood, send confirmation and contact medical bay. Send the orders through to Maih. Prepare our two Roc's and personel to be placed under her authority for mission."

"Sir, Ordinance and Gunnery confirms load and are locked on target. Actively tracking."

Twenty minutes later Maih Aafah was projecting a district of Akhua to a conference room full of about fifteen of her soldiers, "This is Akhua Liesure District. With Brutus taking over the city and law enforcement being disrupted, Submondo has taken the opportunity to take it over. We have a number of innocent people getting caught in this gang warfare thats erupting. The mercenary soldiers under Brutus orders are also taking advantage, and the situation has deteriorated. Our objectives are too pull out as many people as we can, and set up a FOB on the edge of the district. We will be taking the MSMC dropship down, and onece the area and personel are secure, two Rocs with medical personel, and additional forces from Squads B and C will follow. Questions?"

"What is ROE?" Fahim asked.

"ROE is being sent, we will have other Sword of Allah forces in the area, so ensure you confirm target, there will also be civilians that we are rescueing, so confirm IFF marks."

"What enemy forces are we expecting?" Haley spoke up.

"Unconfirmed besides Submondo gangsters. It is Submondo though so they could have hired any kind of mercenaries. Again, if they are not flagged friendly, and are armed, they are hostile."

After waiting a few moments for additional questions, Maih continued, "Get your equipment ready, the dropship leaves in 15."

Deployment

The dropship shook violently as the hard seats and harnesses dug into her butt and shoulders. Everything rattled, and Mau's growls and whines could be heard through the bay. Finally with a final thud, the ship was landed and the ramp opened, allowing the harnesses to release. Ripping her rifle from its secure retainer next her, Maih slammed a magazine home and racked the bolt, and yelled out, "Alright, were dirtside, lets move out! You have your individual orders so lets go!"

Sekhmets bike roared to life, the engine giving a gutteral rumble as Mau stretched and shook the ride from his bones. Moving forward, Asil took her fireteam into a large three story partment complex to provide over watch with Haley's and Neemas Missile Launchers. They had a wide sweaping area of fire infront of them into most of the AO as civilians were running around in panic. People filled the streets, and smoke rose from several areas. Maih with her MSV goggles, marksman rifle, Palavi the doctor, and Fahim with his Spitfire took up a house to the right of the apartment complex with Sekhmet and Mau, and her motorcycle, and Kephri, and the Rafiq Ein-213 along with an additional Rafiq and a couple Fanous spread out.

"I have JSA forces pushing through the civilians ahead." Came Haleys voice over the comlog. "Keisotsu on the roof top, motor cycles moving in the streets below."

Turn 1

"Confirmed." Maih responded, "Sekhmet, get some smoke out, cover us."

With a pop, the smoke grenade clangs down into the street outside of the house. The smoke begins billowing in the street as Fahim leads the way, moving quickly through it followed by Maih, and Palavi. Moving up to a corner of the next house, Fahim holds his hand up, peaking around the corner. At the end of the street, a Japanese man with dual katanas strides, making vulgar gestures and dangerous swings at the civilians, laughing. Stepping back from the corner, the large khawarij raises his spitfire and steps out, the assault weapon roaring as a stream of tracers flash down the street, impacting with the man. His form flashes, and a bashi bazouk appears briefly in the flash of blood as it collapses to the street. A brief shimmer on a roof top suddenly catches his eye, making him dive back into cover.

"Mimetic operatives on the roof, lets move back to the other side of the building."

Quickly leading the team along the side of the house, he comes out to the left, and catches sight of the Keisotsu with missile launcher looking down the street. Again leaning out form cover, the Khawarij's spitfire roar, the super soldiers accute accuracy leading the rounds straight into the Japanese soldiers chest, the woman falling back to the ground. Moving up further, he sights the mimetic field, tracers streaming into what appeared to be thin air before cracklses, sparks and air distortions reveals the Ryuken soldier as its optical disruptor fails and collapses with the operative.

"Moving up to the roof top to provide over watch." Fahim reports back to Maih as he braces and launches himself up and backwards onto the roof top. He catches sight of a domaru peaking out from cover as he is in the air, and with a snap the spitfire was at his shoulder, roaring with fire as he leapt behind the parapet of the house. The rounds, again finding purchase in their target, the heavy armor unable to stop the accurate fire as it hammered into it.

Khepri and Ein-213 were dashing between the houses, taking advantage of Fahims accurate and whithering fire. The Namurr quickly made it up to the house Fahim was using and vaulting up the walls and over the parapet she landed behind him, "On you Fahim."

The Khawarij nodded, "Understood."

