Arm One Hand But Offer The Other

The air seemed to vibrate, each hard edge causing a faint white line of static to fizzle in the green background light with each new source. Here those skeletal lines formed the outline of a rusted out vehicle, there the misshapen heap of a carcass and there a collapsed building’s supports poking out through ruined concrete like metallic fingers grasping the air above. Looking round the entrance way ahead the tunnel flared for a moment in a haze before coming into focus as the shadows peeled back to reveal mostly ruined vehicles and even older skeletons still trapped where they had died. Patches of vicious liquid pooled like smaller shadows leading further into the tunnel with the old limp talon portraying the reason why as another mutant corpse was tagged and set for burning by the squads following up behind. Flicking his NVG’s up he rubbed his eyes for a moment as he let them accustom themselves to the perpetual half light before glancing around himself for any signs of movement, nothing moved as he got up from his crouched position behind a rusted out vendors cart. Stretching his neck he tucked his carbine into the crook of his arm before using his now free left hand to pulse a signal, nothing for a moment and then a confirmation pulse pinged in his ear piece as the rest of his squad appeared from various angles and swept forward to link up with him. “Report Horn” a question and order at the same time, the voice came from the figure now knelt to his immediate right, “Half a dozen confirmed tertiary corpses littering the first few metres of entrance way Sergeant” He glanced over at his squad lead sergeant Marcos “All look to have suffered battle damage and bled out before the swarm could reclaim them” Horn finished, pointing out the corresponding carcasses in the half gloom of the tunnel. “Good, six less to deal with” Marcos nodded putting one hand to his throat mike “Dorian, Radio back to company, five times wastage for burning, one times wastage for sending back to the compound”. The sound of the squads radio operator relaying the message echoed from behind Horn as he raised an eyebrow at his squad lead who shrugged “Orders down from the Medical corp, some captain or other in dominus wants corpses for study, don’t ask me why”. “Right” Horn couldn’t think why beyond better and easier ways to kill the mutes but then again it wasn’t his problem as he shook the stray thought from his head, the rest of the platoon was spread out in pretty much the same style they were as the army as a whole began its methodical advance. The swarms lines had been well and truly thrown back in the last few weeks and now they were pushing forwards, scouts like horn and his squad mates leading the way into whatever territory the swarm had booked it too. “Fun reversal, now we’ve got to breach and clear the baiters” Horn had heard the squads support gunner Verne chuckling this morning as they headed out, it was a crap joke at the time but Verne was right Horn knew. The next few days would see them spotting routes and clearing advance positions as the 1st chapter launched its own counter assault into the territory beyond to establish a beach head to begin clearing that zone alongside bringing the mutant swarm to bear once more. From what he heard from a few old friends amongst other units across the army another couple of clashes like the one last season and the swarm would be broken for good, the remaining packs either splintering down to roving feral organisms or dissipating into the wider ruins, each easily dealt with by fire patrols out of the hasses. A gesture from his sergeant broke him from his thoughts as the rest of the squad began to push up towards the tunnel entrance proper, a nod from Marcos sending Horn forward as he linked up with and then passed by the skirmish line the rest of his squad mates had formed until he was a good 50 or so metres ahead of them in the literal shadow of the entrance sign into the tunnel. Several parts of the support work had rusted away to nothing leaving it to hang limply from the few remaining bolts, the rest of the decayed metal struts littering the floor all around him. Checking his carbines magazine Horn began to slowly creep forward, one hand momentarily reaching up and flicking the ancient battered set of night vision goggles back down into place, bathing his vision in a sea of white green and black once more as the half light of the territory gave way to the shadows of the tunnels interior. What had once been a side arterial transit route was now an uncaring grave of debris, scraps of what would have been people and there daily lives Horn knew as he crept forward metre by metre, here and there this graveyard of sorts was littered with the latest to disturb its silence as he stopped at each of the carcasses he had noted earlier, the first was ridded with multiple weapon impacts, the whole right side reduced to a bloody mess. “Definitely bleed out” Horn thought to himself as he pulled his combat knife from its scabbard and plunged the blade into the cranium of the creature, it didn’t move as he pulled the blade back out with a twist. Some creatures even this messed up could still function and would wait for days as living booby traps, standard operating procedure was to double tap the corpse when able, otherwise to utilise combat blades to puncture the remains of the brain to ensure a permanent kill on potential mutants playing dead. The next few minutes would see him carrying out this process four more times as he passed further down the transit way, radioing back with a static pulse to his squad waiting behind him before he reached the final carcass. Something made him pause for a moment, flicking the safety off of his carbine he levelled the sites on the corpse and simply waited, watching down his sights. Nothing for a moment and then the slightest of shifts in the creature, another minute of waiting and then another. Definitely not escaping corpse gas he knew, his training kicking in he took a step back and let a small breath out before letting off a quick pair of shots into the eye socket of the supposedly dead howler. With a screech it barely had time to move before the second round popped the side of its head like an over ripe fruit, ichor and a now definitely dead corpse slumping to the floor of the tunnel. A squawk of static in his ear and the sound of storming feet came from behind him as in a few moments the rest of his squad were covering every inch of the tunnel in torch light and ready weapons. “Horn?” the unmistakable sound of Marcos rolled down the tunnel “Bait body sergeant” he called back “Blighters are playing dead” “roger that” Marcos called over “Everyone fix bayonets, even spread” he called out drawing his own, “Verne front and centre with Horn, Lets clear these scum out”.  Waiting for a moment to let support gunner join him Horn began to advance once more into the darkness and new lands ahead.

