Mission // #001

Bug-Hunt

Goals

• Stabilize the situation around Evergreen.
• Track the raiders, figure out who they are.
  • Stop their attacks.

Stakes

• Time is critical. Not acting will result in Evergreen losing contact with surrounding farmland, crippling any kind of expansion.

Reserves

• None at this time.

MSMC Transport Carrier // 2.21.5014u

The squad finally met each other en-route to the recently-rediscovered planetoid known as HERCYNIA. Guided by MSMC Commanding Officer SNAKEMAN, Squad DELTA-ECHO-ECHO-ZULU was given a rudimentary team-building exercise known as Virtual Training.

COMPADRE reached for his antique relic of a firearm and started twirling it flawlessly. While this was happening, KAL attempted to tap into the virtual training's mainframe in order to give her team an advantage - this backfired spectacularly, as SNAKEMAN was watching her with his one good eye instead of watching the showmanship COMPADRE was putting on.

After witnessing KAL incorrectly guess his administrator password a couple of times, SNAKEMAN blankly states that if KAL wanted a challenge, all they had to do was ask. Because of this, the squad was pushed to the brink in what was supposed to be a confidence booster.

After the exercise, SNAKEMAN rests his cane against his body and starts applauding their efforts. He mentions that there will be more training coming up, so get used to it and enjoy the commodities on the ship while they still can - there's no knowing how civilized this new planet is.

MSMC Transport Carrier // 3.01.5014u

After a week's worth of what could only be described as hell-on-cradle, the squad begins to properly gel together - if only a tiny bit. SNAKEMAN assembles the squad for their last briefing under his wing. He mentions that he really didn't give them an honest rundown of the current mission, and sends them the initial tasking packet to their slates. He also mentions that the MSMC are subcontracted from UNION, so the operation is under finer scrutiny than usual.

1. Union’s imperative dictates that the squad treat the situation with utmost care. Hercynia is potentially populated by some sort of indigenous human culture, but the evidence is unclear.
2. The current holder of Hercynia’s charter is Landmark Colonial, a subsidiary of SmithShimano Corpro. The Squad is to make contact with Landmark’s representative on the ground first in order to present their credentials and integrate into the local hierarchy.
3. Hercynia was once subject to a widespread and catastrophic SecComm expeditionary campaign. The records lack detail, but building from what has been recovered from the old Union Colonial Mission indicates that the Second Committee mounted a handful of similar campaigns against resistant populations. This likely accounts for the massive amount of radiation, distress signals, encrypted comms, and general “noise” coming off the world. The squad should expect to encounter old Union military infrastructure in the form of unexploded ordinance, waste radiation, and possibly even abandoned ground-based installations.

SNAKEMAN mentions that it's now time for the squad to depart on a smaller transport craft, and to ensure a larger profit the squad's safety, they'll be under stasis while in transit.

MSMC Shuttle Carrier // 3.18.5014u

As the squad awake from their month-long stasis and set their sights on the planet known as HERCYNIA, the drop carrier's captain notifies them to suit up - and make sure to borrow some EVA gear if they don't have any. Time is of the essence, and time is money. The squad straps into one of a few dropships, and preps for the descent.

As they approach the world, their ship’s SIGINT deck reports that Hercynia is throwing off an incredible amount of noise – likely because it is a post-collapse SecComm “punching bag” world littered with old, decaying military infrastructure, and ruins – and they find themselves unable to get clear signals. All of this matches the thin profile pushed to them by local flightcomm. Unfortunately, optics are shot as well. Hercynia appears to be socked in under a planetwide monsoon season, blanketing all but the most extreme poles with thick cloud cover.

The squad lands safely, dismounts from the shuttle, and begins assembling their gear as a small group approaches the shuttle. The group introduces themselves as a militia, with BRAVA HADURA as their Commander. She quickly informs them to get moving – and stay low, as there's a sniper in the area. The shuttle then begins its automated launch sequence, only to return a year from now.