Just then smoke erupted in the street below, obscuring their vision forward, and they heard the roar of a motorcycle coming up to the building. Khepri began moving along the roof as smoke blossomed ontop, completly engulfing Fahim as he began trying to dodge out of the smoke. Suddenly, a shadow darted over the roof top, and Khepris hairs stood up, prompting her to quickly draw her blade just in time for a monofilament katana to appear from the air, slashing down on her. The katana and scimitar locked at the hilt at Shinobu Kitsune made herself known. The woman was fast though, and with a flash the blade bit into Khepris arm before the Namurr could push her back. Another flash of monofilament to her stomach though and she gasped, collapsing back against the wall just as Fahim burst from the smoke and saw the scuffle.

Shinobu quickly darted around the super soldier, fast as lightning, raising her combi rifle before Fahim could draw his pistol, blasting rounds into his back. With a thud, the man fell to the roof top bleeding. The shadow quickly darted into the smoke and the corner of the building above Maih and Palavi.

Turn 2

"Sekhmet, we need you and your cat, clear the way for us!" Maih yelled over the comlog.

Sekhmet revved her engine and the motorcycle and large cat burst out of the house, the door flying off the bent and broken door frame. She landed heavily on the street, dropping smoke onto the alley to Yojimbo. Roaring around the corner, the multispectral visors showed Yojimbo's fuzzy form and she let loose with her chain rifle. The samurai managed to wheel his motorcycle out of the way in time though, but that only brought him in range of the wild biker. With a grin, Sekhmet pulled the sword from her sheath and burst forth from the smoke, her bike roaring. Yojimbo sent out a wave of nanopulsar at her, but she didnt care as her blade connected with the mans chest sending him flying off the bike and bleeding in the street. Wounded but undaunted, Sekhmet wheeled around and drove back to Mau who was waiting patiently, and they both quickly clambered up the wall of the house that Shinobu was hiding on, leaving her bike behind. Running along the roof top, Mau leapt over the ninja, trying to land on her with his claws, but she deftly dodged, only to run into Sekhmet, the womans skilled hand to hand abilities catching Kitsune off gaurd as the scimitar buried itself in her stomach.

With the adrenaline making its way out of her system, Sekhmet collapsed against the wall of the houses roof top, Mau laying down by her, "Hey Maih, backline should be good. Your good to go, I am taking a rest."

"Understood, thanks for the support Sekh. Palavi, lets move up." Maih said then calling up Haroun, "Haroun, move up the Fanous remotes, were moving towards the civilians."

Without a reply, the Fanous remotes moved up, taking positions behind houses. Maih began moving up between the buildings before she saw the form of a Japanese motorcycleist with a scyth. She quickly sent several teseum rounds down the street and into the bigger, slicing through the motorcycle and armor of the soldier and stopping them dead. Ein-213 seeing his connection to Khepri lost took initative, and began laying down suppresive fire to cover the civilians trying to run passed them, his synthetic chipper voice trying to provide directions, "Do not be alarmed. The Ramah Task Force is here to save you. Please remain calm and move passed us. Please ensure you are not armed or I will shoot you. Thank you!"

Pixie suddenly made herself known, as a mine exploded, the Nahabs quick reflexes helping her dodge the explosion as she moved in to secure a civilian motioning with her viral blade, "Who puts mines among civilians! Is that like a warcrime or something?!"

A Ryuken suddenly appeared behind Pixie, launching a rocket off over the heads of the civilians towards Haley and Neema, and impacts directly into the side of the building, shaking it as it explodes. Neema quickly raised her missile launcher, aims, and fires, the missile crashing through the side of the connex box he was hiding behind, and blasting him in the chest. A Karakuri and Yuriko took the opportunity to move up quickly, Yuriko planting another mine amongst a group of civilians before moveing along the wall to engage Ein-213.

Seeing the Japanese soldier with the rifle being raised, Ein-213 quickly responded with fire, the Red Fury opening up and sending Yuriko sprawled out into the street.

"Please ensure you are not armed or I will shoot you! Thank you! Arigato! Shukran!"

Turn 3

The Fanous-002 moves up behind a structure near the Karakuri, and Haroun smiles. Hes fingers and hands move along the holographic displays only he sees, shutting the remote soldiers systems down.

"Palavi, move up and get that civilian out of there!" Maih yells.

Nodding Palavi began running across the street.

"Warning!" Ein-213 yells out, "Mine detected. Please refraine from killing yourself good Doctor."

"Well, can you destroy it?!" Palavi yells back aross the courtyard.

Ein-213 beeps momentarily and then the Red Fury opens up, and a small explosion could be heard on the otherside of the sign Palavi was hiding behind.

"Affirmative Doctor Palavi."

