The Campaign
Welcome to our attempt to tell our own story based on the Infinity: Campaign Paradiso. We shall follow the story of a newly recruited Ariadnan Special Op, as he serves on the frontline. We will provide a narrative (as best we can, Dam it, I am a scientist not a novelist!) here to accompany the battles. Each battle will be adapted from the campaign to feature the Ariadnan Meroviginian Rapid Response Force as one of the combatants. We will carry on until either the hero is dead, or the campaign ends.Prologue
.jpg)
The Colonial troops had been despatched to scout around the crashed ship. Things were bad. Finding some ruins not to far away from the crash site, camp was set and scouts deployed to take stock of the situation. Then things became much worse. First of all, scouts started to disappear, their radio signals would be cut off mid transmission and that would be the last they were heard from. There were others here on the planet. Calling the scouts back, Pieter prepared to ready the men, however it was too late. Movement could be seen in the forrest cutting the party off from their ship. Pieter knew that if he didn't break through now, he would be surrounded and that would be the end. Perhaps if he returned to the ship he could warn them and gather more men?
.jpg)
As he lay bleeding, Pieter saw the rest of his men dying. Alien creatures walked amongst them dragging away those who still had life in them. A large armoured shape moved up to Pieter his armour looking strangely organic. The alien turned to another, less armoured figure. They appeared to be discussing something, making gestures and postural changes. Pieter couldn't hear anything, but saw an opportunity whilst they were distracted. He struggled to free his pistol without being detected, desperation and the desire to avenge his comrades taking over. Almost there, he could feel the clasp on the holster...
The Ectros could sense a change in the human, subtle changes in the smell. He looked at it, struggling to grasp the weapon at his side despite his terrible wounds. Was it vengeance? Was it rage and anger? What exactly drove the creature to fight despite the futility? The Ectros struck with lightning speed, driving his spear through the human's head. These creatures would definitely be of use.
Paradiso Campaign 101 - Data Recovery
"Look, no matter how much you yell, these things take time, and they take longer with you leaning over me and polluting my air with incense".
Felix was getting agitated, not only had he been sent from his nice comfortable job on a science post back in civilisation to this crap-heap of a planet, but he had been put under the observation of Father Edgar DuPont. A gruff and belligerent Father knight, who took his vows rather seriously. So much so in fact, Felix was almost worried that his outburst may be taken as a sign of sedition (at best) or outright blasphemous treason at worse; but after 4 hours of continuous observation and criticism from the Father Knight he was ready to snap. Hell, the monastery was bad enough, but this, he snorted a half laugh to himself, it had been a good day (for Paradiso) until the alarms went off and the shit had basically hit the fan. Something that one of the other engineers called 'the relic' had activated, and before he could even finish his breakfast, Felix had been loaded onto a shuttle with a combat team and sent out into Niemandszone to work on the alien device. He was thankful that the shuttle had been able to slip unnoticed past the forces of the combined, those really freaked him out, and he didn't really fancy combat (after all that isn't what he signed up for, join the army -see the human sphere, adventures and women was what the recruiter had promised him).
Then the proximity alarms went off. Ariadnan troops could just be seen deploying from their primitive shuttle, fast-roping to the ground below.
.jpg)
.jpg)
Jean-Jaques Cousteau advanced through the undergrowth. Those Panoceanian playboys didn't know what hit them. Jean felt proud that he had helped his unit smash them. Several had fell to him personally, and Lieutenant Bruant had mentioned him in despatches. Rumour has it that Bruant was going all the way up the ladder, and Jean intended to go with him. Securing the battlefield, Jean came across the bloody body of a Panoceanian Engineer. Jean looked at the dying man with pity, where was his superior technology and civilised society now? Jean smirked, niceties like that had long since been bread out of the people of Dawn. Felix felt the darkness creep around his vision, the Ariadnans had attacked in large numbers, and Felix was shocked that they would use this opportunity to attack their allies against the forces of the Combined. He had been told that these people were barely civilised, but he had never thought even they would stoop this low. As his vision darkened he saw one of the troopers that had spearheaded the attack come nearer."You fool, don't you know what you have done?" spluttered Felix, before coughing and spitting a glob of blood onto the floor. The Ariadnan looked at him and shrugged, before raising his pistol and taking aim. Felix thought to himself that he hoped the CUBEVAC would happen before the Combined struck, then all went black.
