Operation Looking Glass

Orion was poised to attack at any time, it’s actions within the Somnus system entirely shrouded from the AHA’s view. Despite the firm presence of the blockades intel of what exactly Orion had at its disposal would’ve been valuable for weathering any oncoming attack. Because of this I assembled 50 skilled operatives who all volunteered for the operation despite the high risk posed. This was with the exception of Rifleman Pines who was overseen by Staff Sergeant Marovski.

due to unreliable comms throughout the operation much of this report is constructed from the account of Staff Sergeant Marovski and others on the moon

The team was led by Lt Langston, a trained stealth specialist and they traveled in a cruiser, entering Somnus in the orbit of a small moon. Scans detected activity amongst the heavily forested surface and so they deployed in dropship, cutting through the canopy of dark clouds and onslaught of rain before landing in various clearings and advancing towards what appeared to be a small base built by the AI, located inside a crater in the ground. The group split into 7 groups, 3 climbing down the crater and 4 spotting for them, observing the blinking lights of the outpost through the storm.

All 3 squads descended undetected but the AI seemed to prepare beforehand, with multiple spectres deploying and laying down fire onto the soldiers on the rim of the crater. Another unit was also deployed, vast hoarded of simulacrum bodies that seemed incapable of using firearms, attacking with blades and their steel fists. These units seemed to detect the men in the crater and alerted the spectres to their position before clambering up the sides towards the men up top.

Despite the ever present storm that only seemed to be getting worse, the 3rd held the sims off for a decent amount of time before the spectres began to suppress them with a withering barrage of energy weaponry, the 2 squads on the left of the crater were targeted first, being overrun and soon torn to shreds while trying to retreat up the cliff or cover the others in the case of the squad up top. Then the Lieutenant’s squad was targeted inside the crater, two pilots being injured but the rest staying alive due to having 2 squads above. It was at this time that Rifleman Pines performed a remarkable act of bravery, retrieving both of the men and the Lieutenant before being shot by an L-star round in the shoulder. The rest of his squad died holding the line. At this point a retreat was ordered and two enemy destroyers warped into orbit, killing the remnants of the men in the right side with an indiscriminate orbital bombardment. One of the central squad’s was also neutralised covering the others’ retreat to the dropships.

The sims seemed at home in the near pitch-black forest, picking off a few men before they reached the dropships. Only two were filled by the remaining soldiers and they headed to orbit to rendezvous with their cruiser. Unfortunately the Lieutenant’s dropship took a middle salvo from one of the destroyers in an effort to protect the cruiser’s engines, crashing to the surface in a fireball. All hands are presumed dead.

In the end only Marovski, Pines and some others made it out. The agents lost will be remembered and their sacrifice will be repaid a thousand times by Orion. Intel gained includes the observation made by Rifleman Pines (a qualified biologist) based on the lack of fauna in the forest and the behaviour demonstrated by the enemy forces. She believes that they were created using the minds of animals. The implications of this are disturbing but could be a clue to Orion’s motivations for its bloody conquest of the Somnus and Vanguard systems.