Groaning, the doctor runs from behind the sign and to the civilian cowering on the street in the open, "I am Doctor Palavi of the Ramah Task Force, come with me!"

A sudden beep and whiring of servos could be heard as the karakuri only a few feet form her begins to reboot itself and raise its weapon.

"Haroun...HAROUN!!" Palavi yells into her comlog.

A series of emoticons depicting skulls and cross bones and chilled oh no faces scrawled across Palavis geist from Haroun.

The karakuri locked its gaze with Palavi just as it shut down again. A green checkmark from Haroun floated infront of Palavi's face. Grabbing the civilian by the color, the doctor dragged the man back towards their lines, throwing him behind a wall and raising her rifle.

The Keisotsu on the rooftop began to stand up to take out Fanous-002, the remote's targetting was too fast for them to counter. The first Keisotsu stood up, his shots going wide as Ein-213 and the Fanous both flashed him. When the second Keisotsu stood up, it was hit with both Haley and Neema's missile launchers. Finally the last resort was for the Karakuri to try and escape Harouns cordon of hacking area on its own, but the hacker was far too skilled. The moment the karakuri showed itself in the mayasphere, he disconnected it, frying its controls for good. The Japanese forces seeing no further advantage to pressing the attack began falling back

"Get the rest of the civilians to safety, JSA forces are falling back." Maih ordered. Conclusion:

This game went completly my way. The board played a big part in this as well, as we played on a board set up by people trying their hand at design and it turned into a valley type table with two big towers in both deployment zones that gave commanding positions. Mine had a more commanding position though with two core linked Missile Launchers (one being a Zhayaden), and his JSA force not having high burst long range weaponry. Breaking out of my deployment zone was not easy but two well placed smoke grenades let me get out and get under range of the enemy ARO's. Carmens NBW and MA Level 1 also saved my lines from Kitsune and Yojimbo running rampant.

Scenario: Rescue
Score: 4-1 Ramah-JSA

New Hypatia: A Girl and her (large) Cat

"I will be sure to be home for your birthday, habeebi." Sekhmet smiled, a simple facade and apeasement to her father. She knew he would not be.

The holosuit faded into black, the adobe porch overlooking the beutiful shimmering sands of a desert stretching endlessly into the horizon, the colored silks blowing gently in the breeze. The real world room came into focus around her. Her room was large, baby blue walls stretching up around her into a dome above, a large canopy bed with red silks, and a glass desk with the latest computer system against the wall across from it, her classwork strew about on various papers. Large double glass doors opened onto a veranda overlooking the city of Medina below.

Sekhment Abdel was a week from her 18th birthday and was the daughter of Ibrahim Abdel, a driven and intelligent entrepenour. He founded Abdel Biomedical Firm and was working to grow its influence in the city. It has been weeks since she had seen her father. Even though the company was based in the same city, he would often stay at the offices and labs, working around the clock on his project. Her mother had long since left the family, trying to convince Sekhment to join her, "He will never make time for you. He loves you, but his first love is the lab."

She considered giving her mother a call, but her comlog beeped, informing her it was time for her self defense classes to start. Groaning, she quickly changed into athletic clothes, and headed out of her room and down the stairs of the alabaster mansion to an outdoors sports area. Even under the burning sun, the black topped court was cooled by pipes, and the glare of the sun abatted by UV glass pannels arching over the court. Palm trees, flowering bushes, and other plants adorned the perimeter of the garden.

"Punctual as usual, Sek."

"To be early is to be ontime-" Sekhmet began.

"-to be ontime is to be late. Yes, yes. Lets get on with our pre-workout stretches, and less of your fathers wisdom." replied the tall, beutiful woman.

Atena was a tall, lithe woman, formerly an odalisque with the previous Sultanate. When the new Sultan came to power she left and became a mercenary. She was one of the few gifts left by Sekhmets mother, who hired her to both guard and train her since she was 10. They met every other day out on this blacktop court to exercise and spar, and Atena had become one of her closest confidants. Sekhmet herself becoming something akin to a little sister. The two were now going through their usual stretches and exercises before their combat training. As she finished, she hopped up on her feet, bouncing up and down, warming herself up.

Throwing a wooden sword over to her instructor, Sekhmet rolls her shoulders and adopts a general stance, readying herself.

Atena catches the wooden sword and chuckles, "Awefully focused today aren't we? No chit-chat? No girl talk?"

"I just need to hit something."

Sekhmet charges the taller woman, swinging her 'sword' with measured abandon. Clack! Clack! Clack! The blows rained down as Atena backed up, trying to gain some control as the younger woman assaulted her. The teenager was not unskilled, the years of training, and her natural inclination to the martial arts meant she was growing into a very skilled opponent. The former odalisque still had experience on her side though as she finally turned a blow, twisted away and regained a more stable footing. Sekhmet twirled away with the momentum, following the blade through to bring it back around. Sweat was already glistening on her face and neck.