## Military Campaign Progress

Just like children seeking the approval of the parent for a piece of work or art humanity as a whole has always taken; be it consciously or subconsciously, to seek the approval of others for their labours. In this the notion of pride in one’s work can be found from the earliest of days from when a skilled hunter out performed their fellows and received the adulation of the tribe in response, through to the earliest crafters making the first trinkets that would later evolve into jewellery with their bare hands and finding an appreciative crowd gathering to watch their work. With each new technological progression a new craft, trade or art was born and following alongside it like a faithful companion the first masters would take pride in their skill before passing it down to the next generation to come as humanity grew from strength to strength. Those most taken to this expression of ability would come to be lauded and sort out for fine work, whilst those of the martial spectrum were renowned far beyond their lands until one day messengers would arrive seeking their strength for the service of distant leaders all due to the pride they took in the application of the blade. Entire cultures would rise from this appreciation of a particular skill, and as humanity spread across the globe and the first true empires formed this pride would turn into something far more potent that would help to spawn century spanning reputations, the first tenants of professionalism and the wrath it could invoke. From here those who could instil this new found standard into their work would find their name carried for good or ill throughout time, utilised to inspire new generations to greatness as the cycle of time passed by. When mankind would eventually leave behind the confines of the cradle world this age old pride would accompany them to new found homes amongst the solar system, new masters of new trades taking pride in their works as new generations of new technologies were mastered and new warriors stood ready to defend them.

For the martial society of the ruins that is Hive-Sec this pride in their work forms the very core of what they are, soldiers of the old world order standing on the last wall, holding back the onslaught of the dark as it attempts to snuff out humanity across the ruins. Raised from the day they can truly grasp the concept of the professional soldier, each new generation of white-shield cadets born in bastion learns the lessons of each generation before it, to forsake that pride in who they are is to forsake their name, their family, their squad and the principles of those soldiers that died holding the line until the last shelter could be sealed. Pride in their uniform and way of life saw those soldiers go to their deaths knowing it would be their doom, but they did so willingly as professionals that would defend those in their charge until their last moment. This single lesson is reinforced throughout the years as the white-shield grows into their training platoon as they see the reality of what they face, that without that profession they could not rely on their fellows to stand shoulder to shoulder in the thin blue line and face the horrors before them, sending it reeling back into the night under a hail of fire before the pride of true born soldiers. For those that will become enforcers this pride manifests itself most when in formation with their comrades, their iconic shields interlocked to form a bulwark in the storm, feet planted firmly as they lay down a wall of fire in defence of those following behind or the wounded being seen to by medics, pride in their role as the shield that protects their comrades and leads the way into the gates of hell that is the maelstrom of war. For those that find themselves plucked from their tutelage to become rangers this professionalism comes into its own in a more cold calculating manner unique to the individual, ranging ahead of their enforcer brethren rangers pride themselves on their ability to silence a swarm with a single action, be that the snipers bullet, a well laid mine or perfectly executed ambush, their pride in their selective trade pathing the way clear for their fellow soldiers, grim guardians to the enforcers unyielding bulwarks.

