Mission 03

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Raw Logs

**The Second Rule is Range**. The further you are from your target, the harder it is for them to hit you.

The operation started same as usual, being airlifted to a half hour drive from the Castle. We launched our Scout Drone upon touchdown to enable a live feed of the AO.

The first major abnormality was the presence of troops from a competing corporation. Based on what happened to them they were likely newbies. Those who had intact corpses have been recovered, as well as the dogtags of the maimed.

From a distance, we watched through the eyes of our drone. Sub denizen 001 smashed through the front gate and proceeded to rend and tear. It proved capable of launching one of the vehicles of its victims several hundred meters. See recording segments labled 0047-0061.

Subdenizen 001 was brought down with gauss rounds through the chest at range. Based on displayed combat capabilities, it is advised that if encountered, engage at extreme range or not at all. Normal weapons are useless. I am recommending a Gauss Rifle be provided to all corporation squads as a standard piece of equipment. It has proven absolutely vital in all engagements thus far.

The second abnormality would be the Rusher Variant of this Castle. Henceforth dubbed 'Spikers.'

Spikers follow normal Rusher biology for the most part. The abnormalities are within the arms. They have a fairly complex organic firing mechanism capable of launching spines of material at high velocities. The variant encounter proved to have a 400 meter range, however it also proved to be extremely inaccurate. See recording segments 0081-0093 for combat. See recording segments 0143-0145 for onsite dissection prior to mass desiccation of corpses. As with other Rusher Varients. Engage at range and in a moving vehicle. As with other Rusher Variants. The hordes as a rule will be large enough to require you to move several times before the last member falls. Recommendation, do not engage this Variant with low flying ariel vehicles, although inaccurate, they have proven capable of damaging drones to the point of non operation. It can only be assumed they are capable of bringing down airborn targets as well.

Spiker spines are venom tipped. A mild anesthetic specifically. Potentially could cause paralysis in large doses.

Spiker spines are classed as Armor Piercing. Standard Issue Armor will not cut it. Aria would have been severely injured had she not been wearing the Denizen 001 plating.

Maximus was injured by a Spiker and was forced to sit the remainder of the mission out.

Upon termination of the spiker horde, we unloaded the second drone and had it explore the Structure. No additional resistance was encountered. See recording segments 0097-0183 for internal layout and exploration notes. Notably a small library was present, as was the skeletal corpse of a human within what would be described as a Medieval "office." Recommendation for the intel teams to attempt to find structures that follow similar layouts to the encountered Castles that existed at some point in the past on Terra and if they are still present. Previously encountered Denizens appear to have been built around. Something to consider. We recovered various samples and did a number of onsite vivisections prior to the mass desiccation all Guardian corpses undergo post death before moving on to the next step.

The Drone descended to the basement. Where Abnormality number three resided. A Class One Memetic Hazard. Specifically affecting the visible spectrum. For the remainder of the mission, the squad switched to thermal optics to inhibit the effects. The Memetic Hazard will not be described on paper due to risk of it being a Class Two and capable of spread. Recording Segments 0193-0246 have been separated from the film cache and stored in a separate file with the proper labeling. Should you be willing to risk exposure, you are free to watch them. However keep in mind should it prove to be a Class Two or Three within the coming weeks, infected will be isolated and potentially terminated depending on severity. The Lure of Denizen 002 appeared to be the source of the Memetic Hazard. Effects lessened and ceased during Arthur's Incident. The Lure is henceforth dubbed Entity 001 due to interactions with it later in the mission.

During exploration of the relatively small basement. Denizen 002 erupted from the substructure and terminated Drone 02. It then proceeded to faff around within the substructure. See Recording Segments 0249-0251 for the first visual. Drone 02 was terminated soon afterwards.

Denizen 002 seemed content to simply sit and do nothing. I suggested blaring loud music from the speakers to draw it out. Honestly the music choice was not one I would have chosen. I mean, It's a dragon. You play metal when you're fighting a dragon. Not.. Whatever that was.

Denizen 002 erupted from the structure, completely demolishing it. We then opened fire. The missiles proved to be the most damaging, Gauss rounds came in close second. All other weapons proved to be ineffectual. Denizen 002 proved to be capable of launching globs of superheated plasma from its gullet. Which is the cause of Drone 01 returning as a pile of slag. Initially 002 attempted to divebomb the vehicles. To counter this, we drove directly towards it. Due to how physics works, 002 would have either had to steepen its dive and crash or pull up. Hence why it chose to melt Drone 01. Denizen 002 did not get the chance to make a second attack run. It was grounded by a combination of Gauss round and missiles. Soon afterwards it was terminated. See Recording Segments 0255-0278.

We then began mop up. Gathering samples. Namely the books from the now ruined library. More samples of everything. And so on. For whatever reason Zander decided it would be a good idea to into the Memetic Hazard room. Where he was promptly eaten by the Memetic Hazard. Henceforth defined as Entity 001. Arthur decided it would be a brilliant idea to run down there and blow himself up with a grenade next to the object. This caused the effects of Entity 001 to cease and Zander to reappear nearby. It also is the cause of all of Arthur's injuries. During debriefing, Zander stated he was at his family farm. Recommending an Intel Agent to go check with his family to confirm if this was the case or if Entity 001 simply induced hallucinations. Please see Recording Segments 0284-0341. The segments with potential Memetic Hazards have been separated. As previously stated, Entity 001 will not be described on paper due to risk of Memetic Infection. Both Zander and Arthur have stated the object was capable of telepathic speech before Arthur blew himself up next to it.

Arthur was stabilized and loaded up. The remains of Entity 001 were loaded up with a large sheet tossed over it to prevent memetic contamination. The debris and corpses of the other corporation's members were loaded up. A wagon was constructed from the remains of the other corporation's vehicles. Denizen 002 was loaded up. Subdenizen 001 was loaded up. Corpses of Spikers were loaded up. Anything of value was loaded up.

We then proceeded to leave the AO and return to the Gate.

Maximus is recommending that the corporation make armor with a larger coverage area be made available. I second this. It would notably be useful for when shooting out of a car or from behind cover.