"Someone had a call with their father where he promised something." Atena said with a knowing smile.

Rather than answer, Sekhmet launched another assault.

CLACK! CLACK! CLACK!

The blows rained down again, Atena standing strong and allowing the young woman to blow off steam, deftly deflecting and blocking hits. The older woman knew this session would be less about learning, and more about stress relief. Whatever she would try to teach would not stick, so she played the role of a friend and guardian rather than an instructor. The two women traded blows for about 20 minutes before Sekhmet fell back on the black top, breathing heavily as sweat poured off of her. Her geist pinged a message, warning her about dehydration, and upcoming heat sickness. Atena grabbed a bottle of water from a nearby table, and passed it to the teenager, who took it and sipped slowly, sitting up.

"Your father doesn't make these promises to upset you on purpose. He truly does wish to be here for your birthday." Atena said, sitting down next to her.

Sekhmet replied snidely, "I never said anything about promises."

"I have been with this family and you for almost 9 years now, the pattern is well established, and I can read you like a book."

Taking another sip of water, she sighs, "Next year I am leaving for university, and never coming back."

"Thats what I did, minus the university part. Just, don't go joining any wars. Use that brain of yours to get a good job."

Sekhmet smiled and stood up saying, "Thanks."

The week went by as it usually did. Physical fitness training, arts, school, and homework. Most of her free time was taken up by scheduled activities during the week, and before she knew it, the sun was rising on the morning of her birthday. Being a teenager, though, the sun climbed high into the sky before she finally groaned and woke up. She felt something on her bed, and blinked a few times to focus.

"Good morning habeebi." the man said, a smile on his face.

"Dad?" Sekhmet asked in astonishment.

Ibrahim smiled down at his daughter before placing a creature from his arms onto her bed. The creature was roughly the size of a dog and began sniffing around her blanket with excitment, a strange creature that looked like a cat until its paws, which were scaled claws instead of cat paws.

"Of course, I promised I would be here for your birthday, happy birthday! My gift is this creature, the only one of its kind. EX-36. It was the test subject for our new program, Taniyn."

"Well its cute I suppose, is this what you have been working on?"

Sekhmet sat up and reached over to pet the creature, who happily accepted.

"Yes, we begin human trials in a week."

Raising her eyebrow, Sekhmet asked, "Human trials? How could you have gotten approval from the MAA so fast?"

Smiling and waving his hand, Ibrahim replies, "You dont need to worry about that my dear its not a public endeavor, it is your birthday, do not let such things trouble your mind. I have breakfast ready downstairs, get dressed and come join me!"

He stands up, adjusting his suit and heads out of the bed room. EX-36 sits on the bed, stareing at Sekhmet. She had a bad feeling about her fathers work, but he would never listen to her anyways. Sekhmet got dressed quickly into her favorite color shifting skirt and tank top. She had plans this afternoon with her friends in town, and even if her father had made himself available, she was not about to cancel. Getting on a pair of light boots, she headed downstairs, and found her father serving eggah at the table.

"Birthday breakfast! Filling and nutritious! Come eat!"

"I didnt know you knew how to cook..."

"Well I can, not many dishes mind you, but breakfasts were always one I could do."

Sitting down, he took a fork full of the eggs. As Sekhmet sat down, and took a bite herself, she found the dish was not bad. Bland, it was lacking a lot of spices, but it was not bad.

"Well its not....bad." Sekhmet said, swallowing.

"Yes, it has been a bit since I made the dish, I might have forgotten some spices...salt always is a good substitute."

Sekhmet reached for the salt in the center of the table when pain suddenly shot through her body like a bolt of lightning. She gasped as she doubled over, collapsing to the table and sliding onto the ground. The pain pulsed through her several times as her father clicked his tongue and stood up, grabbing a tablet.

"Date and time recorded, it appears Taniyn began acting before the full dose. Note to add a delay to the gene sequence to ensure full dose is ingested. Sekhmet, how do you feel?"

Her mind could not comprehend what was happening between the pulses of pain, had her father drugged her? Would he have done that? That did not make sense, how could a father do that to his daughter. Why would he given her the drug? As her thoughts raced,she tried to respond but could only gasp. He picked her up off the ground and took her back up to her room. Somewhere on the way, she blacked out, the pain finally becoming to great. When she finally opened her eyes again, her commlog told her it had been two days. Missed calls and messages flooded her overlay from her friends, putting her hand to her head where a throbbing headache ensued she rolled over. The creature her father had given her nuzzled her, almost in an understanding way.