"What was that fool saying?" Jean thought to himself as he walked back to the transport. The techies had all the data they would need, and they would press their advantage now before the PanO fools had time to react. "Next time perhaps the fools would use a proper transport and not a small shuttle" he chuckled and started to strap himself in. Alfonse the engineer called him over. "We found a cube device in their equipment", Bruant says you are to have it as a reward, we will install it en route". Jean was certain that his star was now in ascension, what could possibly go wrong?
++++DATA INCOMING++++
The batroid looked up from the monitor. He had detected the ship as soon as it entered Niemandszone. Silently a message was sent to the leader of their patrol. following protocol, an intense scan of the vicinity was carried out. Stochastic algorithms ran through the probably destinations, and the destination and probably target was tracked. The vessel of the EI nodded its head almost imperceptibly. The batroid interfaced with the computer and prepared two launches. One would make those trespassers regret their folly. The EI would like an opportunity to infiltrate the Ariadnan forces in the zone. So far, due to the primitive nature of the foe, attempts to interface with their systems had proved futile. The second vessel would head to the battle site, perhaps intel could be gleaned from the cubes remaining there.
Paradiso Campaign 102- Activation and Triangulation
Jean shuffled in his seat as the shuttle came into land. The medics had patched up the wounded and without much downtime they had been routed to the next target. They had to take it before those PanO clowns got their shit together. His ears popped with the pressure change of the fast decent, Bruant was barking orders as final landing procedures were being carried out. Jean grabbed his gun and ammo from the overhead locker, pulled the quick release clasp on his harness and moved into place on the ready line. Within seconds he felt the jarring crunch of landing, gripping onto the hand hold as he juddered from the impact shock. The rear hatch dropped, and the troops started to deploy. Bruant yelling orders as they moved into position with practiced efficiency. Jean moved out and took hi place on the perimeter covering the deployment. So far so good. Withing no time, deployment was completed and the shuttled dusted off. Bruant assembled his team, and Jean joined him as they advanced through the jungle. Alfonse (one of the two engineers attached to them, and the designated mission specialist) gave directions and distance info as they approached the target. The two zouaves moved off to the flank, looking for a position to cover the advance. It was very quiet as they approached the clearing. Jean could just make out some lights around the ruins that must be the target. Alfonse gave the instructions over the com-net. After analyzing the data, he established the sequence required for activation.
The Ariadnan troops advanced on the target, then it occured to Jean; it was quiet because there were no animal sounds. He looked up at Bruant and saw the veteran officer realized this as well. Just in time to dive clear of the energy blast that impacted in the ruins to his side. "Merde!" Jean said under his breath, it looked like they would have to fight after all. Jean took cover from the concealed sniper. He was sure there was nothing there when he scanned the rooftop. He heard the tell tale crack of the Zouave's sniper rifle, then saw a shape slump onto the rooftop. Shasvastii.
The Noctifier watched as the humans advanced, soon they would be in range for the ambush. They would pay for their impudence. He heard the opening shot from the malignos on his left. That fool was always too eager, he should have waited. Orders came over the net from the Carontid, a walking aspect of the EI, overseeing this mission. The Noctifier was to lead an assault on the alien artifacts, this was to be a diversion. The humans should never know their true purpose here.
Jean looked around him at his burned and injured comrades. They had been attacked by a construct of sorts, half machine half organic. . Their armour had done little to prevent the damage, Bruant and the rest of the fireteam were groaning in pain, barely conscious. Jean had just managed to survive the blast. The construct had been gunned down, but seemed to be unconcerned with the incoming rounds as it attacked his compatriots. The Ariadnan assault was now leaderless, Jean knew that he had to radio in the status of the fireteam, to try to get some support. He heard a noise and just turned in time to see a large armoured alien advance from the undergrowth.
