Battle of the Somnus blockade

The attack on the 3rd and 4th battalion blockades was inevitable, ORION’s code always seeking an aggressive approach. We had braced an attack but, after the apparent failure of Operation Looking glass, we had little intel on the forces that he could bring to bear. He eventually attacked with a seemingly endless tide of ships and boarding forces, hitting both blockades at once.

Commander Jesse and I mustered what forces we could immediately and rushed to the blockade, successfully holding ORION’s ships for some time but being slowly overwhelmed. The situation seemed dire and the battle was becoming a meatgrinder of our ships and their crews when Seraph Station went dark. I was relieved that it hadn’t been involved in the assault initially but the Commander and I were still closely monitoring incoming comms.

A combined force of the 2nd and 4th led by Master Sergeant Marovskj boarded the station, seeing surprisingly few enemy ships that had jumped in. They encountered the melee-based simulacrums seen in Operation Looking Glass along with a total blackout aboard the station and eventually a highly modified reaper. Rifleman Hawthorne was injured by and so Lance Corporal Pines attempted to bring her to an open hangar for extraction. She was successful but encountered a new unit, marked as a MK XX infiltration unit in data since retrieved from ORION’s database.

When the team reached the control room, what had happened aboard the station was initially unclear. Ravaged corpses and shattered simulacrum chassis were strewn across the consoles and floor and the room was almost deathly silent. However, the events that played out eventually became apparent as a sim, with two crosses carved and scratched into its chassis, seemingly got up despite being deactivated along with 2 others. 2 more infiltration units also entered the room and they took Pines hostage, speaking with ORION’s voice as (we don’t believe) they have their own AI. One of the sims left with Pines, making for a docked transport while the other 4 attempted to install Orion’s AI into the station and obtain classified research and development. The door slammed shut and what seemed to be neurotoxin seeped into the room as the sims stood sentinel, bright orange optics slicing through the thickening.

Luckily, the [CLASSIFIED] within the station activated and the door were opened, flushing Orion out of the systems. The sims were seemingly caught off guard and a firefight broke out, the AHA’s men winning despite some injuries. Sadly, Pines was taken out of system as this occurred and was captured, taken to one of Orion’s labs.

Meanwhile, more forces began piling into the blockades. The 3rd and 4th began taking huge losses and Commander Jesse put in multiple requests to retreat. I refused, believing that Orion would be able to access multiple AHA worlds unopposed if the blockade fell. We made the AI pay 2 ships for every one we lost with heroic sacrifices such as Sergeant Nori’s daring attack on an enemy dreadnought (she was assumed KIA but then recovered amongst the debris of the battle). Eventually, as Jesse finally broke, disobeyed orders and told his men to retreat, the IMC arrived. They brought a large force into Orion’s flank and cut a swathe through his lines, quickly causing a full retreat. Afterwards I would negotiate with IMC Commander Northmoor to help replenish the two fleets.

Despite the larger losses, the battle was won. I fear I may have pushed the 3rd and 4th too hard but in the end, the blockade’s fall may have been catastrophic. With the IMC joining the fight, the battle with ORION will be much less of an uphill battle. Hopefully, we’ll be on the offensive soon enough.