"Sekhmet, are you awake?" the voice of Atena came from the other side of the room, "Are you alright? That beast wont let me near the bed, and it did a number to your fathers arm when he tried to check on you this morning."

Sitting bolt upright, fury suddenly filled her, "Where is he? Ibn al kalb, that bastard!"

Atena obviously was wanting to run over to calm Sekhmet but the creature was growling at the guard, getting more worked up as its master did, "Calm down, what happened? Your father said you collapsed. I came over as soon as he called two days ago."

"He drugged me! He used the drug he was experimenting with on me! I guess it didnt work so he left me here!" Sekhmet began to realize she could not control this fury, and it simply kept rising. Panicing she grabbed the glass of water and poured it on herself. The cold water shocked her out of it.

Atena looked confused and startled, "What are you doing? What are you talking about? Settle down, I will get you some food and a towel."

Sekhmet sat back against her head board water dripping from her face as she tried to steady her breathing, "Okay...umm...creature, shes a friend."

Immediatly the creature changed its disposition, looking at her then at the departing woman. It seemed to understand her as it hopped off the bed and sat next to it. After some time, Atena came back with some lentil soup, a spoon, and a towel. She walked carefully to the bed, eyeing the creature who showed no signs of aggression now. Handing Sekhmet the towel, she let the young woman dry herself off before handing over the bowl of soup. Eating the soup, weariness suddenly broke over her. Putting the bowl on her bedside table, she changed her sheets, laid down and immediatly fell asleep.

She awoke again in the dead of the night, her room was bathed in the light of the moon, and a man sat in a chair in the corner, dressed sharply, reading a leatherbound book. He had an air of calmness as he read, but Sekhmet suddenly noticed the pistol on her dresser next to him. Looking at the creature, it was sleeping peacefully on the floor. Flipping a page, the man settles a silk book mark between the pages and closes the book, settling it on the nightstand, he gently takes his pistol, and looks up at Sekhmet.

"Good evening, young miss. Atena, you may join us now."

Atena gently opens the door and enters the room, a black suitcase in her hand, a slight look of concern on her face.

"First, my dear, how are you feeling? Thinking straight? Normal vision? Any heart palpatations you feel?"

Shaking her head, the man continues, "Do you mind if I give you a brief examination? I assure you I am unrelated to your father, and this is to check on your well being."

Sekhmet looks to Atena, who nods her head. If she trusted the mans word, then Sekhmet will give him a chance. She nods to the man who stands up, disappearing the pistol beneath his jacket. He sits gently on the edge of the bed and pulls out a small medical bag, hidden behind him and pulls out a few instruments. He thoroughly checked her throat, eyes, ears, nose, heart, and skin.

"It looks like the minor dose of the serum did not produce much effects on you luckily. Your skin is slightly harder and drier, and your pupils appear to dilate a bit more than they should, your canines are slightly elongated."

Subconsiously, Sekhmet ran her tongue over her teeth, and did notice her canines were slightly longer. Standing up, the man put the medical bag away, and gave a slight bow to Sekhmet, "I am Agent Diwan with the Muhafiz Intelligence Department. I am here to give you a choice. At this time, your fathers company is ruined and he is soon to be dead. If you go with Miss Atena here, you will give up your family, last name, and life as you know it. If you stay, then the next agent to arrive will not be of the Muhafiz. I was given 1 hour to warn you. The suit case that Atena has is approximatly five percent of your fathers worth for you to begin a new life with."

Sekhmets mind raced. Was this a dream? Was her father dead? Why did she feel so little at that news? Looking at Atena, the woman was visibly anxious.

"I apologize Sek, I have been reporting to the Hassassin order since I was hired, your father was a person of interest. But it did let me negotiate for your survival. You are a victim here, not an enemy. Come with me, and we can find our own path!"

She sighed, and sat on the edge of the bed. Agent Diwan stood calmly, watching.

"I assume my mother will be told I am dead either way?"

The man nodded.

"Fine, leave me to get dressed and grab a few things. Atena, I will meet you in the hallway in a few minutes."

Smiling, Atena nods, leaving the briefcase by the door and stepping out. Smiling, and nodding, Diwan picks up his book and says, "Best of luck Miss Sekhmet."

As the door closed Sekhmet stood up, grabbed some clothes, threw them in a backpack, put on her boots, and grabbed the suit case. Clicking her tongue to get the creatures attention, she said, "You need a name...how about Mau?"

Mau gave an approving growl, then followed her closely as she ran to the balcony of her room. Leaping off she landed with a thud in some bushes, Mau scurrying down the wall. They both ran. They ran as fast as they could away from the house, and her old life. She ran towards Medina, hoping the money she had will be enough to set herself up, and start her new life. Perhaps she could be a mercenary?