The remaining human posed little threat to the Caliban, after he was rendered helpless, the Caliban carried out its mission. With the human troops scattered and distracted, he had to tag the human fireteam for extraction. Sepsitor technology had helped the EI infiltrate many of the factions arrayed against them, but these primitives had no cube, and this technological weakness had been a great annoyance to the EI. There were other ways of getting information though. As he marked the wounded soldiers, a complex scanning device chirped and beeped. "Interesting", he thought, "this one has a nano-cortical implant". Quickly he communicated his finding to the EI, not just vocally, but streaming data through the com-net. He had his orders now, he put a complicated alien device against the humans head, there was a faint glow, a sound inaudible to the primitive humans and a barely perceptible click. "Data uploaded" scrolled on the screen in alien script.
The Ariadnan troops advanced on the target, then it occured to Jean; it was quiet because there were no animal sounds. He looked up at Bruant and saw the veteran officer realized this as well. Just in time to dive clear of the energy blast that impacted in the ruins to his side. "Merde!" Jean said under his breath, it looked like they would have to fight after all. Jean took cover from the concealed sniper. He was sure there was nothing there when he scanned the rooftop. He heard the tell tale crack of the Zouave's sniper rifle, then saw a shape slump onto the rooftop. Shasvastii.The Noctifier watched as the humans advanced, soon they would be in range for the ambush. They would pay for their impudence. He heard the opening shot from the malignos on his left. That fool was always too eager, he should have waited. Orders came over the net from the Carontid, a walking aspect of the EI, overseeing this mission. The Noctifier was to lead an assault on the alien artifacts, this was to be a diversion. The humans should never know their true purpose here.
The remaining human posed little threat to the Caliban, after he was rendered helpless, the Caliban carried out its mission. With the human troops scattered and distracted, he had to tag the human fireteam for extraction. Sepsitor technology had helped the EI infiltrate many of the factions arrayed against them, but these primitives had no cube, and this technological weakness had been a great annoyance to the EI. There were other ways of getting information though. As he marked the wounded soldiers, a complex scanning device chirped and beeped. "Interesting", he thought, "this one has a nano-cortical implant". Quickly he communicated his finding to the EI, not just vocally, but streaming data through the com-net. He had his orders now, he put a complicated alien device against the humans head, there was a faint glow, a sound inaudible to the primitive humans and a barely perceptible click. "Data uploaded" scrolled on the screen in alien script.
Jean woke up on the shuttle, the med teams had evacuated him from the battlefield. "Where's the LT?" he barked. The med tech apologized, this was a bad sign.
That night Jean woke up in a sweat. He knew Bruant was still alive, he knew he was in pain. He HAD to rescue him. Pulling in all his favours, he persuaded Alfonse to search through the surveillance data. A small camera drone had picked up the rest of his fire team being dragged away from the battlefield. Jean didn't know how he had survived, perhaps they thought he was dead, perhaps they run out of time. All he knew was he was alive, and he would get Bruant back.
Prisoner Retrieval
It had cost Jean more than he would like bribing the bounty hunter, but he now had the information he required. The prisoners were being held in an abandoned human factory not to far into Niemandszone. He knew he would never get authorization for the rescue, it had to be done without high command knowing, as after the Ko Dali incident prisoners taken were classified KIA. Luckily for him though, what his fellow Merovingians lacked in technology they made up for in loyalty and courage. Soon he had a few volunteers, including Alfonse (who owed his life to Bruant) to mount a rescue. Alfonse arranged for a shuttle to be taken out for a diagnostic flight, so they had transport. The plan would be simple. Scouts would deploy ahead, and open the doors for the main assault. Maria, their Nomad Hacker friend would come along for support, she would use he skills to override the security grid so the shuttle could land without fear of AA fire. The prisoners would be located (intel stated they were being held in the control room at the center of the complex) and exctracted through the exit to the waiting shuttle. Hopefully this could be achieved before the enemy could get their shit together and deal with the hacking attack.
-- 21:17 -- t minus 13 min
Banking in low so as to avoid detection as best it could, the Ariadnan shuttle open its hatch. Francois and the rest of the scout wave fast roped into the darkness below. They carried the small interface device that Maria had given them. It was their job to get to the warehouse that the Combined were using as a staging area for the prisoners and deliver the infowar package to the security system that would take down the defence grid and allow the shuttle to land. Without this, it would be a short rescue.
