Part 5: Clash With The Cult

Chapter 5 - Clash With The Cult


"Commander's log: April ninth, 2000 hours.

We've received another distress call from the local human faction in Europe, this time coming from southern Spain. We of course would love to go and help them but the problem is they are out of the drop sphere's range. Dropping a squad as close to the distress call as possible and having them march there is out of the question, it's too far through unsafe and unexplored territory. We need to come up with another solution or we'll miss this opportunity.

Meanwhile the factories and labs we have set up on the surface have been going full time and are doing well. We now have many of the basic designs for small arms, ammo, and armor. We're still lacking heavy and energy weapon designs, and probably what would be our squads backbone if we had them, some reliable assault rifles. So far Phoenix Company has been using pistols, uzis and shotguns to preform their missions. At least we have enough armor to keep them all suited up, even if it is pretty light weight stuff it's a lot better then nothing. Haggis says he's been playing with the camouflage designs on the armor to let us see what we like.

As for the company itself; we have taken on dozens of new recruits, both from Laputa citizens and from the surface. Booya and I picked our way through the recruits he wanted to keep in Phoenix Company and the rest were given to the other major squads. We also set Ackbar up in the Phoenix barracks and he's already taken part in two missions to secure the old UK area. Let's see, the new personnel includes... a British woman named Gillian, a former doctor by the name of Leaf, a pair of recruits from Forest's people named Quicksilver and Steve, a Psonic named Pumpkin... hmm, she's in medical after a muckstar got her in Ireland it seems. Lastly Canuck sent us a promising cyborg soldier named Andrew Cheese. Cheese? Really? Must be a French thing.

That's about it for the Sit Rep right now. I'm hoping we can find a way to get down to Spain and help out before the town either doesn't need us anymore, or gets taken over."



"Commander's log: April tenth, 0100 hours.

The damn thing moves! The entire Laputa is mobile! We'd never bothered trying to move the Omen, and the cultists never moved it out of its orbit so we thought these things were immobile. They aren't! One of the engineers was trying to understand how the engines worked and figured out that the engines are way more powerful than needed to keep the Laputa airborne and in a single spot. From there his report details how he figured out what the engines were hooked up to and what they were capable of doing. After some messing around with the systems in the control room he got the Laputa to move. Let's see, it was Alan O'Connell who made this possible, and as such he is now in charge of the Laputa engines and flight operations. We're lucky to have him too, just in time to suit up a squad and get them down to Spain ASAP to help defend those villagers."














Hero: Pile out and move it. We're here to help the friendlies down here against some other hostile faction. They didn't say much, but it didn't sound like the Reticulans or transgenets.
Steve: So what are we expecting? A rival human faction?
Hero: Probably. Remember after The Fall one of the biggest problems was everyone formed their own tribes and gangs. No one was unified, so it might be the same thing this time around.
Golden: At least we have some decent guns.
Hero: Yeah, enough batteries for two of those lasers and shotguns for the rest of us. Beats the hell out of uzis.



Golden: I hear gunfire coming from this way.
Steve: I don't see anything yet.
Dr. Leaf: Yeah, its pitch dark out here. We won't see them until we're right on top of them.



Golden: I see something. It's a man down!
Hero: Who is it? Friend or foe?
Golden: Can't tell, he's wearing all red though.



Dr. Leaf: Whoa, soldiers!
Local Militia: Hey, you must be the CoE guys we called for.
Hero: Yeah, we're them.
Local Militia: We're under attack by these guys. Don't know who they are yet, but they skirmished with us yesterday and then waited until dark to try and storm the place. Right now it's just me, two others, and a local that got stuck here.
Quicksilver: How many of them are there?
Local Militia: No idea.
Quicksilver: Great.
Steve: Look out!





Local Militia: Damn it. These guys are good. They just pop out of the darkness like that. They're good like that, but not real smart. They might get someone alone by surprise, but rushing a group of us like that is suicide.