New Hypatia: Jail Break

Maih Aafahs boots slammed on to the rainy ground as she fast roped from the open hangar door of the HSN ahd-Dhib. Loosening the sling on her marksmans rifle, she raised it up, moving away from the bottom of the rope as Palavi follows. It took a matter of seconds for the rain to soak through her clothing, even with the heavy coat. Next to them the 3 heavy forms of Fahim, Rashid, and Khadim land with heavy thuds of their boots as they had simply leaped the full 30 feet to the concrete pier. More troopers came down the ropes as they spread out. The soft hum of the magnetic locks below the pier could be heard. These locks were the targets. They kept the ship held fast, and Brutus was not letting them go.

"We need to get to the access hatch to the mechanisms below the pier. Doors are expected to be locked." Maih explained to the growing group.

"I can fix that." Kepri suddenly appeared next to Maih, holding a d-charge with a cheshire grin, her cat eyes flashing.

"That was the plan. You and Pixie. Pixie has Pier 32, you have Pier 34. Team assignments and routes are broadcast. Get to work, I want to be in orbit in 2 hours. We have an appointment with some aliens that I would hate to reschedule."

"Inshallah!" Came the resounding response.

"Ra'id! Did you say I can blow somethign up?!" Came Pixies loud and excited voice over the commlog.

"Yes, check your assigned objective! Get to work!" Maih responded in annoyance, then motioning to Fahim she said, "Fahim, your team has point, lets move. Palavi, in the middle with Kepri and Khadim."

The Haqqislam soldiers moved swiftly through the rain soaked shipping containers and machinery of the pier as they advanced to a short square structure. Sparks suddenly bloomed along the top of the containers just above their heads, making them dive for cover, the ringing of bullets on metal.

"Anyone have sight?" Maih yelled up the line.

"Contact, North, North east, red connex box, PhiloFirm Corp, left corner, top. I dont have a clear shot. Rashid, you should from your angle." Fahims voice was firm, loud and to the point.

The Khawarij with the Mk12 nodded, and adjusted his visor, moving a bit further on the line. Leaping up onto a second level shipping container, he edged along it to the see around, raising his heavy rifle.

BAM! BAM! BAM!

Three heavy shots rang out, the rain muffling them ever so slighty. He quickly motioned for the group to move along as his position burst into sparks forcing him to duck lower. He quickly responded with his mk12, directing the enemy fire to him.

"I see Druze armor and emblems, be warned moving forward. They are in defensive positions around the target structure." Rashid reported through his intermittent bursts of fire.

"Affirmative, I see two on the structure, and two more deployed on connex boxes to the left and forward." Fahim responded, there was a sudden report from his mk12, "Two remain on the structure, both forward corners."

The group advanced to the end of the shipping containers. Maihs map indicated, from here to the right it would be a straight shot to the structure that led down into the piers machinery. Looking to Fahim for a signal, he motioned that there two forward on the structure. He then motioned he would take the right target, and Maih would take the left. Nodding her understanding and giving a thumbs up, she got behind him and kneeled down, three, two, one. On one, they both leaned out, Fahim leaning out above Maih. Finding their targets, their guns light up, a stream of low caliber fire from Fahims Spitfire, while a few quick successive shots from Maihs marksman rifle. Keeping their weapons shouldered, they confirmed their targets were down before Fahim tapped Maihs shoulder as he moved forward to the next row of containers to take cover by.

Giving a thumbs up behind him, Kepri, Palavi, and Khadim moved quickly up behind him, before Maih followed. Taking this leapfrog approach, they were only 5 yards from the structure when an explosion knocked several shipping containers down behind them where Rashid was firing from.

"Ramhorn! Take cover!" Rashid yelled over the commlog.

Suddenly a large TAG slammed through two shipping containers to the right of the structure, scanning the area before it before raising its over sized rifle. Heavy rounds slammed into the ground before them as they all scattered and dove for cover among the shipping containers. The thin metal containers did nothing to stop the huge rounds from piercing them as they continued moving deeper. The heavy steps of the main battle tag could be heard as it moved towards where they were, looking up and down the rows of metal boxes. Taking cover behind a large connex moving truck, Maih raised her rifle and sent off a couple of shots, the armor piercing rounds not finding purchase on the heavily armored shoulders. The Ramhorn was about to let off a salvo when suddenly a flurry of blows came from behind it as the heavy spitfire of Fahim opened up, drawing its attention.

"Gotcha now!" Kepri flashed out from the shadows behidn the TAG, her blade crackling with energy as she leaped on its back and sank it deep into the power housing.