-- 21:23 -- t minus 7 min
Francois gave the signal for the Chasseurs to move on ahead, they were taking one of the Metros along with them for infiltration and evasion training. Francois scoffed, I bet the rookie will get someone killed. His team of paras moved to the side door ready to breach on command.
-- 21:29 -- t minus 1 min. Andre and his chasseurs had successfully entered the warehouse, they were almost in position to give the breach signal, when something went wrong. Rene, a metro they had taken along for his first infiltration mission, had wandered off. "Rene, report. What is your location over" Andre hissed into the commlink. Rene had done so well in training, he thought, I vouched he was ready, I hope he doesn't prove me wrong.
"I have taken a wrong turn Serg, heading over to you now...wait that isn't you...enemy contact, repeat enemy contact!"
"Merde!" yelled Andre, "Go, Go, Go!"
--- 22:14 -- t plus 44
"You really shouldn't have Risked yourselves for me", Bruant was reclining against the wall of the drop ship, the medic patching him and the others up. "We lost some good men today, that didn't need to die".
Jean Jaques agreed, it had been a costly endeavour, the alarm had been raised too early, and the scout team had not made it out. Casualties on the assault team had been higher than expected too. Jean had to make some tough decisions, and not everyone could have been saved. In his mind though, he had made the right choice, Bruant was worth the risk.
"Nevertheless, it was a ballsy move kid", Bruant shifted and took small object proffered to him by one of the crew. "High command has deemed you ready for a promotion, how does the rank of sergeant sound?"
"That's it, we're clear" the pilots voice came over the speaker. Maria was shaking her head at her Comm station. "It was too easy, something feels wrong" she said to nobody in particular. One of the Moblots yelled at her, and his comrade held him back. Lots of people had been injured whilst she sat on the shuttle, and there was some enmity there. "Look, I know I am a good hacker, but they were alerted to my presence and seemed to just not bother dealing with me, where was the ICE, where was the AHP? If you ask me, they made it too easy". The Moblot needed to be restrained now. Bryant turned to Maria, "we will talk about it later, when everyone has calmed down ok?"
The cold eyes looked up from their monitor. It had been a costly exercise, but the EI had read the situation correctly. Mission successful, casualties within expected limits. Phase 2 active.
-- 21:17 -- t minus 13 min
Banking in low so as to avoid detection as best it could, the Ariadnan shuttle open its hatch. Francois and the rest of the scout wave fast roped into the darkness below. They carried the small interface device that Maria had given them. It was their job to get to the warehouse that the Combined were using as a staging area for the prisoners and deliver the infowar package to the security system that would take down the defence grid and allow the shuttle to land. Without this, it would be a short rescue.
-- 21:23 -- t minus 7 min
Francois gave the signal for the Chasseurs to move on ahead, they were taking one of the Metros along with them for infiltration and evasion training. Francois scoffed, I bet the rookie will get someone killed. His team of paras moved to the side door ready to breach on command.
-- 21:29 -- t minus 1 min. Andre and his chasseurs had successfully entered the warehouse, they were almost in position to give the breach signal, when something went wrong. Rene, a metro they had taken along for his first infiltration mission, had wandered off. "Rene, report. What is your location over" Andre hissed into the commlink. Rene had done so well in training, he thought, I vouched he was ready, I hope he doesn't prove me wrong. "I have taken a wrong turn Serg, heading over to you now...wait that isn't you...enemy contact, repeat enemy contact!"
"Merde!" yelled Andre, "Go, Go, Go!"
--- 22:14 -- t plus 44
"You really shouldn't have Risked yourselves for me", Bruant was reclining against the wall of the drop ship, the medic patching him and the others up. "We lost some good men today, that didn't need to die".
Jean Jaques agreed, it had been a costly endeavour, the alarm had been raised too early, and the scout team had not made it out. Casualties on the assault team had been higher than expected too. Jean had to make some tough decisions, and not everyone could have been saved. In his mind though, he had made the right choice, Bruant was worth the risk.
"Nevertheless, it was a ballsy move kid", Bruant shifted and took small object proffered to him by one of the crew. "High command has deemed you ready for a promotion, how does the rank of sergeant sound?"
