WAR IS HELL
13 Dec 2021Jav Marlo
WAR IS HELL13 DEC 3307, HIP 118311 system.
This is commander Jav Marlo, recording this log on the HIP 118311 system.
They attacked at night. Not that night or day means a lot on an Orbis Starport, but there is always a shift were most of the working crews are resting and the security is lesser, and they took advantage of it. In a matter of minutes, the supporters of Denton Patreus lost the control of Lubbock Market.
Jav Marlo running for his life in Lubbock Market
Since the tensions for the control of the system between Patreus supporters and a coalition of the local private companies arose, I always wear combat armor when on the station. Alas, carrying weapons is not allowed. When the strike commenced, I run to the docks in hopes they were not overtaken yet and that I would be able to board my ship, the Mjolnir, and escape.
Jav Marlo hiding at the docks of Lubbock Market
I found a platoon of troops installing docking clamps in all the vessels there, mine included. They were blockading the station. I run towards the docks of the Empire Party where Patreus commandos were holding a last stand against the attackers just in time to board the last dropship departing the station.
Jav Marlo running to catch a landing shuttle departing Lubbock Market
I barely made it. Once on board, I asked the pilot about our heading, and he said that our destination was the Paredes Agricultural Complex. He said that the mercenaries hired by the company were striking simultaneously the Orbis starport and the Agricultural Complex, and that he had been instructed to deliver any combat capable personnel to the surface complex.
Jav Marlo on a combat dropship heading towards the battle
I armored myself as best as I could and prepared for the jump into the combat zone. We were just three commandos on the dropship. Not even half a platoon. We took places side by side on the jumping hold and felt the freezing temperatures outside when the gate opened until our suits compensated.
Jav Marlo on the jumping hold of a dropship
The security clamps released us, and we were expelled out in the middle of the night over the battlefield. The only lights visible were the ones of the combat suits and the lighting bolts from the laser and plasma rifles below us. They must have had snipers waiting for the dropships because the two commandos jumping with me were shot on the air and did not make to ground alive. I never knew their names.
Jav Marlo jumping over a combat zone
I was alone. I watched the dropship leaving the combat zone and checked my scanner looking for our forces. It was clear that I would need to make my way through the enemy line to join them.
Jav Marlo at the combat zone of Paredes Agricultural Complex
I sneaked through the complex, taking out some enemies until I saw a platoon of Patreus commandos heading towards the Power Plant, and I shot my way through to join them.
Jav Marlo sneaking through Paredes Agricultural Complex combat zone
They were under heavy fire, fighting the company mercenaries scattered among the cargo crates of the outskirts. I joined them and tried to open a safe corridor to get out of there and regroup.
Jav Marlo joining the fight at Paredes Agricultural Complex combat zone
We made the enemy retreat, gaining some unvaluable moments to gather what remained of our forces and run towards the Power Plant to try to take it.
Jav Marlo running for his life on the battle of the Paredes Agricultural Complex
The Power Plant building was heavily defended, but we needed to take it and secure it, that was our best chance to organize a defense against the highly superior enemy forces and call for reinforcements from outside the system. One of Patreus commandos overcharged the gate and the carnage started.
Jav Marlo fighting along Patreus commandos
The mercenaries did not surrender nor gave their position. We had to kill every of them to gain access.
Jav Marlo accessing the Power Plant at Paredes Agricultural Complex
Usually, mercenaries do not fight until death. They retreat when odds are against them but, for some reason, these ones defended the place to the last men and then set it on fire. With the power core gone, our hopes of establishing communication and asking for reinforces were gone too.
Jav Marlo on the gate of the Power Plant building at Paredes Agricultural Complex
We were stranded there. Just a bunch of Patreus commandos against several enemy platoons that were still roaming the complex and looking for us. It was clear that we would not be able to defend the Power Plant either, with its two blown up doors, so we sought for another place for a final stand up.