Steve: I'm hit!
Quicksilver: There's one at the bottom of the hill.
Hero: So much for rushing alone.





Steve: Nailed him! Look at that, bowled him over.
Hero: Yeah, he's got company though.
Golden: She looks like a psionic.



Steve: Argh fuck!
Dr. Leaf: Shit, they've got lasers too.
Golden: Ha, I don't think that guys getting up soon.



Dr. Leaf: Steve's down! I'll take care of him, but cover us.



Hero: Hurry up then, or drag him into that building, we got another one! ...He's carrying a sword?
Golden: What the hell?



Dr. Leaf: I got you man, can you get up?
Steve: Yeah... I think I can.



Hero: Crap, whatever these guys are wearing is pretty thick. Hit him dead center with a shotgun blast and it didn't slow him!



Hero: Crap he's coming right for me!
Quicksilver: It's worse then that. The first guy is back on his feet.



Hero: Or maybe he's not coming for me... Whatever, shoot him!



Steve: Aarrghh!
Dr. Leaf: Fuck, he's hit again!



Golden: Get back! Why do they always come for me!



Golden: And stay down!
Quicksilver: Hey, the other one is getting away.



Hero: Leaf, stay with Steve. You two, with me. He's not getting away.





Quicksilver: He's toast.
Hero: Good job. I'm grabbing his gun then let's get back to Leaf and Steve.






Hero: How is he?
Dr. Leaf: I'm sorry... The last one got him in the neck and I couldn't stop the bleeding...
Hero: Damn it. It's okay Leaf. Nothing we could have done.
Golden: Hey, the Militia guys aren't here anymore.
Dr. Leaf: Yeah, they saw something over there and went to check it out.
Hero: Five guys is a little light to attack a town with, we should go check it out too. They might need back up.




Golden: Looks like one of them was checking out the sphere!
Hero: I see him.





Hero: He's down.
Golden: I think their armor is weak to lasers just like ours.
Hero: Yeah?
Golden: Yeah, I can really see the burns where I got him.
Hero: Good to know.



Quicksilver: Another one! No armor.



Golden: Oh yeah, right in the face. I'm on fire tonight.
Hero: Shut up Golden.
Golden: What?
Hero: ...



Quicksilver: Whoa, another one just missed me!
Dr. Leaf: That one is definitely a psionic.





Golden: And another one down.
Hero: Oh hey, the militia's over here.
Local Militia: That looked like the last one in the immediate area. Thanks for all your help.
Hero: Yeah... No problem.
Local Militia: Hey, sorry about your man back there.
Hero: Yeah. Okay guys, grab their stuff. Leaf, with me, we need to get Steve back to the sphere.









"Commander's Log: April tenth, 0340 hours.

The mission was successful, Hero's team defended the local settlement admirably against a better armed and numerically superior force. However we still lost a life, one our new recruits Steve. While I'm sure the company will take this hard I must look at the positive side. We've gained a new territory and the locals are letting us set up a base there in case of any further attacks. We also secured a small handful of guns, ammo, and other equipment that is being stocked directly for Phoenix Company use.



Other then that, our current state of things is fairly good. We're pulling in a steady trickle of surplus materials on top of what is needed for maintenance and repairs that we are stockpiling for later use by the factories. The new base we are setting up in southern Spain isn't connected to our territory by land yet, but it would be easy to set up a sea lane to the port in London and connect it that way.

The last thing to mention for now is the hostile faction we encountered. The locals don't know who they are and further more were surprised to see psionics working with them. As far as we knew the psionics stuck to themselves, as does most everyone on the surface really. Large scale openly hostile acts like this aren't common according to Forest. With so few survivors most of the factions stick to themselves and avoid open fighting over resources or territory. This new faction however seems to be going about things in a much different manner, openly engaging and driving out others in their attempts to expand. We have marked regions under their control in lightish red on the geosphere.

While the people on the surface don't know who they are, I know what kind of faction might unite the different races under a cause and try to take over the land."