"That's it, we're clear" the pilots voice came over the speaker. Maria was shaking her head at her Comm station. "It was too easy, something feels wrong" she said to nobody in particular. One of the Moblots yelled at her, and his comrade held him back. Lots of people had been injured whilst she sat on the shuttle, and there was some enmity there. "Look, I know I am a good hacker, but they were alerted to my presence and seemed to just not bother dealing with me, where was the ICE, where was the AHP? If you ask me, they made it too easy". The Moblot needed to be restrained now. Bryant turned to Maria, "we will talk about it later, when everyone has calmed down ok?"
The cold eyes looked up from their monitor. It had been a costly exercise, but the EI had read the situation correctly. Mission successful, casualties within expected limits. Phase 2 active.
Central Seizure
Bruant was back, and while the rescue was underway, the tech team had pieced together the location of the device. Now they were heading out into the storm to retrieve it. Jean-Jaques was confident, the LT was back and things were looking up.
"You guys had better buckle yourself in back there, things are gonna get interesting" the pilots voice came over the comm-net. Jean was used to rough flights, how bad could it get he thought. Then the universe decided to show him. He was violently thrown against Maria as the shuttle lurched about. The Alguacil had already buckled in, and wasn't too impressed with Jean falling onto her. "Do you mind!" she said, and added something else, that Jean didn't understand, but he assumed it wasn't polite. He clambered off the woman, and buckled himself in a few seats down the line. He looked at the Zouaves manning the door guns, he din't en them their job in this weather. Bryant moved down the line, not securing himself until he had made sure every member of the assault force was O.K. Having carried out his check, Bruant sat down next to the hacker and buckled himself in.
The flight was getting MUCH worse now, even over the roar of the shuttle, Jean could hear the howl of the storm, and he could feel it. He had never felt sick flying before, but this storm was putting his resolve to the test.
"LT, we have an intermittent signal from the target site, do we have a go?"
"Can we boost the signal?"
"Negative sir, this is about as good as we are going to get. Do we have a go, or abort?"
"Mission go, we came this far in this god awful storm, we aren't heading back empty handed"
"Roger that, making our descent. Brace yourself, things are going to get even more hairy as we go through the clouds"
The pilot was right. Jean could feel the shuttle lurch and hear the strain of the engines as it tried to fight the winds on the descent. There was creak as the engines powered against the wind, stress being put on the shuttle as the storm tried to throw it around.
"mon dieu, non"
it was one of the Zouaves, he had been ripped from the harness in the buffeting storm. There was nothing anyone could do, but listen to his cries until he left comms range. anyone who had tried to help would have shared his fate in these conditions.
Not soon enough they landed, spirits were low as they disembarked. Bryant was investigating the dead Zouaves harness.
"What's wrong LT?"
"This strap, does it look like it has been cut to you?"
Jean examined the strapping, the LT was right. He started to talk, but Bruant silenced him.
"Be quiet lad." he hissed. "If someone is trying to kill people it could be anyone here or in camp. Did you see anyone tamper with it?"
Jean shook his head.
"Be very watchful then, now lets go"
Jean had a bad feeling about this, and it was made worse as he looked accross the clearing. A Panoceania shuttle was landing and deploying troops to intercept them.
"Those templar bastards must have tracked us through the storm, lets grab this tech and leave before they get a chance to finish praying" yelled Bruant.
Jean looked across the battlefield, he was sure he saw the engineer he had fought earlier. Perhaps he had planted a tracker on one of them? Perhaps there was a spy, but who? He grabbed his gear and prepared for the fight. This was going to be a tricky one, those Panoceania Knights fight hard.
Indigo Brother Konstantinos looked across the field of battle. It had been a hard fought victory. De Fersen had been overwhelmed at the main drop point, and he had to take command from the secondary. From what he gathered over the comm-net, Brother Hacker Raoul and the engineer Felix had fought off the Merovingian scum though. Father Knight Wilhelm had been killed joining the attack on the target. All things considered though, losses were within acceptable parameters, the target had been secured, and the Merovingians taught the errors of their ways. Brother Hacker Raoul came over.
