Cassidy
Arcane
Here. I was hoping to get right into Meduna in this one but the AI won't just be waiting there for the mercs to attack.
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Road to Meduna
With the most valuable stuff they could carry from Orta taken, the Kodex Kool Krew makes their way towards an area that is free from enemy SAM coverage where Skyrider will pick them up.
Meanwhile, a large quantity of enemies is closing to the west of Estoni. Better to be ready for anything.
Skyrider arrived at the sector first and spotted threats below. The team knew they would have to fight a battle to get out. What they didn't know was that they lacked enough luck and skills this time to avoid an ambush. This is not good.
Orgasm rapidly reacts against the bloodcat that attempt to sneak onto the team, slicing and shooting it. After that no more bloodcats show up for a while. Black and Orgasm, being true Rangers, go for the hunt.
Still more.
And finally, all is clear for Skyrider to get down and bring them to Estoni.
And surely, without a helicopter this would be quite more complicated than it seems.
With everything set, there was one more issue left: Gaskett and Shank lack any real combat skills. Some extra mercenaries would be needed for the coming offensive: one explosive specialist and someone who thinks he need a gun, a big gun, a really BIG gun. Fidel is chosen as the EXTREME specialist of the second team, and being a psychopath, demolitions and auto weapons expert, he fits in perfectly..
Where Lithuanian mercenaries prefer a more discreet approach using silenced weapons, creative ways of killing people, stealth and disguises to achieve their objectives, the Estonian ones aren't really that much into the same subtlety of Lithuanian hitmen. Instead, Estonian mercenaries such as Janno Allik prefer really big guns like RPGs, grenade launchers and the most favorite of all Estonian Mercenaries: the Commando Mortar, which "Brain" will get as soon as he arrives. And of course, this Estonian has as much Brains as he has Brawns, and obviously is another worthy disciple of the Way of the EXTREME SHEPARD.
Meanwhile, along medical treatment and repairs, the teams stationed at Estoni decide to not take any chances. Everyone takes positions inside the junkyard, just in case.
After all, those forces to the west were there for one reason: They probably already realized Estoni is being used as a staging area for an assault on Meduna, and decided to strike first. With twelve mercenaries ready and well positioned, this shouldn't be much difficult unless really bad luck happens.
Another mindless charge. How predictable.
Ulminati once again proves a 7x scope is better than a 10x one. And he can fire twice per turn now instead of only once, to make things better.
A large number of enemies gather near the old gas station to the south, taking cover behind the long derelict gas pumps there.
Maybe there was still some gas left after all, just too little for anyone to care about other than these redshirts once Barry blew them up with a grenade. After this explosion, along easy pickings, Dynamo decides to have some fun with the mustard gas grenades in his OICW rifle and grenade launcher too, and with such EXTREME use of chemical weapons, there was not much resistance left.
Once again, mission accomplished.
Carefully checking if there will be enough left to pay the daily militia wages and kingconrad, finally Bobby Ray's had something Ulminati have been waiting for a long time: a sniper rifle suppressor! No more letting only the others shoot for the sake of stealth. This item was the reason he didn't pick up those incredible 12.5mm caliber anti-materiel rifles, he prefers something less noisy. The camo helmet cover was bought mostly to fill up the minimum 2 kg package weight. Of course those covers will be useful to difficult detection of the team as they advance through the woodland and swamps near Meduna.
Bee would also have loved a sniper suppressor, if she was still alive.
Some enemy forces are spotted just south of Estoni. To clear the road, the Kodex Kool Krew is sent to wipe them out. And by the way, they were going through the most direct path with Skyrider's aid, except a bug forced me to put them one sector south of the enemy position and attack them from there instead.
Upon arrival, it seems that Deirdranna's grunts are being attacked by Bloodcats. A good distraction that will help wiping them out. Black and Orgasm move ahead, with Stephen right behind them, being a Night Ops specialist.
It doesn't take long for Black to spot and kill the first redshirt. They better stay alert.
Orgasm saves Black from a potentially disastrous enemy surprise attack. The team is slowly and quietly advancing along the way.
Two enemies are spotted. Orgasm looks at them and rapidly reacts:
This will definitively draw the attention of the others, better to be even more careful from now on.
Holy shit they threw a break light right next to Black. RUN! RUN!
That was so close, so close. The only reason Black probably survived a sniper shot is that his body armor and helmet were both reinforced with the crepitus queen jelly. He made it out of the light barely in time to avoid taking another shot, and asked for Ulminati to hand him a health regen. Unfortunately he couldn't risk getting his rifle dropped after the shot back.
Even wounded, Black still saves the day preventing what began turning out badly from becoming a total disaster with even more dead mercenaries. MD rapidly runs to support them on covering that spot as well.
And the doctor definitively did a nice job in preventing more harm against Black.
Then suddenly! SNAFU! Another break light right at the position of Black, Ulminati and MD!
Barry rapidly moves towards the direction the break light came from, killing an elite soldier and saving their asses.
They rapidly moved out of the light, and fortunately made it through alive. Eventually, no more enemies were detected, and Black and Orgasm were thus called for the hunt.
Surprising the rest of the team, an enemy fires his mini-rockets on Stephen, who somehow survived being hit by such a deadly weapon as an auto rocket rifle.
Ulminati quickly puts him down. This was a quite tense battle with more than one near death moment.
And now finally the road is clear for the other team to get the Humvee through once they are assembled with the new arrivals, and hopefully that sniper suppressor will arrive soon too.
From the battle a very useful item is found. Without it all those remote detonators were useless. Now they will be very useful. Another very useful thing was another rifle laser aiming module. Powerful enough to reach up to 300 meters, this laser sight is a great complement for 7x scopes.
Unfortunately, since that dread incident in the Alma mines, with the loss of so many who were expecting the reward after the job was done rather than before, the budget has been running so thin that Stephen will have to go. He seems both disappointed and relieved he won't be part of the dangerous final battle in this war. His leadership skills were useful but non-essential. With Fidel and Brains, there is enough for two teams anyway that will not feature the two guys who just aren't in any way fit for front-line duty..
That was a bit too late. Checking up on these two new mercs the cheap M.E.R.C. now features, it can be said without doubt that finally Gaskett isn't the only member of that "competitor" of A.I.M. that is worth hiring. The two new mercenaries there are far more expensive, but still cheaper than AIM grade ones, having their daily wages at 600 and 700 respectively.
Of course now there is no more time to delay the offensive. If casualties happen, once the Meduna SAM site is taken down they will definitively be on the list as the first replacements for them. Also, finally the sniper suppressor and helmet camo arrived.
Dmitri, who will join the second team, travels to Drassen to get the shipment, giving the "coffee money" to ensure nothing will go missing from it. Getting everything useful from Drassen, he finally arrives at Estoni where the final preparations are almost over.
Finally, the two teams will begin to head towards Meduna. One by vehicle, and the other, until getting to the point where it is no longer safe, by copter. Hopefully the Estonian EXTREME SHEPARD will have enough BIG GUNS to clear the way against whatever awaits them on the road.
PS: The AICW doesn't support an AR suppressor. Now I remember why I was ignoring it. The second team won't go quietly because there are not enough suppressors for two teams so they got lots of those guns anyway. And even more grenades. They will be mostly in the "BLOW BIG SHIT" role, led by the Estonian on that, obviously.