Jav Marlo at the Power Plant of Paredes Agricultural Complex
We moved pass the crop tents and made ourselves strong on one of the habitat buildings. Guards at the doors, rest and rearm. Waiting for the worst.
Jav Marlo taking solace in one habitat building at Paredes Agricultural Complex
But the last attack did not arrive. One day, two days of tense watch and combat rations and we were still there. Our hopes of being rescued rose. At some point the Imperial Navy should be able to break the blockade of the system and send reinforces. That was what we hoped when we heard the sound of some distant heavy artillery and an explosion on the air.
An anti-aircraft turret at Paredes Agricultural Complex
Our reinforces were arriving, but the bastards had installed a heavy anti-aircraft turret and they were obliterating the incoming dropships on the air. That was why they were not attacking us. They were installing the turret. Such a defense system made any landing attempt impossible.
An anti-aircraft turret shooting at Paredes Agricultural Complex
Our hopes of being rescue vanished. We were doomed. Ready to be obliterated at any moment. We did not have to wait long for the final attack. That night the compound where we were sheltering was bombarded with grenades. In the middle of the mayhem, Kenna Foreman, the sergeant of the platoon, called me for a crazy plan.
Jav Marlo talking with sergeant Kenna Formeman during an attack
She gave me an arc cutter and sent me out under cover fire in the middle of the night to try to sabotage the turret while the remnants of her squad launched a suicide attack to focus the attention of the enemy. I managed to sneak past the enemy lines and disabled the turret. But at what cost.
Jav Marlo disabling an anti-aircraft turret
Far in the distance, I saw the last light bolts from the battle extinguishing. I called for Kenna and her team but just got silence as an answer. They were gone. Soon I saw the torch lights of the mercenaries moving towards my direction looking for me. I passed the rest of the night hiding from them, using all my power batteries just to keep my vital functions at minimum on that frozen hell at -110 C.
Jav Marlo after disabling the anti-aircraft turret
The first lights of the morning brought a wing of the Imperial Navy to break the blockade and three dropships full of Patreus best commandos.
Dropships approaching Paredes Agricultural Complex
The combat was bloody, chaotic and short. Patreus commandos overwhelmed the mercenaries and took over the place securing the complex.
Patreus commandos fighting at Paredes Agricultural Complex
I was brought to the presence of the coronel that directed the operative. They patched me up and I reported about everything that had happened there and the sacrifice of Kenna and her platoon. The coronel told me that by managing to defend the complex and opening a way for them to land I had provided a way out of the conflict.
Jav Marlo talking with one coronel after the battle for Paredes Agricultural Complex
HIP 118311 produces a unique commodity called Swarm: a gruesome weapon that unleashes some lethally poisonous biting insects native to the system into the enemy positions through a control fluid and that causes wreak, chaos and death when used. The insects are native of the Earth-like world, but the weapon is manufactured at Paredes for safety reasons. The insects could not survive on this freezing rock if they escape the domes. Swarm is banned in most jurisdictions, but still fancied by crime syndicates and it is one of the main exports of Lubbock Market. And if you control the commodity production, you control the market. After securing Paredes Agricultural Complex, the company that had overtaken the starport of Lubbock Market started to negotiate a pact surrender.
Jav Marlo at Paredes Agricultural Complex
Before departing back to Lubbock Market, the coronel gave me a special commando silver helmet as an appreciation token and told me that Admiral Patreus has been inquiring about my fate and role on the battle.
They have allowed me to embark on the next dropship heading for Lubbock Market. As I departed from this miserable place, a message arrived saying that I have been promoted to Duke of the Imperial Navy. Patreus has honored his part of the deal. I hold now one of the highest ranks in the Navy. High enough to avoid answering lots of questions and to grant me a passage to system Facece, where my partner Ayumi is being held at a place called Cremona Penitentiary.
Jav Marlo signing out.
Jav Marlo heading back to Lubbock Market on a dropship