"Sir I noticed something odd during the battle, there was a signal, I don't know what it was, but it was on an unknown frequency. It was coming from the Ariadnans"
"Could you be more specific?"
"No sir, it seemed to be a data frequency, but it was encrypted. I tried to hack into it, but whoever it was they had some skills and managed to keep me out"
"Where the hell are the Ariadnans going to get comm-tech like that?"
"I noticed they had a Nomad with them sir"
"Bloody nomad scum"
----------Incoming Transmission
Mission parameters maintained, data packet sent.
---------Transmission Ended
"Dam those Panoceanian bastards!" Jean-Jaques cursed. Alfonse and Maria were trying to track the Panoceanian movements.
"its no good" Maria interjected in her thick Corregidor accent. "They have hid there tracks well, we tracked the dummy shuttle well enough, but those sneaky bastards must have taken it overland. I doubt we would ever find it"
Jean-Jaques punched the bulkhead. To get so close and lose it last minute to the Military Orders was too much.
Bruant walked in to the comms room. He was carrying what looked like a comlog. " Here maria, wire this up" he threw it onto the table. "I acquired it from that hacker in the middle of the firefight". Maria complied and soon had managed to gain access to the Panoceania Comm Net. "We have a signal, they are moving through the jungle on foot".
"Well lets prep this to land then" yelled Bruant.
As silently as possible, the Ariadnan troops moved into ambush position, the jungle clawing at their armour as they moved. Bruant took the lead, eager to retrieve the alien tech.
The troops got into position, and silently waited. Jean-Jaques had a bad feeling though, something wasn't right. He turned to voice his feelings to Bruant, then say the LT shimmer and raise an alien looking gun.
"What the.....Merde!"
The speculo killer opened fire on the link team, taking three of them out before they could react. With the confusion in their ranks, the ambush was blown, the Panoceanian troops advanced. Pierre gunned the alien down with his machine gun, this would be a hard fought battle now.
Father Wilhelm called in the news of the attack. Something had gone wrong, and gunfire had alerted his troops to the Ariadna ambush. They were lucky, if they had been caught out in the open it would have been bad news. The cargo had still been imobilised in no man's land though. His men had driven off the enemy, but were unable to make repairs at this time. He ordered a retreat to a safe distance, and HQ informed him that a team had been dispatched to secure the cargo, hopefully there would be no surprises.
----------Incoming Transmission
Status Compromised. Target Location Transmitted.
---------Transmission Ended
Cavannagh jumped out of the shuttle as it took off to maintain station overhead. Lt Rao lead the Bagh Mari through the jungle. This is what the Acontecimento troops excelled at. The overbearing Father Kinght had maintained surveillance on the area. No Ariadna dropships had returned. This should be a walk in the...
Plasma fire lit up the jungle, Cavannagh first thought it was another Ariadna trap, but then he checked himself. Plasma was Voodoo Tech, this meant the combined. How did they know about the convoy? He looked up as the Bagh Mari team was decimated, Rao falling in a gout of plasma. Dam! The Naga operative (on loan from Aleph) was securing the objective. The proficient scout coming out of camo last minute to avoid detection. Cavannagh noticed a spike in frequencies over the com net, then the Naga fell lifeless to the floor. This was going to be a bad day!
Cavannagh jumped out of the shuttle as it took off to maintain station overhead. Lt Rao lead the Bagh Mari through the jungle. This is what the Acontecimento troops excelled at. The overbearing Father Kinght had maintained surveillance on the area. No Ariadna dropships had returned. This should be a walk in the...
Plasma fire lit up the jungle, Cavannagh first thought it was another Ariadna trap, but then he checked himself. Plasma was Voodoo Tech, this meant the combined. How did they know about the convoy? He looked up as the Bagh Mari team was decimated, Rao falling in a gout of plasma. Dam! The Naga operative (on loan from Aleph) was securing the objective. The proficient scout coming out of camo last minute to avoid detection. Cavannagh noticed a spike in frequencies over the com net, then the Naga fell lifeless to the floor. This was going to be a bad day!
----------Incoming Transmission
Human troops driven off. Unable to secure objective, but battlefield held. Request extraction of target, area secure.
---------Transmission Ended
No comments:
Post a Comment