The TAG shuddered and slumped slightly as it lost power. The two Khawarij Rashid and Khadim, wielding their large scimitars in both hands came at it form both side. With skillful strokes, they severed the anckle gears and tendons, the heavy machine falling backwards with a loud thud. Kepri rolled away with her blade, as the khawarij leaped up onto the chest, sinking both of their blades into the cockpit. The fight was over in a flash as they pulled their blades free, and slid them back into their belts. Unslinging their guns, they leaped down from the ruins of the TAG, and advanced carefully on the door. Khepri pulled out a d-charge from her belt pouch, and slapped it on the metal door and moved to the side, covering her ears. After five seconds an explosion rocked the area as the charge blew in the door.

The Namurr quickly leaped in, Rifle raised, her finger on the underslung shotgun. The room was empty though as the dust was settling. A small room with a desk on the wall and some cabinets. On the left side a spiral staircase led down. Looking down the hole, they saw it led to another small room and a door. Checking that everyone was ready, Khadim raised his large shotgun and led the way. They arrayed themselves on the wall on either side of the door. Gently checking the latch, Khadim confirmed the door was unlocked, and he quickly turned the nobbed, and threw the door open from behind the wall. The doorway erupted in fire from the room beyond. Crouching back along the wall and turning their faces away to protect them from shrapnel, Khadim and Rashid prepared their grenades. As the fire abated, the super soldiers, deftly twisted and tossed their grenades into the room. A loud commotion could suddenly be heard before two resounding bangs. Fahim didnt wait for the sound to disperse before he was already through the door, his spitfire leveled, and roaring.

"Clear." He said briefly before moving in.

Before them lay a long hallway, simple wooden barrier errected on either side that 4 different druze bodies sat slumped against them. Moving down the well lit concrete hallway, they eventually came to an open, steel door. Beyond was a large, long room four heavy machines, great hydrolic arms extending through the wall near the cieling.

"Well, Kepri, get to work." Maih said.

The namurr took off swiftly into the room, fishing through her satchel for more D-Charges, and setting them up within the machinery. After a few minutes she returned to the group holding a detonator. Nodding Maih motioned for them to leave, quickly retracing their steps out of the complex. Getting back out into the pouring rain, Maih pinged Pixie, "Pixie are you set?"

"Yes, Ra'id. Were all set here, making our way back to the ship now."

"Understood, we are getting a Roc back to the ship, prepare to blow your charges. Kepri, ready?" Maih responded.

"Aye, ready." Responded Kepri.

"Aye, ready." Said Pixie after a few moments.

Calling up the bridge of the ahd-Dhib, Maih reported to her brother, Fayaz,"Were about to blow the locks, confirm ship readiness."

"Ship ready." Came the near immediate response.

"Pixie, Kepri, on my mark, three, two, one, mark!"

Dull blasts could be heard underneath them as the pier trembled, and acrid, black smoke began pouring out form under the Haqqislam ship. Only a moment later, the atmospheric thrusters under the ship roared to life. Wind and rain blasted into Maihs face as they took cover behind the shipping crates. Slowly the cruiser began pulling up from the docks as more thrusters sprang to life, adding to the roar. After a few moments the roaring began to die down as the ship gained altitude.

"ahd-Dhib is clear of docking zone. Ra'id, you are free to make your way to the Roc waiting." Came the voice of a communications officer over Maihs commlog.

The group quickly made their way along the pier towards their initial exit from the ship. As they arrived at the waiting transport, they were joined by Pixie and her group, quickly piling in. Maih waited until the last trooper was aboard and accounted for before hoping through the door. Signalling the pilot, the ship quickly ascended as the doors closed, chasing the slower moving naval vessel. It took only a few minutes for the Roc to dock with a heavy thud, and the hangar doors to close. The ahd-Dhib was quickly gaining ascent speed, making it difficult to move around. Magnetic clamps engaged on the Roc to secure it to the hangar floor as the pilots voice called back, "All passengers are to remain seated."

The Haqqislamite Light Cruiser broke through the atmosphere and into orbit after an hour of ascent. Gravity suddenly failing for everyone in the vessel. Rolling in the zero gravity, and twisting its hull, its weapons and quantronic suite quickly changed control and jobs as it broke out of Brutus sphere of influence, and entered the sphere of influence of the Halmeoni. The ship quickly hid its signature from the O-12 battleship, now Combined Army occupied. Entering a geosynchronous orbit with New Hypatia, all of the ships sensors and guns turned towards the O-12 vessel and began scraping data.