The dawn of the new season would creep in with a silence that seemed to deafen everything, the first handful of days would see the 1st chapter methodically begin to push forward as it had been doing in the close of the previous, snapping at the heels of the few remaining packs of mutants as the swarm fell back via several transit routes heading back west from where the swarm had most likely originated nearly six months ago. Taking a moment to breath the army would check over itself, rotating out companies and personnel that had borne the brunt of the hellish close fighting and by the end of that fifth day of that first week would push through what had previously been mutant territory until they were less than a mile from those very tunnels. Every step forward would be carefully checked and checked again as each new carcass or corpse was cleared and then burnt by bio-hazard teams sent up from the reserve, thick oil-like smoke filling the air as the various small teams carried out their grizzly duties, those units assigned to protection details rapidly donning any rebreathers or masks they could to block out the smell of cooking rancid meat. Some of the newer troopers from the last few years graduation batches would find themselves learning the origin of a number of the procedures they had drilled through relentlessly as a number of supposedly dead mutants revealed nasty surprises, leering up from death to try and claim another life. Had it been any other force these living booby traps would have caused chaos amongst the ranks but for the soldiers of Hive-sec they seemly took it in their stride. Advance scouts over the next days would tag and report in every corpse and pile of slain mutants they found, before clearing detailed routes for the army to follow. By the eve of the sixth day of the second week the army would happily reduce most of the potentially lethal ’gifts’ left behind by the retreating swarm to burnt chucks and grilse, hand grenades and short bursts of weapons fire ensuring any suspicious carcasses would never rise again as the army passed by. In a reversal of roles the various company and battalion officers amongst the army would find themselves during the morning of the following weeks second day discussing potential plans to push into the westward territory, initial debates between various officers about beach head ideas and key objective positions flying back and forth as they poured over maps. In the end they would decide given the nature of the swarm they were facing that the most likely scenario would resolve around a hard push as ravenous swarms more often than not would lay in wait for pursuing forces, attempting to catch them in a  counter ambush as they emerged in force from the tunnels.

With the plan decided upon the following couple of days would see a hive of activity spread across the army as it prepared itself for the weeks ahead. Platoons of scouts were dispatched down each of the designation transit tunnels to begin to give a more detailed picture of the other side that the army’s ancient maps couldn’t fill in for them, their reports painting a picture of the first few hundred metres of land into the new zone alongside a potential clue as to its matching correspondence on their old maps. For the most part the reports gave a picture of old towers rising into the roof above as far as the scouts could see even with binoculars, the majority of clear spaces they had located being primarily small markets or what once would have been parks most likely. “Primary habitation” a few of the older officers amongst the force put forward during an ops meeting at the end of the third week, if the details matched up it would put them directly south east of Hass west as well according to one company officer. Making a note for secondary confirmation once they had established their beach head the army would spend the final days of the month planning, practicing and devising back up plans for the assault to come as the 1st chapter as a whole flexed itself, setting itself for the inevitable fight to come.