New Hypatia: The Rain

The rain could be heard, gently patering on the door to one of the ahd-Dhib's hangers. It extended out passed the hull of the ship when it was lowered, and could be used, as it was now, as a porch. Sitting just inside the hanger on a folding chair, his leg crossed over a knee was a large man. His brown beard extended from a cracked and tanned face, his large hands dwarfing an ancient hardcover book. On a small table next to him was a steaming mug of tea. The loud steps of combat boots hailed the arrival of another individual, his well kept, ancient naval uniform in stark contrast to the shirtless, well muscled man.

"You know, there has been a blinking light on the bridge for the last hour, letting us know a bay door was open and getting wet." Captain Aafah said, a slight amount of teasing in his voice.

Turning a page of the book with a suprising amount of rippling muscle, Qadim answered without looking up, "I always wondered if you were able to turn those lights off. Perhaps a bit of tape over it?"

"You know, taping over a bridge console of a warship sounds perfectly within regulation."

Leaning against the strut of the bays door, and crossing his arms, Fayaz Aafah looks out over the water beyond the dock and at the city, blurred by the light rain. Qadim continued to read peacefully as he took a sip of tea. The two men sat quietly, enjoying the sound of the rain, and the smell of the water. Two uncommon sensations to the crew of a star fareing vessel. The dark circles under the Captains eyes spoke to the stress he was under. The Nomad and Haqqislam quantronic warfare specialists had finally just now succeeded in driving off the rogue AI's tendrils, and were making contact with Haqqislam High Command the O-12 ship in orbit, Halmeoni. Fayaz thought it a good opprotunity to take a break from the bridge and get some air.

"I had heard of the works of Shakespear in some of my literature courses, and of course read the translations on Maya. I must say though, reading an original copy of his works compiled, that is a much more interesting experience."

Qadim, using a silk bookmarker to mark his spot, gently closed the ancient book and set it on the table. Taking the mug of tea, the shirtless khawarij leaned back in his seat, sighing.

"I thought you might find it interesting. I have pulled it down from my shelves a couple of times to read through it. It was a wonderful find when we made a patrol by Earth, sitting in an ancient used bookstore in London." Fayaz responded.

"London? Where is that?"

"It is the capitol of the United Kingdom. The ships medical staff were participating in a medical outreach program, providing clinics to impoverished nations."

Nodding Qadim understood, taking a sip of tea.

"Where is your shirt by the way?" Fayaz asked.

"He was working out with me for a while." A voice said, announcing the arrival of Fahim, another member of the Khawarij.

Fahim was wearing a loose, white jubba, his hair and beard still wet from a recent shower.

"I was merely taking a moment to myself before getting cleaned up, my friend. I see you were fine bathing yourself?" Qadim said with a smile.

"I am debating whether the aroma I am smelling is you or the harbor." Fahim quiped back with a chuckle, before nodding to Fayaz, "Good evening Captain, I see Allah has finally granted you some respite?"

Qadim put on an overly shocked face, and put down his tea. Standing up the 6'8" super soldier dwarfed the captain as he stretched, "Well Captain, it appears my aroma is putting people at odds. I shall retire to the washroom. Inshallah, hopefully there is enough soap!"

Standing next to Fayaz, Fahim looked out at the city of New Hypatia.

"We come for a simple repair and get stuck dealing with a Rogue AI's tantrum." he sighs.

"Allah only knows if that is all it is." Fahim responded crossing his arms over his chest and stroking his beard, "Have we gotten reconnected to High Command?"

"That is happening now. We should have a report soon."

Behind them in the hangar bay, activity was increasing as other members of the ship and Task Force 29 began various exercises and maintenance activities. the rain was steadily increasing into torrential sheets as it beat against the lowered doors, the smell of the rain wafting into the bay. Some others without tasks began milling about the open doors, getting some fresh air and watching the rain. A couple of the naval personel were sure to salute Fayaz as he turned and began heading back into the ship. He was pinged on his commlog as he left the bay, "Captain, sending you the report on current events from HHC, and O12."

Standing to the side of the corridor, he quickly scanned the report, frowning. The situation was more chaotic than he was expecting.

"Sir we have distress beacon from the Halmeoni, it appears to be overtaken by the Combined Army!" The junior officer reported into his commlog suddenly.

"Do we have the docking locks under control?" Fayaz asked back.

"Not yet sir. Controls appear to be on an isolated network."

"Then how does Brutus have-nevermind. We are blasting the locks, the Nomads can bill us for damages later. Sound general quarters, and get me Ra'id Aafah on the bridge. I need information on the docks layout around us and any areas of interest. I am on my way."

An alarm began ringing in the ship as red lights turned on. The ship turned into a hive of activity as naval personel ran for stations. It was time for the ahd-Dhib to leave and Fayaz was tired of waiting, straightening the old deep blue naval jacket he made his way to the bridge.