Those first few hours of the new month would pass to the sound of radio chatter, the clicks of loaded magazines and the static charge of primed weapons as the 1st chapter began its advance in the near perpetual dark of the night cycle of that first day. The first platoons would emerge in full combat spread into the new territorial zone, alert eyes and readier weapons covering every angle as they took up guard positions around the tunnel exits. Nothing moved as the air seemed to hold still as the first full companies joined their lead elements and began to take up defensive positions. A single shrill keening call seemed to echo from each angle as pack after pack of lesser creatures stormed down the old roadways and pathways towards the thin blue line in a living wave of talons and chitin. The soldiery of hive-sec responded in an instant as their experiences in the past kicked in, drill and combat practice taking over in moments as well armoured enforcer platoons planted their feet and slab shields to form walls of steel before the gun lines. For all the mutants ferocity and animal cunning the old road ways funnelled them in perfect killing grounds for the hive-sec army, the first creatures to spring from the darkness died to massed weapons fire and grenade bursts, the second were cut by the shrapnel that had felled the first, with the third waves of creatures crushing under foot those mutants still moving from the second as they attempted to rush the hive-sec lines. Disciplined weapons fire, the thump cracks of grenade rifles and chatter of spent cartridge links hitting the floor echoed like a counter song to the hissing screaming roar of the swarm, determined blue steel against madden mutated muscle slamming into one another. This first re-engagement with the swarm would last an hour as the line held, pushed back and then began to advance in formation up the slip ways and out properly to form a perimeter for the rest of the army to follow as those few casualties from the swarms attempted ambush were carried back to waiting medevac tents for treatment or final words. The next week would see the army spread out and engage the swarm a further 3 times as they rapidly took control of the established beachhead area and expanded out into the next few miles, seizing and clearing tower after tower in a chain of methodical contacts. Setting up a temporary command post at the exit to the largest tunnel the commanders and senior company captains would begin to assess the situation more thoroughly as assault plans gave way to a full scale advance into the territory in the coming days. By the dawn of the fourth day of the following week the army would have pushed several attempted probes by the swarm back in a series of running engagements, giving the army uncontested control over the first 10% of the territory from estimates made by accompanying engineering teams. Those officers that had guessed at the territory they were entering was a primary habitation would privately collect on their educated guesswork by the weeks end as the first reconnaissance teams dispatched the ascertain the identity of the zone reported back, having located an old administrative building a few blocks from the transit tunnels they had managed to get power back online to a handful of terminals. What information they could pull pointed to the territory being exactly what was thought, a primus grade habitation territory previously named ’Rou City’ according to the matched maps the army had with them. “Breach and clear after breach and clear” one officer summarised it during that very evenings meeting, the fighting would indeed by a rolling series of breaching buildings, clearing them, sealing tunnels below ground and repeating at the very next building, Slow work but necessary to stop mutant strains slipping behind them as they pressed onwards.  The next few days would see the 1st chapter begin to execute those very words as the army swept through building after building in pursuit of the swarm, every few buildings they would find evidence of the mutants passing, refuse piles of bones and ichor or old nests of debris infecting the lower areas of the larger habitation blocks. In some places where harpy rousts were identified ranger sniper teams were brought in to pick them off as assault teams flushed them out with grenades and bursts of flame. All this activity would eventually draw the swarm back to engage them properly the army as a whole knew for certain, but that was the point as they further bled the isolated elements they encountered and reduced the swarm further. It wouldn’t be until the midst of the third week of the month that the army’s provocative and methodical aim would bear fruit so to speak, the first true packs of the swarm proper beginning to build up and launch attacks at the hive-sec line. Here though rather than the slow grinding counter push the 1st chapter were in their element in the attack, drawing individual packs in before encircling and cutting them down, chewing the fingers and then hands off of the swarm as it attempted to push them back to the tunnels. The final days of the month would see this continue until the gestalt mind of the swarm during the final day of the month withdrew its savaged packs of mutant kind back into the surrounding darkness, drawing its strength together for what hive-sec knew would be an all out assault or ’Hail Mary’ as the old timers called them, a do or die attack to throw the 1st chapter back, or at least inflict serious casualties on it as the swarm responded like an infected corner plague animal surrounded by hunters, snapping, snarling and spewing venom all the while.

The dawn of the final month of the season would whip by with out any notice from the focused soldiers of the 1st chapter, the entire army preparing itself mentally for what was to come as the shrill keening heard in the first attack some 30 days before hand began to grow each morning once again until during the fifth day of the month during the low light when the ancient systems of the ruins switched from their perceived night cycle to day settings the keening reached its zenith and the swarm as one loomed from the darkness. Awaiting it were readied hive-sec soldiers; readier weapons resting in their hands, as the swarm charged with every creature it had into the 1st chapter like two wrestlers clashing in a grip that only one would walk away from once more. Up and down the line the airwaves filled with radio chatter, weapon reports, detonations, cries for medics and ammo bearers, medevac teams running back and forth as platoons of enforcers travelled from line point to line point supporting levy companies and locking down intersections for regular line units, all the while ranger sniper teams and reconnaissance groups hunted command and control creatures from on high, nestled in the ancient towers that broke up the swarms massed charge. Everywhere the swarm pressed the 1st chapter stabbed back with brutal fury, each time the swarm thought it had punched through its lead swarms would run into interlocking fire lanes at old road junctions which cut them apart. Clearly the loss of a full blooded siren in the previous season had had a major effect on the swarm as rather than the highly effective shield packs and lanced barbs it had formed before that had almost worked in breaking through the hive-sec lines before hand now massive fist like assaults lashed out, huge collections of howlers, alphas and patriarchs brought together around small herds of behemoths that acted like clumsy but highly destructive wrecking balls when they made contact with the hive-sec lines. This bloody fighting would last for the following week as the swarm smashed against the hive-sec troops time and time again, each time leaving mounds of dead creatures in its wake as it slunk back into the darkness whilst the tattered line of hive-sec soldiers reformed, reloaded and reengaged the swarm every time. The one difference was each time these brute packs fell back the hive-sec line would advance another half a street, and then another until by the midst of the month the army had advanced enough that a further 10% of the territory had fallen under their control.  Each time a company took heavy contact they were relieved and rotated back to re-cooperate, reorganise and then redeploy back into the line in a constant chain so that the army always maintained fresh troops on the front line. This rolling advance was the haul mark of the 1st chapter, disciplined methodical soldiery that ground anything before it into the rockcrete beneath their boot soles.

The swarm would make one final attempt to push the army back during the third week of the month, pulling itself together into a brute pack three times the size of those encountered it would aim for the centre of the hive-sec lines in the hope of overrunning it with living mutated bodies and spilling into the rear echelons. Hitting the line during the late hours of the third day this brute assault would form around a spear tip lead by an extremely scarred behemoth, dubbed “The Knight” by those hive-sec troops that had encountered in it previous brute packs this particular behemoth seemed to act like a living shield for other lesser strains as it rampaged forwards. Those patrols forward of the line found themselves torn to shreds if they didn’t get to good cover in the abandoned towers as they radioed in this latest incoming attack, units in the intended contact point rallying with additional troops rerouted to support their position as the pack closed in. Unfortunately for the swarm and potentially just a bit luckily for the 1st chapter the swarms intended line of advance brought it via a crossing bridge that narrowed the roadway as it passed over a sluice ravine. Digging in their heavier weapons at the bridge corners on their side the 1st chapter formed up a barricade of rusted out vehicles and other debris as they awaited the swarms arrival as the sound of their approach rebounding through the air around them. What followed was a close run slaughter as the first howler strains swarmed the bridge only to be cut down by massed automatic fire and grenades, the following packs slamming into the back and trying to scramble over them to reach the humans gun line on the other side. Contained by the constant wall of fire and detonations from the hive-sec troops in front of them and their own kind from behind those mutants on the bridge died in droves  as they were slowly cut to pieces or blown over the edge by explosions or pushed by other mutants trying to get forward. Clearly sensing a problem the gestalt hive mind sent in ’the knight’, crushing smaller forms that got in its way as it led two more of its kind towards the hive-sec line. Letting it get halfway across the lieutenant in charge of the platoon ordered his grenadiers to target the bridge supports, collapsing it beneath the brute pack and wiping the majority of it out in one move. Tipping the dead and dying into the void below alongside numerous other still living abominations the move signalled the last major attack by the swarm for the day and the season as the hive-sec troopers watched the mutant kind pour away into the darkness or howl shrilly into the air on the other side, the behemoth dubbed ’the knight’ was spotted clambering its way to safety and stood roaring into the air before hurling a rusted out car door into the hive-sec lines, killing two troops that had stood up as it slammed into them. A parting message from the over-grown behemoth clearly received the remaining creatures disappeared into the darkness once more  as the swarm attempted to disengage once more, falling back further into the habitation territory once again. The final week of the season would see the wounded tended to as the army settled itself into a defined defensive position, bridge points and road junctions entrenched at as the 1st chapter took stock of its position and casualties. Here and there scout teams would push ahead to keep contact with the swarm as well as check out the zone further ahead. During the second to last day one scout team would return carrying something with them that they had recovered from  a major arterial route heading south from the zone, part way down they had located a number of markings and a banner hanging over them. Unfolding it before the assembled officers in the ops meeting the 1st chapters leaders looked over the cellborn banner that had been found, “Seems the clans are nearby, wonder what they’re upto?” one quipped...

Summary:

Following on from the previous seasons engagement with the mutant swarm the 1st chapter has successfully established a beach head within a primus grade habitation territory that the swarm had attempted to retreat into, and seized 20% of the ground back from the swarm infesting the zone in the process. Pushing through several berserker charges by the swarm alongside a decisive clash over a sluice ravine has seen the 1st chapter well entrenched into their hold on the territory and another step closer to breaking this particular swarm for good after inflicting serious casualties of some 455 confirmed slain, whilst only taking moderate losses of 95 across the army in return. (Note: Standing strength of the 1st chapter now stands at 1682/2000, swarm strength calculated at 1651/3000. Swarm will collapse and dissipate in one season at continued rate of confirmed kills)

## Dusting off the regulations

With the continued engagement with the ravenous swarm by the 1st chapter, alongside the continued efforts of task force dominus in the dome, circle command found itself meeting on a more regular basis than it had in some time. Constant after action reports were thoroughly discussed and debated as each of the commanding officers of hive-sec pulled what information they could from the reports and made their own suggestions or counter suggestions in kind to certain points. It had been at least a decade since a full swarm was brought to heel, always slipping away in the intervening years before the assembled troops of hive-sec could land the killing blow, only to regrow somewhere else and begin to cycle anew. This time however it seemed this swarms own aggressive nature would be its undoing the huntsmaster quipped during one meeting, drawing a few nods and shark like smirks from the lord enforcer & captain of the guard. The apothecary was more interested in analysing the corpses heart that would inevitably be at the centre of the swarms central nest, already stating they were prepping bio-hazard assignments accordingly for the moment it was clear to dispatch them. At this the shadow captain uncharacteristically talkative for once brought up the requests for mutant corpse analysis from Dominus, raising an eyebrow from his fellow commanders. When pressed as to why the reconnaissance task group was after the information the shadow captain’s more habitual scowl returned with a short response “Just get it too them or I will”. The rest of the meeting would last another few hours as the circle went over the army’s full combat report for the previous seasons after the huntsmaster pointed out that from the pattern indicated a fully concerted offensive by the 1st chapter with attached elements could break the swarm for good with even less splinters left over that would then need less combat patrols to clear up. At this orders were drawn up to be dispatched in the next communicate to dominus in that regard, alongside this the files been sent back for the logos captain finally being opened up for discussion. The operation to recover the missing data stack was progressing they reported quite happily, the recently promoted sergeant leading the search was pulling in contacts with a local tribe to help hunt down the item, some form of diplomatic parley to obtain further support it seemed. “When was the last time we held a diplomatic assembly” the captain of the guard chuckled amused as the logos captain continued, the regulations would need literally dusting off he agreed for sure but it seemed the most prudent approach given the groups involved. The dome was proving to be as much a political quagmire as the ruins themselves were and in this moment from dominus’s reports diplomacy may weight out more advantageously in the long term. As the logos captain continued the shadow captain beckoned an aide over and sent them away with a few words, in the old days when some form of parley took place hive-sec pre-fall would assemble a security detail from their more veteran forces. These days the closest were the shadow captains kill teams, in a reverse of the support offered by the logos captain some months before hand to the shadow captains efforts, a team of hive-sec’s elite would be sent to support the diplomatic effort.

Summary:

1)With the potential for a swarm to be utterly collapsed and cleared for the first time in a decade circle command has dispatched stand too orders to all relevant forces. Accordingly Captain McCaffery and Captain Briggs have be filled on the situation and will provide further details to the assembled task force during the course of Friday evening.

2)With the continuing operation to locate the illusive data stack in regards to the logos captains hunt to identify the AI entity calling itself ’Wrath’ task force dominus has called in contacts with the silent tribe of the dome, hoping diplomacy will provide an answer or avenue of approach. Accordingly dusting off the old procedures a team from the shadow captain has been sent to support the meeting and assist in providing security for the duration. A somewhat initially startled but happy reply from the silent themselves at the request for help from ’the makers and kin’ has been received, and indicates their intention to arrive sometime during the second day of the maintenance cycle (Saturday of the event).

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